Only two hosts in the history of the World Cup failed to qualify from the group, South Africa and Qatar. Although considering the strength of the two teams, it is reasonable for them to go out of the group, but after all, it is difficult to satisfy the fans by playing at home and withdrawing after only three games. Therefore, their performance was more or less disappointing.
So, apart from Qatar and South Africa, what other hosts in the history of the World Cup have had disappointing performances?
Perhaps many people think of that 7:1. Indeed, Brazil was beaten into a sieve by Germany in the semi-finals, which broke the hearts of the fans. But in any case, Brazil reached the last four after all, playing seven matches. While it was disappointing that they failed to win the title on their home soil, there are worse hosts in World Cup history.
For the hosts, it was only slightly better than being out of the group to stop in the first round of the knockout round. There are indeed many hosts in history who were brushed off as soon as the group was promoted. For example, the United States in the 94 World Cup barely finished third in the group, but met Brazil in the round of 16 and was eliminated prematurely. But the United States is not a strong team after all, and football was not too popular in the United States at that time, so the fans were quite satisfied with their results. Besides, it's Brazil that knocks them out.
There is such a host in the history of the World Cup, which is considered a strong team, but they only managed to qualify from the group in the end, and then they were eliminated in the following stage. Interestingly, their final ranking is very strange, in the 100-year history of the World Cup, only that World Cup has such a position.
Spain at the 1982 World Cup.
At that time, Spain's strength was not as strong as it is now, but after all, Spain won the European Championship in the 60s, so it was considered a strong team at that time. Spain are not in a difficult group, except for Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland and Honduras are not teams that often participate in the World Cup. But even so, Spain's answer sheet was still unsatisfactory, with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, and only finished second in the group.
It is worth mentioning that the World Cup has just been expanded, with 24 teams, 6 groups, and the top two in each group have advanced, so after qualifying from the group, it is not the round of 16, but the round of 12. The concept of the top 12 has only appeared once in the history of the World Cup until now.
Moreover, after entering the top 12, it is not one-on-one, but continues to be divided into 4 groups, each group has 3 teams, and the first place enters the top four. And Spain and England, Germany are in the same group, obviously, this is a group of death. In the end, Spain only got one point and ended their home World Cup journey in a hurry.
If Spain's results in this World Cup are the first, it can only be said that it is the top 12. Before that, there was no such statement, and after this, there was no such statement. Unless the World Cup continues to reform the format in the future, the strange name of the top 12 will forever be a thing of the past. In fact, even in the round of 12, Spain's ranking is not ideal, after all, they are the bottom team of the group in the round of 12.
There is an embarrassing fact that all 8 World Cup winners have hosted the World Cup, and only France in 1938 and Spain in 1982 did not reach the semi-finals. 1938 was forgivable because it was too old and the competition system was not perfect. But Spain in 1982 was a bit disappointing that they did not make it to the semi-finals with home advantage. Perhaps, they need the next chance to host the World Cup to make up for this regret.