Germany 0-2 South Korea: 5 Talking Points as Germany crash out of the World Cup 2018

#1 Curse of the Champion continues

You've run out of time, man!

France in 2002, Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014, and then this…

There really seems to be something wrong with champion teams trying to defend their world titles in the past few editions of the FIFA World Cup. Maybe it is the case of complacency or the sheer overconfidence that teams carry while walking with the ‘Champions’ tag in the succeeding tournament. Germany was quite iffy in their friendly matches ahead of this tournament, but there was a general belief that they would get it right when the tournament actually begins.

After a humiliating loss to Mexico, Germany was now touted to bounce back in style; exactly the stuff that battle-hardened winners do. However, this was just not supposed to happen. Toni Kroos’ moment of magic saved them in the last minute against Sweden, but there was nothing of that sorts today.

Germany failed to assert any authority in the midfield, lacked the required cohesion in the forward line and they were wasteful from set pieces. The midfield was overrun numerous times, Hummels failed to finish off two open headers, Mario Gomez did not carve any impact as the substitute and Muller was hardly involved ever since he came on the pitch.

Korea had the intent and pushed Germany beyond their limits, finally capitalizing on the collective and a couple of individual errors made by the German players. Joachim Low’s reputation as the German manager will take a major hit, Ozil will be tormented regularly and Timo Werner would be warned to buckle up or lose his place from the team.

Damn, the German national team is going to see a tough time ahead in the near future!