Gundogan and Germany miss out on knockouts

The World Cup has entered the business stages of the tournament with a Manchester City representative flying home earlier than expected.

The group stages are now complete and we now have a clearer picture of the favourites to lift the trophy. England, Belgium and Croatia have impressed, while Brazil remains the overall favourites following Germany’s departure.

Ilkay Gundogan and Germany missed out on qualifying from the group stages after a lacklustre performance against South Korea.

Needing a win to make sure of progression, the Asian team defended well and scored two late goals to continue the curse of the holders going out in the group stages.

That defeat means only one of Manchester City’s sixteen representatives will be enjoying their summer holidays early as they exited early.

The first two players to confirm their progression were the two Silvas. Spanish David and Portuguese Bernardo both advanced from Group B with plenty of drama.

A last minute goal from Iago Aspas secured Spain’s ended the group as winners, while VAR controversy nearly knocked Bernardo Silva’s Portugal out to Iran. A 1-1 draw progressed the European Champions to the Round of 16.

Benjamin Mendy began his World Cup in a dull game against Denmark, which was the first goalless game in this year’s tournament.

Up stepped, Argentina to create some drama. Needing a win, the South American team left it late to secure the three points with a Marcus Rojo volley upstaging the defensive efforts of Nigeria in a 2-1 win. Nicolas Otamendi started the game and Sergio Aguero came on in the late stages.

The samba boys secured top spot qualification comfortably with a 2-0 win over Serbia. Gabriel Jesus was unable to grab his first goal of the tournament, while Fernandinho made his third consecutive appearance from the bench.

The big match in Group G would see the winner take all as Belgium and England faced each other. No surprise as both managers made big changes, with Manchester City players rested for the Knockout stages.

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Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker did not feature in England’s defeat but John Stones and Fabian Delph started, while Vincent Kompany made an appearance off the bench in his return from a groin injury.

The only worrying aspect that came from the game was John Stones sitting on the bench with an ice pack strapped around his calf.