The curse of the World Cup winners continues.
Germany became the third straight reigning champion to be knocked out in the group stage at the next World Cup — following Italy and Spain — after losing 2-0 to South Korea in Group F.
1998: #FRA win the #WorldCup
2002: #FRA eliminated in group stages2006: #ITA win the #WorldCup
2010: #ITA eliminated in group stages2010: #ESP win the #WorldCup
2014: #ESP eliminated in group stages2014: #GER win the #WorldCup
2018: #GER eliminated in group stages pic.twitter.com/BA9lu4r26G— The Sun Football ⚽ (@TheSunFootball) June 27, 2018
In an embarrassingly poor performance, Germany went behind in the game’s closing stages when Kim Young-Gwon scored following a VAR review with Son Heung-min then breaking away.
That result in Kazan, coupled with Sweden’s 3-0 win over Mexico in the other group match in Ekaterinburg, meant the Swedes and Mexico progressed to the round of 16. Sweden and Mexico finished on six points, with Sweden finishing first on goal difference.
It was only the second time in Germany’s storied World Cup history that it had failed to progress from the first round and the last occurrence came in 1938.
