Every FIFA World Cup Ranked From Worst To Best
11. Brazil 2014
The 2014 World Cup started out as a lively affair, with the group stage providing some memorable games, not least Holland’s 5-1 demolition of holders Spain.
In that same group, Tim Cahill also went on to score one of the tournament’s great goals against the Dutch in an otherwise luckless tournament for Australia.
Spain, Italy, Portugal and, surprise, surprise, England were the big casualties of a group phase which saw Messi dazzle with four memorable goals while Luis Suarez enhanced his status as pantomime villain by biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.
Alas, the excitement of the first few weeks of games gave way to a lacklustre knockout phase, littered with 1-0 wins and rare moments of drama – such as underdogs Algeria taking Germany to extra time, for instance.
The South American teams impressed early on. In particular Chile and Colombia, only for both to lose narrowly to hosts Brazil, who did just about enough to make it to the semi-finals.
That set the stage for the tournament’s most talked about game, with a rampant Germany ripping Brazil apart in a 7-1 drubbing the Seleção are still reeling from to this day.
In the other semi Argentina did just enough to see off the Dutch on penalties. But while the final had its moments, it didn’t quite rank among the very best and was eventually settled by an extra time winner from Germany’s Mario Gotze – remember him?