The seemingly impossible has happened: defending champions Germany are out of the World Cup.
Given the recent history of defending champions being thrashed in the group stages of the World Cup (France in 2002, Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014), the German team led by the abominably bad Joachim Low failed to heed this trend and were deservedly dumped out of the tournament.
Despite winning the tournament in 2014, it has become clear over the last couple of years that there is something missing with Die Mannschaft as too many players have kept their places in the team based on reputation and not on form (ditto for former champions France, Italy and Spain).
The dynamism and inventiveness of the 2010-2014 group seem to have been replaced by a possession-heavy, slow and ponderous style of play that was eerily reminiscent of Spain’s disastrous title defence under Vicente Del Bosque four years ago.
Despite the showing of the young group at last year’s Confederations Cup, the 58-year-old Low failed to devise a new formation or evolve tactics to fit in these players despite the obvious need for a refresh show the need for the manager to be let go.
But after today’s debacle, it’s imperative for him to drop some players.