FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 - Final Group Games

Some Fascinating Facts & Figures At The Midpoint Review - 21st FIFA World Cup - Russia 2018

By - Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)

Trends Herald The Dawn Of A New Era In World Football!

The 21st FIFA World Cup is currently underway in 11 bustling historic cities, around the beautiful host country of Russia. After 11 hectic days of non-stop, group-match-action, which started on Thu, 14 June, two rounds of matches have been completed on Sun, 24 June 2018 in the eight different groups. The competition has therefore reached its mathematical mid-point of 32 matches, out of a total of 64 matches that are scheduled to be held at this World Cup.

I have been closely following 11 Football World Cups starting from 1978. Once every four years I get bitten by this "World-Cup-Statistics-Bug". The details that have emerged from the personal notes that I have been meticulously maintaining about these 32 matches so far at this World Cup, after two rounds of clashes between the 32 teams that were divided into 8 groups from Groups A to H, comprising of 4 teams each, are quite revealing and fascinating. I am writing this note to make a record of the developments in this World Cup, and archive it for my blog.

It is seen that many of the top flight teams, including 3 World Champions - Brazil, Germany, and Argentina - who amongst themselves have won 11 out of the 20 previous World Cups, are struggling to make it to the knock-out rounds. So much so, only 2 of the current top-ranked 10 teams in the world, that is 3rd ranked Belgium and 7th ranked France are as of now, assured of a passage into the round of 16.

The defending champions and 4-time winner Germany, currently ranked No 1, have just about managed to keep their hopes alive, courtesy of that miraculous 95th-minute life-saving strike by Kroos, in their second group match against Sweden the other night. They were earlier upset 1-0 by the 15th ranked Mexico in the opening defense of their title. The 2nd ranked Brazil was also held to a 1-1 draw in their opening fixture by 6th ranked Switzerland. In their next match, two fortunate, late injury-time goals in the 91st and 97th minutes against 23 ranked Costa Rica, has just about kept Brazilian hopes alive in this tournament. 5th ranked Messi's Argentinian team are in a worse situation, they were first held to a 1-1 draw by 22 ranked World Cup debutants Iceland in their opening match, and they were later comprehensively thrashed 3-0 by 20th ranked Croatia in their second group game, leaving them wallowing in the bottom of Group D.

The above-mentioned were some of the worst horror-stories of this cup. Having said that, as always, this World Cup also has its share of fairytale stories as well. The most fascinating one is that of the 'Russian Miracle'. Where former champions are doubtful of entering the last 16, the hosts Russia, who are also the lowest 70th ranked team have unbelievably qualified for the knock-outs, and that too with the highest goal difference of +7 which makes them currently sit on top of their group, before the last set of group matches. Iceland holding Argentina in the debut match, re-emergence of England as a force to reckon with on the global stage and the coming of age of the Belgian and Croatian team are heartening developments, that give hope for more excitement in the soccer world in the coming years.

Only 7 teams have so far qualified for the last 16. Besides Russia, Belgium, and France, 12th ranked England, 14th ranked Uruguay, 15th ranked Mexico and 20th ranked Croatia have already made the cut, irrespective of the results of the remaining matches. The final group matches that will be held simultaneously between the 4 teams of each group are scheduled to be held over the next four days, involving 2 groups every day, between Mon, 25 June and Thu, 28 June 2018. These final group games will decide the team ranking of the different teams in the various groups. Which will consequently finalize as to whom each team will require to overcome in the next round, to progress further in the tournament?

Sadly, a total of 9 teams have already been eliminated from this tournament. Just to break down the teams Continent-wise, 2 out of the 3 Central American teams 23rd ranked Costa Rica and 55th ranked debutants Panama are out. 3 out of the 5 African teams 21st ranked Tunisia, 41st ranked Morocco and 45th ranked Egypt have been eliminated. So also 2 out of the 4 Asian teams 57th ranked South Korea and 67th ranked Saudi Arabia are going home. The most shocking early exits were that of 8th ranked Poland and the 11th ranked South American team Peru. This leaves a total of 16 teams vying for the remaining 9 berths, that are available in the last 16.

For the statistically-inclined readers, here is a bit of goals-trivia.

There were a total of 85 goals scored in the 32 matches so far.

The Average-Goal-Per-Game thus far is 2.66.

The Continent-wise breakdown of the goals are like this, the 14 European teams have scored a total of 53 of these goals, with Russia, Belgium, and England leading with 8 goals each. The 5 African teams have scored 10 goals, with Senegal scoring 4 of them. So also the 5 South American teams have scored a total of 10 goals so far with Colombia in the lead with 4 of those 10 goals. The 5 countries of Asia & Oceania have scored 8 goals with Japan leading with 4 goals. Finally, the 3 Central American teams scored a total of 4 goals out of these 3 goals were scored by Mexico.

