Curse of World Cup strikes GERMANY
Shock exit for defending champions
It’s rapidly becoming the curse of the World Cup champions.
On Wednesday, Germany became the fourth defending champion in the last five tournaments to be eliminated in the early stages.
Previously, France (2002), Italy (2010) and Spain (2014) suffered the same humiliation.
The shock exit for Germany — a soccer powerhouse who have not been knocked out in the first round since 1938 — left 42,000 fans in the Kazan arena stunned at their 2-0 loss to South Korea. In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “all of us are very sad” during an unexpected turn of conversation that had been about artificial intelligence with a talking robot.
At a discussion of ethics and robotics two hours after the national team’s defeat, Sophia, the programmed voice machine on stage, tried to make the best of it, mentioning Germany’s long record of championship wins.
Merkel said this was true over a long time span, but added, “Honestly, all of us are very sad tonight.”
But it was anger, not sadness, reflected in the nation’s newspapers.
“The historical disgrace of the German national team,” said Die Welt.
In similar vein, “This is the biggest disgrace of German World Cup history!” wrote Bild.
And, “A historic disgrace,” said Der Spiegel.
Reuters reported that tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered at the Brandenburg Gate stood stunned after the loss.
“The team just didn’t even fight. It was a terrible game,” Janin Roethig told the news agency with tears in her eyes.
Till Huttner, 23, another fan leaving the Brandenburg Gate, told the Guardian the result was “sobering, or maybe the word is just cruel.” And he predicted, “Heads will roll.”
One of those heads could well be Germany coach Joachim Loew whose team was called “plodding and pedestrian, cowed and clueless” by Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
“We deserved to be eliminated,” Loew said after the South Korean defeat.
But 750 kilometres away in Yekaterinburg, Russia, the mood of Mexican fans changed from despondency — they lost 3-0 to Sweden — to jubilation.
Mexico’s chances of getting into the next stage were under dire threat and they needed a shock upset for Germany if they were to advance.
As the goals started counting up against them, Mexican fans turned their attention to their smartphones and the game in Kazan.
Then they heard the result and plastic cups and beer were sent flying high as they jumped, danced and sang.
In Mexico City, hundreds of fans celebrated outside the South Korea embassy, hoisting the consul-general on their shoulders after he came out to greet them.