In the biggest upset of the 2014 World Cup, Chile defeated the defending champions Spain. This seems to be a common trend of late in World Cup action as defending champion Italy was also defeated in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup. This marks only the fifth time in World Cup history that the defending championship teams have had a shameful group stage exit. The other three were Italy in 1950, Brazil in 1966 and France in 2002.
However, the more remarkable fact about Spain’s exit is that this is the first time in World Cup history that a defending championship team has been eliminated in the group stage in consecutive World Cups. What does this symbolize for today’s professional athletes in the soccer world? Clearly the competition is becoming more fierce and talent is being sourced as never before. In the US, we marvel when NBA, NFL and MLB teams can repeat or threepeat titles, but the World Cup brings the added dimension of athletes from all over the world.
To add to Spain’s shame, they also become the first World Cup champion to be eliminated from competition with only one game left in the group stage. Fans of the sport need to take notice of how difficult it now is for teams to advance and win; dare I say even more difficult than any other sport out there. The fact that there was almost a 40-year gap between when defending champs were eliminated from the group stage and now we have already seen three defending World Cup champion teams be quickly eliminated so early in just the first few years of the 21st century also speaks volumes about the caliber of athlete competing in this event.
Call it what you want, but it is clear that novelty sports ideas like the repeat and the threepeat aren’t something that we will commonly see in the coming years of the World Cup. This, I think, is mostly due to the skill of athletes becoming more and more advanced globally. Scouts are being able to touch more areas and discovering gems of talent that wouldn’t have been found before. Along with revolutionized training, it’s no wonder the athletes are above and beyond what we’ve ever seen before.
[h/t ESPN, Mail Online]
