FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil Group Matches

FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil

A Different Statistical Summary of The Group Matches

By – Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)

The past two weeks of World Cup Soccer, in Brazil has thrown up some astounding numbers. Being an avid World Cup Football fan, a soccer enthusiast, a student of the game and a lover of stats, I analysed the scores and have come up with some fascinating figures, which I feel many of you will find quite revealing and interesting.

This blog-post is a result of introducing my 10 year old son, Rehan to the magic and madness of World Cup Football. Every match we occasioned to watch together, I passed on more and more information about the World Cup history and how the game is played etc, to him. He is a great learner with a million questions, so it was such a pleasure teaching him. In fact, I was rediscovering and revising my knowledge of the game. It really felt like, I was passing on a priceless legacy, to the next generation. So, once the group stage got over, we both sat down with the final points table and got analyzing the results, to make better sense, of how the current system works, this was our weekend assignment. We discovered some very interesting figures and said, "Hey! Why not blog it for others to know as well?". That is how this blog-post was born.

The 32 teams, were divided into 8 groups ( A-H ) of 4 teams each. Each of the group teams, played each other only once, hence, they were engaged in a total of 6 matches each. So, we ended with a total of 48 matches, in 15 days, starting 12 Jun to 26 Jun 2014, in 12 different venues.

At the end of it all, the defending champions Spain were shockingly sent packing home, along with some other very eminent names like Italy, England, Portugal, Russia and Ghana. A total of 4 of the FIFA Top 10 teams exited, including the World #1 Spain. All 4 South American teams in the Top 10, progressed, while only 2 out of the 6 European teams in the Top 10, could survive the group stages. However, 13 of the Top 20 teams made it to the Round of 16. The 3 other teams, not in the Top 20, who have qualified are ALG-22, CRC-28 and NIG with a ranking of 44, is the lowest ranked team to qualify, into the top 16.

An astounding 80+% or 5/6 South American teams, 75% or 3/4 CONCACAF (N+C Americas + Carib) teams made it to the next round. Whereas, only 45% or 6/13 European and 40% or 2/5 African teams could progress in the tournament. However, sadly none of the 4 Asian teams could qualify to the last 16. Now, it is 8 teams from the Americas versus 8 teams from the Rest Of The World.

An astounding 80+% of the matches produced results, that is 39 out of the 48 group matches, were won by different teams and only a paltry 9 matches were drawn. Only in 1 group, that is Group B all 6 matches produced results. In 5 groups, that are Groups A, C, D, E & F only one match out of the six, was drawn. In 2 other groups viz: Groups G & H 2 matches each were drawn.

A new record total of 136 goals ( 2.8 Goals Per Match ) for the group stages were scored, overtaking the previous record of 130 goals set in 2002 World Cup in Japan-Korea. The Netherlands led Group B, produced the maximum 22 goals and the infamous ‘Group Of Death’ with surprising leaders Costa Rica Group D produced the minimum 12 goals, from 6 matches. The group-wise breakdown in descending order is as follows:-

Group B = 22, Groups E & G = 19 each, Group A = 18, Group C = 17, Group H = 15, Group F = 14 & Group D = 12.

Only 9 teams out of the 32, remained unbeaten in the group stages. NED, COL, ARG & BEL are the 4 teams which has won all their matches. The 5 other unbeaten teams BRA, MEX, CRC, FRA & GER had played out a draw each, in their three outings.

The top 4 teams which scored the most goals were NED-10, COL-9, FRA-8 & BRA-7.  The 3 teams with the least goals were, HON, CAM & IRN who scored just 1 goal each, in their 3 league matches. Incidentally, even footballing giants, ITA & ENG scored just 2 goals each. The 4 teams that conceded the most goals were CAM-9, AUS-9, HON-8 & POR-7. The defence and goalkeeping of MEX, CRC & BEL were the best, having conceded only 1 goal in their 3 matches. 2 teams NED & COL qualified with the maximum +ve 7 goal difference. 3 teams URU (4-4), NIG (3-3) & USA (4-4) qualified with 0 goal difference, but amazingly GRE (2-4) with a goal difference of -ve 2 has shockingly made it to the last 16. Whereas 3 other teams CRO, ECU & BIH had a better, 0 goal difference, which did not help in securing them a place in the last 16. CAM with (1-9) had a -ve 8, followed by HON (1-8 )with a -ve 7 goal difference, are the 2 teams with the worst goal differential figures.

