The Germans don't always win

GARY WINSTON LINEKER, former Barça and England star, said this: "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win." It's a phrase which will go down in history. Germany, against all the predictions, killed off their own myth and put an end to Lineker's belief. Today, even including the controversy around VAR, Germany have caused the greatest surprise in the history of the World Cup. Yes, you can talk about the curse of the World Champions. Italy went home at the group stage after winning the World Cup, Spain repeated that in Brazil and now it's Germany who follow suit. But the drama around Germany's exit was something different to those other occasions. They came from winning the last World Cup and the Confederations Cup, as well as the U21 Euros.

With formidable potential, after trying to imitate the Spanish style, Low and his generation of talented players were favourites to reclaim their crown here in Russia. However, between their poor finishing, bad decisions and symptoms of tiredness, Germany said goodbye to their chance of glory. They leave through the back door, finishing bottom of the group, having been inferior to Sweden - only winning thanks to a late goal by Kroos, Mexico and South Korea. The Germans hadn't gone out in the first round since 1938 and never before had they gone out at the group stages since it's implementation in these types of tournaments. And they've done this in such an unexplainable way. Brazil, still hurt for that 1-7 defeat to the Germans, celebrated the exit of their great rivals. Hours later, Neymar and Coutinho sealed their place in the Last 16. They march on.

The failure of Germany is in contrast to the survival of Argentina, the hard work of Brazil and of course, the suffering of Spain. Football continues being a sport of eleven against eleven but now the Germans don't always win.