Despite being generally great, the World Cup has given stage to some big letdowns including promising teams eliminated and bad refereeing.
Almost two weeks in, the World Cup in Brazil can already be tagged as one of the most exciting in the tourney's history. Riddled with surprises, twists and turns, this World Cup has seen champions collapse and crumble, big stars hardly shining and grandiose promises turning into dust. Let's take a look at some of the World Cup's biggest disappointments so far.
Spain's Decline
Nelly Furtado's "All Good Things (Come to an End)" is a good metaphor for usage when talking about Spain's World Cup run. The great La Roja crashed and burned in its opening game against their finalists from 2010 the Netherlands, but the real knockout came when Chile beat the Spaniards 2 to 0. It is unprecedented for a defending champion to be eliminated on its second World Cup game. Spain came packed with promises, but it seems that indeed, all good things must come to an end, and the Spaniards can take pride in their "golden" age of football which began in 2008 and ended this month.
England's Dismissal
Roy Hodgson's England arrived a very promising team to Brazil, with a young squad mixed with some experienced veterans. Many believed 2014 might be the year to break England's seemingly bad luck spell, but after losing to Italy and Uruguay and seeing the Costa Ricans drawing against the Italians, the English will watch the qualifying rounds from home with a cold pint.
Bad Refereeing
Bad refereeing started from the get-go in Brazil's opening game against Croatia, when referee Yuichi Nishimura awarded the hosts a contentious penalty which became a turning point in the game. While not all games were struck by bad refereeing, there were more than enough poor calls which have turned games due to anything but sportive abilities.
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