World Cup 2018 Group E FINAL GAMES: Serbia 0-2 Brazil; Switzerland 2-2 Costa Rica

The expected sometimes happens, And Brazil are always expected to get to the knockouts, but then so are Germany and we all saw what happened to them. No such disasters for Brazil, with Serbia dispatched and the group won. Serbia’s defeat left the way open for the Swiss to claim their spot which they duly did, although Costa Rica's late equaliser made it look less comfortable than it actually was.

THEY FINISHED 19TH: South Korea

Nothing else matters. They beat the reigning World Champions, delivering the killer blow in fine style, doing something that barely happens once very 100 years. Who cares about their first two games which were disappointed. They left on a high, celebrating like they won it in a game they deserved to win. A famous, famous win that will be remembered for far longer than the fact it was their only win of the tournament. 

THEY FINISHED 20TH: GERMANY

Although The Armchair correctly predicted that Germany would not win World Cup 2018, he thought they would win their group. The fact that they finished bottom shows what a disastrous tournament it’s been for the holders, now perhaps the too olders. That’s 4 times out of the last 5 tournaments that the holders have gone out in the group stage. Some kind of curse at work. But bad form going into the tournament, and no Lahm, Schweinsteiger and, vitally, Klose, condemned the Germans to their worst tournament finish since  1938. Managers don’t survive this sort of failure, nor many players. Expect wholesale changes afore Euro 2020.

World Cup Group F FINAL GAMES: Mexico 0-3 Sweden; Germany 0-2 South Korea

What the! Eh! That simply doesn’t make sense. No, no, not Germany going out to South Korea, but the fact that Group F finished up before Group E. What happened there alphabetically? It was all going so well. Such things get The Armchair twitching on his cushion. Now what about these two results. Maximum pointed Mexico going down to Sweden and then the holders, the invincible Germans who always make it through the Group Stage being turned over by South Korea. No one expected that, and it’s this kind of thing that’s helping make Russia’s World Cup a real classic.

THEY FINISHED 21st: NIGERIA

Deserved to go through and so nearly did but for that late loser against Argentina. As always, Nigeria were exciting to watch, Moses marauding down the flank an endearing memory. But, it’s not been a good tournament for the African nations and this was a super tough group for any team to get drawn in. Shame. 

THEY FINISHED 22nd: ICELAND

In Euro 2016 they were an unknown quantity with a thunderous chant that cast a spell across a tournament and sealed a famous win over England. Two years later, the mystique had gone, though that chant remained (and was adopted by a couple of other nations to less effect). It didn’t really happen for Iceland, but what the hell, they made their first World Cup and were never disgraced at any stage and were perhaps unlucky to be drawn in what was one of the toughest groups.

World Cup Group D Final Games: Argentina 2-1 Nigeria; Croatia 2-1 Iceland

Oh, Rojo. How you saved a nation. How you got Maradona to show two fingers to the rest of the world. How you saved Messi’s international career for at least a few more days. How well you finished, but how much you denied a Nigeria team who surely deserved a place in the Round of 16. They were just minutes away, but everyone else in the group were a lot of points of away from Croatia who maxed out on point age and served to remind the world that their quality players make a quality team that’s to be feared in the knock-out phase.

THEY FINISHED 23rd: AUSTRALIA

You expect yellow. You expect green. You expect fighting spirit. You expect ball tamp… no, no, not with this size ball. But did the Aussies really deliver this time round? They lack a poacher, someone to slam it home other than the hirsute Jedinak (ex-Palace, bit of a legend) who scored 2 penalties that helped keep Australia in it until the last game, where they came apart against Peru, and left a tournament they didn’t really set on fire the way they have in the past.

World Cup 2018 GROUP C FINAL GAMES: France 0-0 Denmark; Australia 0-2 Peru

The Armchair is aware of how much of a yawnfest the first 0-0 of the tournament was. There had to be one, and it had to involve the team The Armchair has predicted to finish the highest scorers in the tournament. 0-0 was enough to take France and Denmark through, given that Australia lost to the already eliminated Peru, who will be left wondering, what if they hadn’t skied that penalty in the first game!

THEY FINISHED 24TH: IRAN

This will have to be seen as a successful competition for the Iranians. Defensively stout, they can consider themselves unlucky not to make the knockout rounds. 4 points is a successful return, and has been enough for some teams to qualify. But not in a group featuring the current Euro champions and many people’s favourites to win this thing. 

World Cup 2018 GROUP B FINAL GAMES: Iran 1-1 Portugal: Spain 2-2 Morocco

Both dramatic games with late equalisers, but in the end the favourites came out on top thanks to VAR. But both Morocco and Iran should be applauded for the way they played, and perhaps if they weren’t drawn in a group with two of Europe’s most in-form powerhouses, things might have been different.

World Cup 2018 GROUP A FINAL GAMES: Uruguay 3-0 Russia; Saudi Arabia 2-1 Egpyt

The qualifiers from this group were already decided before this final set of games. The only thing at stake, who would top the group. And with Russia reduced to ten men early doors, the path was cleared for Uruguay, and they strode along it with ballsy confidence.

In the other game, Salah scored but Saudi soared to a rare World Cup win that will send their fans home happy, and give them confidence going into the 2022 World Cup which, should they qualify, will be much closer to home.

FINAL TABLE

THEY FINISHED 25TH: POLAND

Not good enough will be writ large across Poland’s report into their 2018 World Cup. Probably in red pen. So much support in the stadia. So many people let down by an OK side in a well-matched Group that was hard to call. They were never going to win this thing of course, but The Armchair regarded qualifying from the group as a real possibility. Lewandowski will shoulder a lot of the blame for their failure, another bad tournament for the normally impressive striker