Tag Archives: world cup

Russia 2018 an Average World Cup in Terms of Goals

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With France’s 4-2 win over Croatia, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia ended in spectacular fashion. While the tournament’s ultimate game, it was the highest-scoring final in more than 50 years, turned out immensely entertaining to the neutral fan, the same cannot be said for all World Cup games, which were often dominated by defensive strength rather than by attacking flair.

With a total of 169 goals scored, among them a record-setting 11 own goals, Russia 2018 was an average World Cup in terms of goals. On average, football fans saw 2.64 goals per game, falling just short of the 2014 tally of 2.67 goals per fixture.

As the following chart illustrates, the scoring average at World Cups has remained relatively steady since Chile 1962 with some smaller ups and downs. In the early years of the World Cup however, high-scoring games such as yesterday’s final were no exception: the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland was the biggest goal feast in history, with an average of 5.38 goals scored per game.

England vs. Croatia – What The Stats Say

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In the end, England were somewhat cruising in their quarter final tie with Sweden, and now they can set their sights on a rather unpredictable Croatia. Having been very impressive at the group stage – comfortably winning all of their games – Dalić’s side has faltered a little in the knockout matches so far, needing extra time and penalties to get past Denmark and Russia. An optimistic England fan will say the Croatians are going to be fatigued after so many minutes on the pitch, but this tournament has already proven that anything can happen at a World Cup.

Looking to the stats for guidance, England have the edge historically with four wins, one draw and two losses (including friendlies). At the World Cup though, Croatia has a superior win rate and average goals per match and, with players like Modric and Rakitic on the pitch, they certainly won’t be pushovers.