*By Christian Smith*
Germany's hopes of winning a second consecutive World Cup were dashed Wednesday in a shocking stoppage-time loss to South Korea.
Korean defender Kim Young-gwon and striker Son Heung-min both scored in the game's ten minutes of injury time. The upset shocked soccer fans all around the world, but not everyone was surprised.
"Germany is a fantastic team, and they've never been knocked out this early in a World Cup," said Jeffrey Marcus, publisher of the World Cup newsletter jointhebanter.com. "It's not surprising because Germany is actually the fourth defending World Cup champion to be knocked out in the first round in the past five tournaments."
France won it all in 1998 but failed to make it to the Round of 16 four years later. Italy faced that same fate after its 2006 World Cup win, as did the 2010 champion, Spain.
Brazil is the only one of the last five World Cup winners to make it out of the tournament's group stage following its win in 2002.
Germany's loss means that Sweden and Mexico will advance to the Round of 16. Sweden topped Group F thanks to a resounding 3-0 win over *El Tri*.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/defending-world-cup-champs-germany-fail-to-make-round-of-16)
If there's one person aside from the 800,000 unpaid federal workers who is hoping the government shutdown ends soon, it's Keisha Lance Bottoms. The mayor of Atlanta is less than two weeks away from hosting Super Bowl LIII, which is a logistical and security nightmare even when the city's airport *isn't* being slowed down by mass TSA sick-outs. "I'm extremely concerned," Bottoms said of the possibility that the shutdown may continue through Super Bowl weekend.
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Rapper, producer, and entrepreneur Soulja Boy told Jimmy Mondal and Cheddar Sports about his next venture: esports.
Marty McFly's self-lacing sneakers from "Back to the Future" are here at last. Kind of. Nike on Tuesday launched the Adapt BB, its first mass-market "smart" sneaker, that uses elastic mesh and a small internal motor with Bluetooth connectivity to allow the wearer to tighten and loosen the fit of the shoe via a smartphone app.
Samsora shared his thoughts on his recent tournament placing, his new team, and his main character for life, Peach.
Bungie, the famed developer of Halo and Destiny, has parted ways with parent company Activision-Blizzard. The industry-shaking fracture follows several leadership changes at Activision over the last several months, causing investors and gamers alike to wonder how the split will affect the gaming industry.
After a tumultuous season and a disappointing 5-9 record, the New York Knicks Gaming team was at the bottom the 2K league barrel. But the squad was able to pull off not one, but two miracle runs to qualify for the NBA 2K League playoffs. Now the question becomes: can the team trounce their competitors a second time? According to Jeff Eisenband, host and analyst at the NBA 2K League, it's unlikely.
