Wow. What a shocker this week as Germany crashed and burned at the World Cup.
That champions curse is real.
Since 2002, four holders have been eliminated at the group stage.
But you get the feeling that Germany aren’t the last big name to disappoint and come the quarterfinals, some more will be on the trash heap.
Portugal and Uruguay face off Saturday as well as France and Argentina. Two of those teams will be going home.
And only then things get really serious; once the quarterfinals kick off.
But let’s get back to the Germans.
In their opening defeat to Mexico, they still played with purpose and threat - giving the Mexicans as good as they got.
They looked like they were having an off day and that the machine would fire up and kick into gear.
Then against Sweden, even though they fell behind, they had the poise and ballas to fight back and got the win they needed.
And before South Korea finished them off with two goals in injury time, Germany had been denied 12 times by the Asians’ goalkeeper.
It just felt strange. All of that dominance. And now they are on their way home.
Looking at the likes of France, Argentina and Portugal, none of those teams have convinced and you get the feeling that the Germans would have given them a pak.
Those teams have looked less organised and unbalanced.
Whatever it is that coach Didier Deschamps wants his Les Bleus to do, they aren’t.
With the squad that he has at his disposal, he should be flying if they knew what they were supposed to be doing.
Paul Pogba likes to play on the left of a midfield trio. N’Golo Kante is very comfortable in that formation too.
That should give the team enough protection and drive in the middle and then it’s just a matter of who to play up front.
But no combination of his attacking players have struck up an understanding.
Portugal were all over the place in the game against Iran and Morocco.
Without Cristiano Ronaldo firing, the European champions look the most ordinary holders of that title since Greece beat them in the final back 2004.
Then there is Argentina and Lionel Messi is suffering from the same lack of support from his teammates as Ronaldo.
The pressure of the two greatest players of their generation is immense. But these manne can only shine in a team. Like every other player in a team sport. Every one of those 11 players on the pitch is a vital cog in the team.
And that’s what makes Germany’s failure so baffling. Ahead of the World Cup, there were fears around the German team that they miss a player with that superstar status.
However, you get the feeling that the best team will win this tournament and not the magic of a Ronaldo, Messi or Neymar.
But, I could be wrong about that. This is the World Cup after all. And I can’t turn away from the action.