Group D has a pretty good argument after sending home two former world champions. Both Italy and England had an off year, but Portugal topped them both with an exhausted/injured Ronaldo and a team implosion on day 1. If the criterion is to cause death, I'd say people are less surprised by Portugal and Ghana going home. Disclaimer: I was firmly in the Group G camp at the beginning, so I won't object to anyone who is still sure.
How good can a group be if Costa Rica is by far the best team? That's not the case in CONCACAF, so I guess that makes The Hex the real Group of Death...
My understanding of the group of death is defined as a group where every team is so competitive that each has a high probability of advancing, so much that it's impossible to predict. Going into the final day of group play, each team in our group could still be eliminated or potentially advance. Whereas England was already eliminated before the final game.
What does being a past World Champion have to do with today, especially a past champion of nearly 50 years ago? The past champions reasoning is silly. FIFA rankings said it's G and it played out that way.
It was definitely G. Up until the last couple of minutes everyone had a chance to advance. Toughest group by far.
Italy and England were dreadful. Uruguay were not impressive either. Will be interesting to see how costa rica deals with greeces defense.
England a surprise being out? England sucks, what does winning a title 50 years ago have to do with anything? And if you are saying England "had an off year"... Not really, them disappointing at the WC is now a trend. They looked pretty meh in our Group in 2010 then got murdered by Germany in the Round of 16.
If I was a prospective team that had to choose between being in Group D or Group G, I'd pick Group D easy. Group G was the group of death. That wasn't just the American media looking for a story. And in Group B, you had two teams getting blown out; hardly a group of death.
Group G because we had the highest ranked teams in the world. Every team had a chance of getting out. When you think of Ghana as the weakest link, you should be thinking "THE Group of Death." Also, every team played pretty friggin' well. Group B has a pretty good claim. Spain went into this WC with three major championships in a row, plus Netherlands who have only been beat out by Spain. Chile doesn't get too much attention since they're fourth or fifth in CONMEBOL, but we know they're a solid team. Then there's Australia. And then Spain collapsed. Definitely not the same level of competition that we had. Group D I'd argue was more like Group B. England fell apart, and Italy just weren't themselves. Now, Costa Rica played really, really well. No one else in Group D really did. Going into the WC I would have said Group G was the Group of Death, but I would have admitted that USA being in that group colored my opinion. Now that the group games are over, I don't think there can be much doubt.
Group G was decided on the final day. Group of Death if u ask me Group B was an initial Group of Death as it featured the 2 finalists of the last WC and 1 of the best teams in the past 6 years. Though the Dutch flopped at euro 2012 but were SUPREMO in qualifying. Australia was decent but got lit up in recent friendlies. Chile was good. When the Dutch demolished Spain day 1, this Group of Death tag was demolished. Now had that been Australia, then Yes it would have been literally unexplainable. Group D. You had 3 nations ranked in the top 10/12 of FIFA rankings but 1 was England who everyone knew would flop sooner or later. 1 nation that failed to get out of the group stage 4 years ago but made the final for euro 2012. They had a team that made it to the semi's last WC and won the last Copa America. Oh and they had the 2nd best team in CONCACAF.
Going by statistics and rankings it should B or D. But B featured the best ranked team flopping. D featured the lowest ranked team in the group advancing in 1st place, first time ever in their history. Group G being decided in the last half hour of the final group stage match. USA wasn't so much underdogs as it hadn't beaten Ghana before in 2 tries. Germany was supreme. Portugal was ineffective but still had the best player in the world. USA had quality players but were underrated in the eyes of the world as we are so often when it comes to soccer and the WC.
The surprise emergence of Costa Rica made Group D the group of death. Coming into the tournament everybody expected the ticos to just roll over for the three former world champions. Well, it didn't happen. England I think started well and was a little unlucky to not get a point vs Italy. Then Luis Suarez happened, exposing the weakest part of England's team, its defense. But it was really Costa Rica that turned this group into the GoD. They are one of the most consistent and balanced team of the World Cup. There's no reason we can't see them in the semis.
The problem with that argument is the order of matches. Take two hypothetical groups that both finished with the point distribution 9-6-3-0. In Case X, the distribution after 2 matches was 6-6-0-0, so every team had advanced or been eliminated by then. In Case Y, the distribution was 6-3-3-0, and nobody had advanced or been eliminated by then. This is possible in this way: B defeats C and A defeats D (A- 3, B- 3, C- 0, D- 0) A defeats C and D defeats B (A- 6, B- 3, C- 0, D- 3) A defeats B and D defeats C (A- 9, B- 3, C- 0, D- 6) Team C was alive after 2 matchdays because they could have defeated D, had A defeat B, and advance on a tiebreaker with a 9-3-3-3 distribution. Team A had not clinched advancing after 2 matchdays because they could have lost to B, had D defeat C, and been eliminated on a tiebreaker with a 6-6-6-0 distribution. I think I have those scenarios right.
Still Group G...the only group in WC history made up of four teams who were in the last 16 the previous World Cup... ...and the only one of the B-D-G triumvirate who had all four teams still alive in minute 75 of Matchday 3.
The same people who are pro-Landon/Anti-Klinsmann are putting forth the idea that any group but G was the group of death. That says it all... They will make any effort to cheapen the efforts of this team and the quality of it's coaching staff. The world does not agree with them. BS does not agree with them and I do not agree with them. If LD was on the 23 I bet it would be the group of death.
Group B? No offense but Australia was a joke. So no. Group D? Costa Rica beat a Suarez-less Uruguay which again was a joke. They had a great win vs Italy but essentially lucked out playing a defeated England side. To me one hard match vs Italy does not equate "Group of Death". So no.
what were the foreign media writing about the Group of Death and the final day of games for Group G? who did they wager would make it out?
The reason they "lucked out" is because they got 6 points off of Uruguay and Italy. If we are going to not write off Ghana and a basically Ronaldo less Portugal, don't go writing off Costa Rica's wins. Also Australia gave the Netherlands quite the scare, so calling them a "joke"? Don't think so. Costa Rica's emergence sent England and Italy home. Good for them.