Prior to a ball being kicked, you would have been playing it safe to suggest that Germany would make it to at least the semi finals. It's just what they do. It didn't matter that they had a tricky group to navigate and then what turned out to be a very difficult test in Algeria, the Germans continue to progress. What's most impressive is that barring that first half against Portugal game, they've barely been out of first gear.
Much has been written about the development of young players and how they are brought up onto the international stage, with Germany often being cited. Having not won a major trophy since 1996 despite consistently reaching the latter stages, their definitive action in 2000 in trying to make their fledgling sides better dwarfs any English attempt, in spite of it being constantly spoken about.
South Africa was in that sense a very big tournament for them. Failure to do well may have provoked a rethink and while elsewhere there may have been little expectation to do well, that they got so far with such a young core has not given them the evidence to allow this blossoming generation of talent to flourish.
For France, this game will hurt. The manner in which that second half was played evoked their biggest stereotype. Harsh though it may be to simply suggest that they "surrendered", there wasn't quite the same fightback that we've seen from other sides so far in this tournament. It could spur them on. Regardless of the result, they still have a very good young core of players. With home advantage in Euro 2016 they will be heavily favoured to win. What happens then will depend very much on how they react to today's defeat.
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