History has an uncanny way of repeating itself. Holders eliminated in the group stage of the next World Cup — Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014 and now Germany in 2018 — is now becoming a trend or a jinx. Marcelo Lippi, Vicente del Bosque and Joachim Low all probably made the same mistake of relying on a settled squad rather than infusing it with younger players with more fire in their belly.
It is this ability to be ruthless and unsentimental that made Sir Alex Ferguson such a successful coach at Manchester United. He always built for the future discarding established stars like Jaap Stam, Paul Ince, Mark Hughes, Andrey Kanchelskis, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, David Beckham, Juan Sebastian Veron, Carlos Tevez and several others when he felt they were unsuitable for his club. When buying medicine, doctors always advise you to see if it is past their sell by date. Many players in the German squad of the 2018 World Cup were over the hill and should have been replaced.
I have never seen such a lacklustre German team devoid of pace and commitment. Precision passing, constant mobility, speed and never say die attitude were the hallmarks of successful German teams of the past. Germany at the 2018 World Cup lacked all these qualities. The defending champions lost because they were one-paced and ridiculously open at the back.