Surprise news: Women’s World Cup enters the group stages for the first time in their history.

Somehow, South Korea and Colombia knew how to cultivate their demise, even at times resorting to bizarre measures to do so.

Were the two-time champions doomed before a single ball had been kicked? Or was this the product of multiple failings across the board?

Germany have had their fair share of injuries, and perhaps for that reason, we can forgive some of their defensive frailties.

They came to the World Cup without star right-back Giulia Gwinn who tore her anterior cruciate ligament last October and lost Carolin Simon to the same injury in their friendly against Zambia.

At the heart of the defence, there were more alarming issues.

Marina Hegering, who shone at the Euros last summer, was unavailable for the first two games due to an ankle strain. At the same time, Sara Doorsoun had to come off at half-time in the defeat to Colombia due to a muscular issue.

Sure, none of this was ideal, but with Voss-Tecklenburg’s depth of squad, it was not expected to trigger a chain effect.

Voss-Tecklenburg wrung the changes – but not in the way Sarina Wiegman did when England faced the prospect of being without Kiera Walsh for their final group matches.

She put Svenja Huth at right-back and Sara Doorsoun as the middling anchor in a 4-3-3 system. Chantel Hagel, a left-footed midfielder, was deployed at left-back.

It meant that Germany had just two recognised defenders in their starting line-up. And it showed.

Colombia and South Korea flooded the wings and stretched their defence across 180 minutes, denying ‘Die Nationalelf’ a chance to dominate the Group H standings.

Nina Potzel, host of the German football podcast ‘Die 45’, spoke about this in great detail on the latest episode of ‘The Offside Rule’.

“They always went through the centre, we didn’t even think about the possibility of going down the wings; the overall communication in the back was not good” she lamented.

“There were times where I felt, ‘why are you going that way, when there’s so much space elsewhere’?”

Defensive uncertainty was something South Korea manager Colin Bell had also spotted.

Talking about Huth and Hagel, he said: “They haven’t got the schooling of full-backs, so it was right to target those areas. They’re very good players, but they’re not full-backs.”

He got that in one.