World Cup 2018: 5 major disappointments so far

FIFA World Cup 2018 has been special in many regards, especially as the potential last World cup of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the greatest players ever to play the sport.

The introduction of 'Video assistant referee' also added to the anticipations, as people hoped the refereeing errors could finally be limited. However, it has once again been proved that expectations would not always turn to reality. Disappointments were many, from the controversies regarding 'Video assistant referee', to the underperforming superstars.

The increase in the count of own goals and penalties also add to the already mounting frustration among the fans.

Let us see the five big disappointments of the FIFA World Cup 2018.

---

#5 David De Gea

De Gea had to watch the ball go past the line five times in the group stage

The Spanish goalkeeper has featured in all three of their group stage matches, and the pre-quarters, he has been on the pitch for a total of 390 minutes. His current save rate is just 16.7, an indication that 6 out of 7 attempts on his goal ended up in the nets.

While no goalkeeper is expected to save every shot that comes to his goal, De Gea made some silly mistakes which resulted in such poor numbers. The second goal he conceded against Portugal tells us how disappointing the Manchester United star has been.

David De Gea came to the World Cup as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. But by the end of the group stages, we saw him fighting to get at least the tag of a decent goalkeeper. He conceded 5 goals from his three group stage matches, managing to make only one save in the tournament so far.

He never really looked like saving a penalty in the shootout against Russia. As a result, he is on the bottom of the list of Goalkeepers with most saves. He is ranked 40 in a tournament that features only 32 teams. That means even the second choice goalkeepers of other teams rank high above him, such an embarrassment for a player with his calibre.

#4 Germany

Reigning champions Germany were eliminated in the group stage.

There has been a trend of champions going out in the group stages for the last three World Cups. 2006 champions Italy and 2010 champions Spain were eliminated in the very next edition of the World Cup respectively. But not many would have thought that the 2014 champions Germany would follow the same footsteps.

The shocking thing about their early exit is that they were humiliated with a bottom finish on the group tables. From a neutral perspective, it is fair to say that Germany did not deserve to progress to the knock out stages. Their performance was going down persistently throughout their matches.

Germany started their World Cup campaign with a goal to nil defeat against Mexico, which sent them an early warning bell about what was going to follow. Although they managed to sneak through in their second match against Sweden, courtesy of late winner from Tony Kroos, they never looked like a team that was going to win.

A humiliating defeat against South Korea in the third match sealed their fate. It was rather disappointing to see how their world class players performed in this World Cup.

#3 Jerome Boateng

Boateng was sent off in the match against Sweden.

The 29-year-old defender featured in the first two matches for the Germans, spending a total of 172 minutes on the pitch. He committed 8 fouls which resulted in a yellow card in the first match and a red in the second.

With the years of experience under his sleeves, this was really a poor show from the German defender. Boateng was linked with a move to the Premier League before the World Cup. After a disappointing World Cup campaign with Germany, it looks highly unlikely that he will be able to make a good move in the near future.

With over 70 international caps to his name, the experienced defender was supposed to be the heart of the German backline. He was highly ineffective in their first match against Mexico, a game where the German defence was torn apart. His performance in the World Cup went from bad to worse as he was sent off in the match against Sweden.

#2 Lionel Messi

Messi under stress before the game against Croatia.

He was also the captain of Argentina at this World Cup. Just as his contribution as a player, his impact as the captain was also disappointing. Often when Argentina was struggling, Messi made no attempt to raise the spirits of his teammates.

He just dejectedly wandered without even communicating with his teammates. In a World Cup where everyone expected him to step up for a last shot at the world cup, Messi has been a major disappointment. Messi came with so many expectations for what could be the final World Cup of his career.

But once again what we got to witness was a Messi who crumbles under pressure. He had perhaps the worst outing in a tournament in his prolific career that has conquered many glories. Let alone scoring goals, Messi could not make an impact apart from an inspirational moment in the match against Nigeria.

Most of the minutes on the pitch, he just wandered without the ball like a lost child. It could not have been worse for him as the first real involvement in the World Cup was a missed penalty against Iceland, which proved to add up to the already mounting pressure.

#1 Robert Lewandowski

Lewandowski failed to score a single goal at this world cup.

Coming into the World Cup as the top scorer in the Euro qualifications, he was expected to put on a decent show if not to replicate the stats he managed on route to the championship. The 29-year-old striker has been the major disappointment of this World Cup.

Much was expected from the Bayern Munich and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski when the group stage draws of the World Cup 2018 came out. With Senegal, Colombia and Japan as the other three teams of the group, Poland really fancied a deep run on the wings of their talisman.

However, he turned out to be the major disappointment of the World Cup, failing to score at least a single goal in the tournament. It is not just that he did not score or create an assist, the Polish star could not even make an impact on the play while he was on the pitch.

Lewandowski, who played in all of Poland's group stage matches, spent a total of 270 minutes on the pitch and managed only 3 shots on target.