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The Worst Hosts
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Mexico in 1970 really weren't very good. They squeezed out a 0-0 against a mediocre USSR, beat a poor Belgian side 1–0 and hammered El Salvador. But were dispatched by Italy, whose players barely broke a sweat in the first knock-out round.
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Spain were poor in 1982; in a weak group, needed the ref to make some dubious decisions just for them to make the 2nd phase.
But I don't think a WC host has ever failed to win a game, whereas Poland in 2008 and Austria in 2012 had that distinction. Austria is probably the correct shout; infact, I'm struggling to think of a worse European team in any tournament I have seen.
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Originally posted by Sean of the Shed View PostOut in the group stage, but if I recall it was a tough group made up of France, Mexico and Uruguay.
Besides, Dikgacoi should have been off earlier for bloodying Suarez mouth. I say the ref knew what kind of shit Suarez would pull over the next weeks and years, and considered Dikgacoi's assault a service to the future.
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Anyway, measuring the OP question simply by points might not be enough, in itself. Performance must be measured against realistic expectations. You'd expect Brazil to be the leading contender for a home tournament, but you wouldn't expect South Africa or Austria to win World Cups or Euros they host. OTOH, nobody thought Germany were a leading contender to win the 2006 WC; the team just wasn't as good as the other usual suspects. The semi-final was par.
In my football-following lifetime (I exclude Euro 1976, which was really just two semi-finals):
Fulfilled potential and more
West-Germany 1974
France 1984
Sweden 1992
France 1998
South Korea 2002
Reached par
Italy 1980
Mexico 1986
West-Germany 1988
Italy 1990
USA 1994
England 1996
Netherlands 2000
Japan 2002
Portugal 2004
Germany 2006
South Africa 2010
Brazil 2014
France 2016
Underperformers
Spain 1982
Austria 2008
Ukraine 2012
Disaster hosts
Belgium 2000
Switzerland 2008
Poland 2012
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Hosts have collectively underperformed in the sense that France is the only country to have won a WC or Euros as hosts since 1978.
Some of those "reached par" countries went out to countries they should have beaten (I'd say 1980, 1990, 2004 and 2016) whilst Brazil 2014 only "reached par" if you exclude the manner of the 7-1 defeat. OTOH out of that list, only 2004 had a shock winner, whilst 1980 had a surprise runner-up (you also have to qualify it with 1980 having an unsatisfactory group format: Italy went out unbeaten (as they did in 1990 if you exclude pens).
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Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View PostMexico in 1970 really weren't very good. They squeezed out a 0-0 against a mediocre USSR, beat a poor Belgian side 1–0 and hammered El Salvador. But were dispatched by Italy, whose players barely broke a sweat in the first knock-out round.
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