FIFA World Cup 2014: Group stage saw rise of the underdogs

New Delhi: What a topsy turvy World Cup this is turning out to be! With the smaller teams stepping up to make their presence felt, the established order of world football seems to have been turned upside down.The group stage have provided shocks aplenty with three former winners — defending champions Spain, Italy and England — crashing out in the first round itself.

This is not the first time Former champions have exited the World Cup at the group stages before as well. Both Uruguay and Italy were knocked out early in 1962 in Chile. In 1950, Italy, who had won the tournament in 1934 and 1938, stumbled at the first round. The faction-ridden French, who were defending the title they won in 1998, also saw their campaign disintegrate in the opening stages of the 2002 edition.

It is certainly the first time that three Cup winning teams, who were among the pre-tournament favourites, have gone home so early.Spain’s ageing ‘golden generation’ made a terrible start to their campaign, a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of 2010 runners-up Holland. It was their worst defeat at the World Cup since losing 2-6 to Scotland in 1962.

La Furia Roja became the first defending champions since the Uruguay team of 1934 to be eliminated after two matches, following a 0-2 loss to Chile in their next game. But they did avoid the ignominy of being the first defending champions to go out of the tournament without a point by defeating Australia 3-0 in their last group match.

Following a six-year period of domination which saw them win two straight Euro titles as well as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Spain’s woes in 2014 were a surprise.Italy on the hand, started off in marvellous fashion, beating England 2-1 in an entertaining affair. But successive defeats to Costa Rica and Uruguay derailed their campaign.

But by far the worst campaign was undoubtedly endured by England. For the first time, they discarded their traditional 4-4-2 formation in favour of a 4-5-1 set up, but that did nothing to improve their fortunes. Apart from the Italy loss, they lost Uruguay and were held goalless by Costa Rica.Perhaps nobody expected the Ticos to top a group that included Uruguay, Italy and England.

The spectacular performance of this minuscule Central American nation is one of the most memorable stories of this tournament.