World Cup 2018: 5 Major Takeaways from the Group Stage

The World Cup has already seen many long-standing records been broken, with many more to be broken as the tournament progresses.

Imagine this: if Spain doesn't make it past this stage, then one of England, Croatia, Russia, Denmark, Sweden or Colombia will be in the semi-finals after a long, long time. And at this point, nothing should surprise you.

The group stage has seen everything; hat-tricks, late drama, VAR has made headlines almost everytime, all 32 teams scoring at least twice for the first time in the history, a part-time director saving Messi's penalty... You name it.

Here are the 5 major takeaways from the World Cup after the conclusion of the group stage.

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#5 Fair-play rule: A good way to decide tiebreakers?

Japan qualified ahead of Senegal despite having identical numbers

Senegal became the first team to crash out of the World Cup on fair play rules. The African team would believe this is a harsh decision on them, but what can be done if the numbers are identical between two teams at the end of the group stage?

This rule has been there for some time now, but since it has hardly been used, teams don't pay attention to it until it's too late. Back in 1990, Netherlands and Ireland had identical numbers and their positions were decided by drawing lots.

If you look at this from a different perspective, it is a win-win situation. Teams should focus on accumulating fewer cards and, compared to separating teams by drawing lots, which is truly based on luck, teams have their own fate in their own hands in the group stage.

#4 Anyone missing Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Not Sweden!

Zlatan who?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic might not be playing in the World Cup with Sweden, but he made sure his presence was felt. In an interview, he said, "I can play better than this Sweden team."

This is what Ibrahimovic said before Sweden's all-important must-win match against Mexico. Well, that didn't age well. Or maybe this gave the team a push to prove their former player wrong.

Since Ibrahimovic has retired, Sweden have had quite a run. They stopped Italy and Holland from qualifying, nearly drew against Germany, and topped the group to advance to the knockout stages.

With no Ibrahimovic in the team, the players look more focused, play more as a team, are united and focused.

#3 To VAR or not to VAR

You may like it or hate it, but there is nothing you can do about it

24 penalties have been awarded in this World Cup and we have only just completed the group stages. That's already a new record. One can only wonder what the total number will be by the end of the tournament.

But then again, VAR has been useful, you cannot deny that, barring a few incidents. See, one cannot blame VAR for wrong decisions. At the end of the day, it is a technology and it the referees who use it and come to a decision. Human error is always bound to be there.

World Cup VAR decisions.95% correct without VAR 99.3% correct with VARDecisions checked by VAR, 335.That 4.3% difference? Could be your team winning the league or not, a trophy or not, relegated or not.No brainer. VAR is working 👍🏽

— Stanley Victor Collymore (@StanCollymore) June 29, 2018

99.3% of the decisions in the group stages have been correct. That's a pretty impressive record. But yes, there is a scope of improvement; which challenges should be reviewed and the time taken to make the decision should be reduced. It can only get better.

#2 The Champions' curse continues

Germany crashed out of the World Cup in the group stage for the 1st time in the history!

Defending FIFA World Cup champions from Europe that have been knocked out in the group stages:

France exit in the group stage (2002)

After winning the World Cup in 1998, the French crashed out in the 2002 World Cup as they failed to score a single goal and finished bottom of the group

Italy exit in the group stage (2010)

Yet again, the winners of the 2006 World Cup left the tournament at the end of the group stage as the Italians finished bottom of the group that comprised of Paraguay, Slovakia and NewZeland.

Spain exit in the group stage (2014)

Back-to-back defeats to Netherlands and Chile meant that the Spanish were on their way home after just two games. By now it seemed like some curse to win the World Cup.

Germany exit in the group stage (2018)

Surely the Germans couldn't crash out of a group comprising of Sweden, Mexico and South Korea. But not only did they kiss goodbye to their chance of retaining the trophy, but also finished at the bottom of the group.

But not all Champions packed their bags in the group stage prior to winning it. Brazil (2006) are the only reigning World Cup champions in the 21st century not to be knocked out in the group stages. They reached the quarter-finals in 2006. Vamos Brasil!

#1 Russia are already winners

Russia have surprised everybody

Ask anyone from Russia and they would have said that their country would not have made it out of the group stage. That is even before the tournament began. The hosts had a poor run of matches leading to the World Cup that their fans simply had no hope.

But the back-to-back wins against Saudi Arabia and Egypt has completely changed the atmosphere in the country. The fans are happy with their team's performances so far and the locals believe they have already achieved more than they could have asked for no matter the outcome in their match in the Round of 16 against Spain.

This World Cup has surely put Russia in the limelight and has opened new doors of opportunity.