Deutschland unter Alles: Germans Tumble Outta World Cup

Some would say karma's a bitch.

Actually, that'd be Sweden.

The rest of the world is probably wondering who these imposters are, dressed in die Mannschaft black-&-white but devoid of Germany's famed relentless precision.

As with the likes of Argentina and France, it's almost as if they felt all they needed to do to advance was toss their kits on the pitch.

 

Not in this World Cup, where -- for the first time in history -- Germany is out after the group stage.

One possible clue as to why it happened when they were trying to defend their title seems couched in the recent past. They're the fourth champion to suffer this fate:

• France 2002 ... lost to Senegal, drew with Uruguay, lost to Denmark
• Italy 2010 ... drew with Paraguay, drew with New Zealand (!), lost to Slovakia
• Spain 2014 ... hammered by The Netherlands (1-5), lost to Chile, defeated Australia

 

Could it be ... sentiment?

Did the Germans just do what the others did, ie- stick with the players that got them to the top four years ago?

Joachim Löw made an objective decision and dropped 2014 hero Mario Götze from the side because he was outta form. Maybe he should've done the same thing to the iconic Thomas Müller, who's been post-sell-by date in Russia and was finally dropped for the South Korea match.

Others, such as Jérôme Boateng, should've had their patooties parked on the bench, too, for being a slow step and having dull thought 'way too often in Russia.

 

Given the German talent pool, this is inexcusable.

A more immediate factor, though, is South Korean goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo, as Sweden discovered. Simply put, dude's hot.

 

For his part Manuel Neuer had to be on his game, too.

The South Koreans only logged 25% of the possession time but matched Germany, 6-5, for shots on target.

In one of those, Heung-Min Son almost beat Neuer early in the match, and while the 'keeper denied him, he looked shaky in the process:

 

The Taegeuk Warriors clearly studied videos of the Germany-Sweden match, as their strategy was identical to the Scandinavians'. Still, they were saved as much by German misfires as Son's acrobatics.

Here's an example, in the 87th minute, when Mats Hummels had the golden opportunity, but his header went wide:

Those six minutes of additional time in the Sweden game paid obvious dividends for the doomed champions, but this time, they came back to haunt them.

The Germans knew they only needed a goal to go through and threw themselves into the South Koreans, who had nothing to lose at that point. Maybe their looser demeanor was a reason why, in the 92nd minute, Young-Gwon Kim roofed one from close range, but the linesman waved it off due to offside.

Based on the VAR evidence, the ball caromed to Kim from Toni Kroos. No offside. Commence shockwave.

All doubt about the outcome dissipated in the 96th, with Neuer already inside of the Korean area, Se-Jong Ju tackled the ball and found Son facing an open goal.

Cue the tsunami. 2-0

No idea how much of this campaign will fall on Löw's shoulders.

After Arsenal and Arsène Wenger parted ways, dude was on the Gunners' shortlist. He said no

Hard to blame him at the time, but that opportunity probably would've looked pretty good right about now.