Richard Buxton: Goodbye to 2018 – and the end of football’s old order

Football may not have come home in 2018 but dynasties fell and new heroes emerged.

Two years after Brexit and Donald Trump's election as US President split the world like never before, the Beautiful Game endeavoured to bring it back together in its own unique way.

No demise, however, was greater than Germany's. Hopes were high for Joachim Loew's side becoming the first nation since 1962 to retain the World Cup.

What followed will go down as one of the most catastrophic defences of a reigning champion in the tournament's history.

"It was a disaster for German football," 1990 World Cup winner Karl-Heinz Riedle told The New Paper.

"But now to hold on Jogi Loew, I think, was the right decision. He is the man who can turn it around for sure.

"The last results, even how they are playing, he changed much younger players now with pace up front.

"It looks much better but it's still quite a bit to go to getting back to maybe where we were in the 2014 World Cup. We had the same problem in the early 2000s.

"We brought much younger players in, so it looks a little bit similar to that situation. But I'm very confident that we'll get back there quite soon."

Die Mannschaft's unforeseen downfall at the group stages helped make for a truly compelling World Cup.

In both packed stadiums and festivity-laden streets, Russia hosted a final summer of love that helped redefine standards at the international game's highest level.

Games were pulsating; 169 goals were scored across 64 matches with just one ending goalless.

It also raised the bar with a mark for knockout-stage goals (45), 29 penalties awarded, 22 converted and 10 late winners recorded in either the 90th minute or extra time.

Little wonder that more than half of the world's population (3.57 billion) tuned in for the last summer World Cup featuring the 32-team format that many have come to know and enjoy.

Video assistant referees (VARs) were a quantifiable success, with Fifa claiming the system produced a 99.3 per cent success rate in decisions at the Finals compared to 95 per cent without it.

That summer, La Liga and their French counterparts joined the Bundesliga and Serie A in the televisual revolution, while the English Premier League belatedly agreed to implement VAR at the start of 2019/20.

France's victory book-ended a Finals where grit, rather than glamour, ultimately won through.

A further changing of the guard took place with France's Kylian Mbappe's consoling of Lionel Messi after Argentina's Round-of-16 exit symbolising more than a mere act of sportsmanship.

The World Cup threatens to be the one that got away for Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as they both exited the tournament in what will likely be the last chance in their respective star-studded careers. With it, the pair's vise-like grip on the Ballon d'Or also came crashing down.

Luka Modric became the first player outside of the duopoly to win the accolade since 2007 - on the strength of a starring role in both Croatia's surprise route to the final and Real Madrid's third successive Champions League crown, despite the latter causing another fall from grace.

Five days after triumphing over Liverpool in Kiev, the Bernabeu's house of cards collapsed.

Zinedine Zidane walked away, ending almost two-and-a-half years of rare tranquility, while Ronaldo's switch to Juventus proved a death knell to Florentino Perez's second Galacticos era.

Brazenly poaching Julen Lopetegui on the eve of Spain's World Cup campaign ultimately backfired and, although results belatedly improved under Santiago Solari, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid have already taken their place as the ones breathing down Barcelona's neck.

In Germany, Borussia Dortmund's renaissance dovetailed with Bayern Munich's malaise.

The infamous "FC Hollywood" phase appears to be alive and kicking in Bavaria, with the current Bundesliga champions needing to make up a six-point shortfall after the winter break.

Nowhere has the deconstruction of dynasties been more prominent than in the EPL.

Manchester City's procession to the title set numerous records, including an unprecedented 100-point haul, and threatened to downgrade the competition to a meagre one-horse race.

Pep Guardiola's planned period of dominance may prove short-lived if Mohamed Salah and Liverpool continue to have their way in the New Year.

The Egyptian scaled fresh heights last season as he broke the league's Golden Boot record for a 38-game campaign with 32 goals.

After 22 enduring years at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger struggled with his coat zip for the final time.

He bowed out on largely good terms, unlike former nemesis Jose Mourinho, whose 15-year cycle of trophies and tantrums finally reached its conclusion with yet another sacking.

As Mourinho and Wenger's departures signalled the end for old-timers, a new generation of elite former players finally emerged from the TV studios and stepped back onto the touchline.

Steven Gerrard continues to make headway in Glasgow Rangers' bid to disrupt Celtic's seven-year hold on Scottish football while Frank Lampard is targeting an EPL return with Derby County.

The less said about Thierry Henry's spell as AS Monaco manager, the better.

Further sea change took place in the Nations League, with Uefa's newest tournament bringing both initial confusion and genuine meaning into mundane friendlies.

Previously under-performing nations were given reasons to reawaken.

Holland's strides under Ronald Koeman have earned them a last-four meeting with England, themselves energised by a successful qualification campaign and a memorable run to the World Cup semi-finals.

Some things remain constant as 2018 departs; Paris Saint-Germain still run away with the Ligue 1 title, Juventus are doing likewise in Serie A and Mourinho again finds himself jobless.

But crucially, the footballing landscape finally made a genuine break from its old order.