The teams, whose superstars had scored lavishly, have all easily progressed, starting with Messi for Argentina, Neymar for Brazil and Muller for Germany, all of whom are in the race for the Golden Boot, with 4 goals each.  Benzema for France, Shaquiri for the Swiss, Rodriguez for Colombia, had all scored 3 times to ensure the safe progress of their teams. Even Dempsey for USA, Musa for Nigeria and Suarez for Uruguay, with 2 goals each, had ensured their team reached the last 16. The exploits of both Van Persie & Robben, deserves special mention, having scored 3 goals each, they ensured NED is the leading goal scoring team in the tournament, and the only country with not one but 2 strikers, in the list of high scorers.

However, the renowned strikers of old powerhouses, like Christiano Ronaldo for Portugal, Wayne Rooney for England, Fernando Torres for Spain, Mario Balotelli for Italy and Alexander Kokorin for Russia, having scored only a disappointing 1 goal each, ensured that their teams were ingloriously eliminated in the group stages itself.

Only 5 matches were goalless 0-0 draws. They were in 5 different groups, A (BRA v MEX), C (JAP v GRE), D (CRC v ENG), E (ECU v FRA) & F (IRN v NIG). The biggest margin of victory was with 4 goals, only 3 matches, Gp B -  NED v ESP 5-1, Gp A - CRO v CAM 4-0 & Gp G - GER v POR 4-0, had this margin. The match which produced the maximum number of goals, was the Gp E match FRA v SUI which had 7 goals, with FRA emerging winners 5-2.

The most exciting matches were the Gp B  3-2 NED v AUS, Gp F 3-2 ARG v NIG, Gp G 2-2 GER v GHA & Gp H 4-2 ALG v KOR contests. All these matches, despite the final score line, were very keenly contested, between two hungry sides, affording end to end, edge of the seat action, that any of the two teams, with luck on their side, could have won on the day. CRC, GRE, USA & ALG are the surprise qualifiers, at the heartbreaking expense of ITA, CIV, POR & RUS respectively. 2 teams that qualified, GRE & ALG are getting past the group stage for the first time. 3 teams, COL, CRC & NIG have never gone past the last 16 stage.

Just to round off, I feel a bit of history and trivia, is in order. This is the 20th edition of the FIFA World Cup. There are only 8 countries (3 Latin American and 5 European) that have won this title, in the previous 19 editions. Brazil has the record of having won it 5 times, followed by Italy 4 times and Germany 3 times. Pele is the only player to have been part of a team that won the World Cup, on 3 separate occasions. Germany has been the most consistent team, having made it to 12 semi finals, in 17 attempts. However, Netherlands, has the dubious distinction of being the only team to have figured in 3 finals, in 10 attempts and never won the cup. Brazil is the only team that has played in all the 19 editions. Between 1934 and 1978 only 16 teams participated. It was expanded to 24 in 1982 and finally to the current 32 teams in 1998. The concept of the Round of 16, was only introduced only in the 1986 edition.

From today it is knock-out time. A do-or-die game for all the teams. No points, no more draws. It is win or go home. Each and every final whistle will have a winner now. There would smiles for some and tears for others, joy for many and heartbreak for many more, thousands will rejoice and millions resigned to sulk in the coming two weeks, as the tournament comes to a close. The final 16 games that we are waiting for, promises to be exhilarating. New heroes will be born, new history will be made, old stars would fade away, leaving the stage to younger legs, with stronger grit. Where many dreams would be shattered, a few dreams will also come true. Above all else, great many new memories would be added to the many many precious ones we already have. There is no other event on this planet, that generates as much excitement as the Football World Cup! 3 Cheers to Football!! Hip Hip Hurrayx3!!! 

All the best to all the remaining teams. May the best team win. Oh but my heart always wants Brazil to win!!!