World Cup 2018: 5 Flops of the group stage

With the group stage of the World Cup concluded and the fans being treated to an absolute spectacle of the game, Russia seems to be a surprise (pun intended) for the most of us. With some mouth-watering draws to look forward to in the round of 16, it's time to take a look back at some of the players who could have done so much more to help their nation's cause, but as Messi himself said "You have to show up in the World Cup, and in the World Cup anything can happen."

With Germany's departure the major upset of the group stages and the likes of Argentina struggling to go through, it really comes down to tactics that didn't work, players that underperformed and hard luck. Following are 5 players who could have helped their teams have a better outcome and even get past the group stage.

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#1 Gylfi Sigurðsson - Iceland

Iceland was geographically and demographically the smallest nation at this year's World Cup. However, with their Euro 2016 exploits, many hoped that the Strákarnir Okkar would bring their thunderous flare to the global event. Leading them on the big stage was their talisman Gylfi Sigurðsson.

The Everton man kept his nerve around 14 minutes from the end of Iceland's final group game against Croatia to level proceedings although his side would succumb to a last-minute strike from Ivan Perisic which led to a 1-2 defeat. However, the figure would have been double if Sigurdsson hadn't blazed an 83-minute penalty well over the bar in Iceland's previous match, a 0-2 defeat to Nigeria.

Iceland remarkably held Argentina to a draw but having lost their other two games, eventually finished bottom of Group B, going out along with Nigeria. Sigurdsson, who seemed pivotal to Iceland, showed moments of magic, but without an experienced squad couldn't really make the difference.

#2 Sergej Milinković-Savić - Serbia

Milinković-Savić in action against Brazil.

The Serbian national team bowed out in the group stage after finishing third in a group that had Brazil, Switzerland and Costa Rica. While the squad boasted of many great names, making Serbia a contender for a last 16 spot, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic had a fair share of attention on him.

The 23-year-old was supposed to be the man of the moment for Serbia. After an impressive season at Lazio and some extraordinary recent performances, the attacking-midfielder had been attracting interest from some of the world’s biggest teams.

He has been one of the most prolific midfielders in Europe’s main leagues and having helped Lazio in becoming the Serie-A’s highest-scoring team this season, was expected to replicate a similar form for his nation. While no one questioned his ability going forward, it was the defensive aspect of his game that was being scrutinized.

With the likes of Tadic, Mitrovic, Kostic, and Ljajic running ahead of him and Nemanja Matic standing like a boulder in front of the Serbian defense, it was all up to the young man to pull the strings for his team.

However, his lack of composure and the nerves often saw him get caught out of position or ball-watching. With many clubs interested in his signature and many a World Cups yet to come for the young midfielder, not all is lost for him.

#3 Mohamed Salah - Egypt

Mohamed Salah scored a penalty for Egypt.

With his stellar season cut short by an early substitution in the Champions League final, Mohamed Salah passed the tests of time to join his team for the group stage in Russia. Come match day, with the entire world waiting for the Egyptian to cast his charms, Salah was benched for the opening game against Uruguay. Egypt lost the match to a late header by the Uruguayans and learnt their lesson the hard way.

With their lessons learned and realizing the importance of their talisman, Egypt faced Russia in their second game of the group stage. To everybody's surprise, Russia thrashed Egypt 3-1 and utterly dominated the game.

Salah was kept quiet by the hosts for the entire game and the penalty that Salah scored was the only consolation. The last game saw a similar outcome for Egypt, who lost despite Salah getting the opener for his country.

In a group where Egypt could have easily qualified second if not first, unsound tactics and lack of big stage experience cost the African nation a spot in the last 16.

Leaving Salah out of the first game proved decisive as they lost a well-contested game at the very end and while the Liverpool man did his very best in the other two fixtures, he sadly couldn't motivate his team like Cristiano Ronaldo, who he might go head to head in the near future for personal accolades.

#4 Thomas Muller - Germany

Muller was dropped from the starting 11 for their final World Cup group game with South Korea.

While the German campaign this World Cup has been shambolic, save for a few graces here and there, it is really difficult to point fingers at one player alone. With the likes of Neuer, Boateng and Hummels all being equally responsible as any other German player to their county's premature exit from the Cup, we are going to focus on Thomas Muller here.

A serious winner who steps up for club and country at the hardest times and the biggest of stages, Muller has been in poor form having not scored a competitive goal for Germany since March 2017. He started Germany’s opening two World Cup games but was axed by Low in the final game that had 'must-win' written all over it.

While other players like Ozil and Khedira were also to blame for the lack of creativity on the pitch, Muller lacked the flare that made him so dreaded by the opposition defense, after all he didn’t get the nickname Raumdeuter (“space interpreter”) for no reason. His ability to create open spaces for his teammates to exploit for is impressive.

His tactical awareness on the pitch is second to none and his work off the ball is part of what makes him such an effective tool. It was one of his space-creating runs in the match vs. Sweden that led to Reus’s equalizing goal. However, glimpses of his prime were not enough for Germany to get past the group stage.

Muller has received a fair amount of criticism for playing as a wide attacking midfielder. He plays in that position a fair amount for Bayern Munich, but it’s not where he’s best suited, especially for the German national team.

Somehow the Muller that we all know did not turn up for this world-cup and when Die Mannschaft sit down to see what went wrong and rectify their mistakes, they should make sure that the electrifying Muller of the old can practice his trade to the fullest.

#5 Robert Lewandowski - Poland

Lewandowski finished his World Cup campaign goalless

The last name on this list had to be Robert Lewandowski. Captaining what could arguably be Poland’s best team since the 1980s, the talented collection of individuals were underwhelmed in Russia with consistently below par performances against their opponents in what could be called a difficult group to qualify from.

Lewandowski stood out from the rest of the team for his lack of ability to stand up for his team as a captain and his vocal approach to the entire management of the issue. The Polish forward scored a phenomenal 16 goals in the 18-month qualifying campaign to get Poland to Russia but was unable to deliver when his country needed him the most.

The 29-year-old had his technical skills on show for all to see as the Polish transition from defense to attack became smoother with time, but it left him in areas where he was useless to the team and while the Bayern star has scored past much better defenses, he ran out of ideas against the composed Japan and Senegal sides.

At a stage where the enigmatic striker was supposed to step up his game and motivate his team in what would have been a decisive World Cup; career-wise for the Polish striker, Lewandowski failed miserably. However, with the campaign over and club football to look forward to' Lewandowski may well have played his last World Cup for Poland.

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