With the 2014 World Champions ready to take on South Korea on Wednesday, all eyes will be on the side led by coach Joachim Loew, who could be on its way to become the latest victim of the defending champions ‘curse’ in football World Cup. In last four tournaments, the Champions have been eliminated in the group stages three times. The “curse” started with France, who lifted the trophy in 1998 but could not make it past the group stages in 2002, in spite of the likes of Thierry Henry, Djibril Cisse and David Trezeguet leading their attacking line-up. France failed to score a single goal and were beaten by Senegal and Denmark in the group stages as they left the tournament earlier than anyone predicted.
The curse returned to haunt Italy in 2010 when they entered the tournament as the defending champions but failed to get past the first stage. The side led by coach Marcelo Lippi, who guided the Azzurri to glory four years ago, were held on to draws by Paraguay and New Zealand in their first two outings, and then suffered a 3-2 defeat against Slovakia to seal their exit.
Spain suffered a similar fate four years later in Brazil as the defending Champions lost to Netherlands 5-1 in their opening match, followed by a 2-0 loss to Chile, which saw them getting knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages.
Now, the shadow of the curse is upon Germany, who lifted the trophy in 2014. The side lost their opening game 1-0 against Mexico, marking it as the 6th time the Champions failed to win their opening contest. They had to fight hard and come back from behind to pick up a 2-1 victory against Sweden in their second match to extend their survival in the competition. It took a tremendous free kick from Toni Kroos, to deliver an injury-time winner to Germany.
In their final group stage, not only will Germany need to pick up a win, they would also have to keep an eye on Sweden’s contest against Mexico, to seal them a spot in the knockout stage. If they failed to get past the group stage, it will be for the third consecutive time that the Champions have been knocked out in the group stages of the FIFA World Cup tournament.