Ranking Top Seven (7) World Cup Flops. 1994 to 2022

NOTE: World Cup winning teams were NOT considered in this ranking. This is to differentiate between a genuine flop and a team that simply had achieved it all and were at the end of their cycle (like Germany 94, France 02, Italy 10, Spain 14, etc.) See below for my list 😎

1. CAMEROON 2002: We begin with an African team (spoiler alert) we will have a few more African teams below. Cameroon had just won the 2000 Olympic football tournament and also the 2002 African Nations Cup. The generation of Roger Milla and the brilliant performance at Italia 90 was still in collective memory. So were the failures of 1994 and 1998 World Cups. However, this time it was supposed to be different. The country had been winning football tournaments. The young generation of Eto, Geremi, Lauren or Foe were expected to put past disappointments to bed. They never could, as they failed to progress from the group stage. Never putting up a serious fight with any of their European rivals. Stage of Elimination: 1st Round.

2. NIGERIA 1998: The mid 1990’s was a time of great expectations toward this particular African team. Build around ridiculously talented players from the 1995/96 Ajax Champions League triumph, they had already made a great impression in the 1994 World Cup. They had also won Gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics where they destroyed Brazil in the final. Lots of people claimed they would be the 1st African team to win the World Cup and a new powerhouse in football for decades. Sadly, the team somewhat disappointed in France 98. Although they had flashes of brilliance (3-2 win vs Spain), they surprised many with an early 2nd round exit courtesy of Denmark. Suggestions of unprofessional behaviour the night before the game, suggest this team was simply not ready mentally to achieve great things. Stage of Elimination: 2nd round

3. COTE D’IVOIRE 2010: This team was led by Drogba and Yaya Toure along with plenty of exciting talents like Gervinho, etc. They were the team to beat in Africa in those years and were stacked with world class players on almost every position. The one position where they came short was an attacking midfielder/playmaker. This probably ultimately cost them progress from the 1st round. They were unable to breakdown the Portuguese defence. To be fair, their group included not only Portugal but also Brazil. Regardless, more was expected of them. They had the talent/quality to pull off an upset. Stage of Elimination: 1st round.

4. PORTUGAL 2002: Getting smacked by USA was not how this super talented generation of Portuguese players imagined their 1st World Cup. Especially, after they finally put up a satisfactory international performance at Euro 2000 and reached the semi final. However, as talented as Figo, Rui Costa and company were, they could not handle the pressure put on them to perform. The “Golden Generation” as they were known, was also defeated by South Korea. The expectations were those of a medal round but ended up being cut short. Portuguese football will still have to wait for its moments. Stage of Elimination: 1st round.

5. SPAIN 1998: This was a beginning period of renewed Spanish dominance in club football. Real Madrid was laying the foundations for Champions League glory which had been missing for sometime. Players like Raul, Hierro, Luis Enrique and many others were seen as world class talents. And Spain was seen as forever underachievers, suffering from the QF curse. The 1998 team was seen as a perfect balance of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics winning generation and young goalscoring talents like Raul. Nevertheless, it was as always a huge disappointment. Stage of Elimination: 1st Round.

6. ARGENTINA 2002: Veron, Batistuta, Aimar, D. Simeone, Ortega, Crespo, Zanetti, C.Lopez and the mythical coach of Marcelo Bielsa. Have we ever seen a more stacked Argentina in any World Cup ? Probably not. This team was probably suffering from too much individual talent. Especially in the attacking midfield/forwards. An offensive minded coach like Bielsa found it too tempting not to play as many of those creative players as possible. He overcooked them. The team was not able to generate the needed tactical balance and was only able to score two (2) goals during the tournament. To be fair, they had a difficult group with a strong Sweden, England and quality Nigeria. But with a squad like that, they should have smashed each one of those teams and played in the grand final vs Brazil. Stage of Elimination: 1st Round

7. COLOMBIA 1994: This team travelled to Buenos Aires, 🇦🇷 and destroyed the two time Word Cup winner 5-0. This game showed to the world what potential we are dealing with here. Going into the 1994 World Cup it was mainstream to count them as favourites for the World Cup title. A team that had never played beyond 2nd round was now spoken to as a potential Word Cup winner. The ballon of expectations had started to grow. Unfortunately, it popped in the worst possible moment. On US soil, (against the host country) but in front of many of their supporters. The fact they got outplayed by a strong Romanian side was forgivable but not the 2nd game. Team was lead by Valderrama but it was players like Asprilla, Valencia, Rincon who had become superstars in Europe. They were supposed to carry Colombia to a medal or maybe win if all (Pele picked them). In the end, it ended not only with a total disappointment but also a tragedy. Stage of Elimination: 1st round.