As Doraeman points out, Costa Rica are the last goalless team. If we are weighing declines since 2014, they are in the list. Some of that is due to excessive caution and relying on counters that are ineffective, like Egypt.
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Worst team: Saudis, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Panama?
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Only Egypt and Panama finished pointless but Panama finished with a GD of -9 to Egypt's -4.
Saudis would probably have finished pointless in most other groups. Australia, Morocco, Iceland and Costa Rica just got a point. These plus Poland would be my bottom 8.
Biggest flops were obviously Germany, probably the most shocking exit ever because it's never happened to them in World Cup first phase group play. Poland less of a shock because they've done this before.Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 28-06-2018, 20:07.
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We can do the official rankings for 32-5 at this point:
Fourth-placers:
32. Panama - Lost all their games, and had a -9 GD.
31. Egypt - The biggest group stage disappointment, finished pointless and -4.
30. Iceland
29. Costa Rica
28. Australia - All three had one point, scored two and conceded five, so alphabetical order separates them.
27. Morocco - Conceded one goal fewer than 30-28.
26. Poland - But for defeating Japan, they would have been 30th.
25. Germany - The best bottom-placed team.
Third-placers:
24. Saudi Arabia - The Egyptian win and Russian tonking leave them in a strange position.
23. Tunisia - Their -3 GD just improves on the Saudi's -5.
22. Serbia - Another marginal improvement to -2.
21. Nigeria - Again, one win and a -1 GD.
20. Peru - A level GD and two scored.
19. South Korea - The same, but three scored.
18. Iran - One of two eliminated teams with four points, scored twice.
17. Senegal - With 4 points, and four goals scored, officially the best team knocked out before the last 16.
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Last 16:
16. Mexico - The only side to lose by more than one goal.
15. Switzerland - Of the sides eliminated by a one goal margin, the only ones not to score.
14. Portugal - The other sides all scored more than the Iberians.
13. Japan - Scored twice in defeat.
12. Argentina - Scored thrice in defeat.
11. Spain
10. Denmark
9. Colombia - All eliminated on penalties, so again, ranked alphabetically.
Quarter-finals:
8. Uruguay
7. Sweden - Both lost 2-0.
6. Brazil - By virtue of a one-goal defeat
5. Russia - The only last-eight side to go to penalties.
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