User3143 said:
No it's not, look at past world cup winners and how they did in the group stages and see if they 'stumbled' through.
Quite a few have not always been red hot all the way through! Unfortunately the Germans always seem to get consistently better through the tournament.
An England V Germany world cup game regardless of time in the tournament is special and the passion will be so much more than any other game (except maybe V's the Argies)
If they win this and knock the Germans out regardless of what happens afterwards the tournament will have been a success.