Portuguese outlet A Bola compiled a list of its 23 biggest disappointments at the World Cup and to no one’s surprise, there were four German players included.
How they were ranked, however, could cause some debate. Joshua Kimmich was No. 2 overall, which seems…off. Kimmich was one of Germany’s better players (if not the best performer), but he was also woefully miscast as a right-back. As captain, he was also the frontman for the failure.
Jamal Musiala was No. 7 and, to be honest, it is a little laughable
to rank him as being better than Kimmich (and this is not a post to boost Kimmich). Musiala struggled mightily and — like Kimmich — was likely not used in the best possible way.
Leroy Sané was No. 9 when he could have been the highest ranked disappointment for Germany. However, you could argue that expectations were so low for everyone except Julian Nagelsmann that maybe it helped Sané get a better position? Either way, it would be tough to find many observers who watched all of Germany’s games and rated Sané higher than Kimmich.
Manuel Neuer was No. 12, which…seems really high for Neuer, who was far from Germany’s biggest issue.
You could really argue that — despite Germany’s overall disappointing showing by losing in the Round of 32 — each player (barring maybe Sané) was less disappointing than some other players on this list.
Some other questionable picks:
- No. 10 — Cristiano Ronaldo should have been higher (unless — like Sané — the expectations were naturally lower, so it was harder to be disappointed).
- No. 11 — Son Heung-Min is 34-years-old…come on. There is no need to put big expectations on him.
- No. 13 — Declan Rice….huh?
- No. 19 — Neymar should not be on this list. He was mostly hurt and not expected to be a serious factor for Brazil.
It seems that A Bola was maybe looking to engage in rage-baiting a bit, so maybe they were successful.
The full list is below:
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