The Group-wise breakdown of goals in descending order is like this, Group G is the leader with 20, followed by H with 13, A with 11, B & D scored 9 goals each, E & F scored 8 each, finally the tally is rounded off by Group C which has the least number of goals, totaling a paltry 7 from their 4 matches.

Some other interesting facts and figures that have emerged are as under.

There have been no goal-less draws in the 32 games so far in this World Cup. Each and every single match had produced at least one goal.

There were a total of only 5 draws, and the other 27 games had a winner.

The 5 drawn games in the cup so far, were distributed 1 apiece, in Groups B, C, D and H. 3 out of these 5 drawn games were tied at 1-1 and there were 1 draw each that was tied at 2-2 and 3-3 respectively.

The breakdown of the 8 different types of victory margins into which we can divide the 27 wins out of the 32 matches are as given below:-

1. Margin of 1 - 0 = 10 matches

2. Margin of 2 - 0 = 3 matches

3. Margin of 3 - 0 = 3 matches

4. Margin of 5 - 0 = 1 match

5. Margin of 2 - 1 = 7 matches

6. Margin of 3 - 1 = 1 match

7. Margin of 6 - 1 = 1 match

8. Margin of 5 - 2 = 1 match

The fastest goal of the cup was scored by Ronaldo for Portugal in the 4th minute in 2 separate matches against 2 different oppositions, namely Spain and Morocco.

The latest goal in any match was scored by Neymar for Brazil against Costa Rica in the 97th minute. This is also a record for a non-extra-time game, for all world cups.

The most goals scored by a team in their 2 matches is 8. This was accomplished by 3 teams - Russia, Belgium, and England.

The most goals conceded by a team is 9 by debutants Panama.

4 teams - Costa Rica, Morocco, Peru and Saudi Arabia have not scored any goals yet in their 2 matches.

2 teams Croatia and Uruguay have maintained clean sheets in their 2 matches.

The best goal difference of +7 belongs to Russia.

The worst goal difference of -8 is held by Panama.

The most goals in a match scored by both teams is 7. Belgium 5-2 Tunisia & England 6-1 Panama.

The most goals scored in a match by one team is 6 by England v Panama.

The biggest margin of victory is 5 goals. Russia 5-0 Saudi Arabia & England 6-1 Panama.

The 1st goal of the tournament was scored in the 12th minute of the inaugural match for the hosts Russia by Gazinsky against Saudi Arabia.

The oldest goal scorer is 37 years 120 days old Felipe Baloy of Panama who created history by scoring the 1st World Cup goal for his country against England.

The youngest goalscorer is 19 years 183 days old Kylian Mbappe of France who scored against Peru.

Currently, Harry Kane of England with 5 goals has scored the most goals in the tournament so far and is the leading contender for the Golden Boot award.

He is followed by Ronaldo of Portugal and Lukaku of Belgium with 4 goals each in their 2 matches.

There have been 2 hat-tricks so far, 1 each by Ronaldo for Portugal and Harry Kane for England.

Ronaldo from Portugal had scored the 1st hat-trick in the 3-3 draw against Spain.

Besides this, there are a total of 8 braces with Lukaku of Belgium scoring 2 of them.

A total of 16 penalty kicks were awarded and 13 of them were scored from. Jedinak of Australia and Kane of England are the leading penalty scorers having converted 2 each.

The penalty kick success rate is therefore 81.25%.

The 3 penalties that were missed so far were by Messi for Argentina v Iceland, Cueva for Peru v Denmark and Sigurosson of Iceland v Nigeria.

This tournament has also seen 5 Own Goals conceded so far, 1 each by Morocco, Australia, Nigeria, Poland and Egypt.

11 goals were famously scored in the injury time, these include the face-saving German goal against Sweden and the Brazilian double-strike against Costa Rica, which have mercifully kept these 2 giants alive in this tournament.

The Swiss were the only team to come from behind and win their match 1-2 against Serbia. Japan also came from behind but drew their match 2-2 against Senegal.

Japan also created history by becoming the first Asian team to beat a South American Team when they defeated Columbia 2-1.

Besides the above upset, the Mexico 1-0 Germany & Croatia 3-0 Argentina defeats, were unexpected and stunning reversals, for the two former champions.

There are many interesting scenarios that have emerged in the various groups after the first 32 games. The tasks are cut out for the various teams, in order to qualify. For many teams, their knock-out games for surviving in the cup have already started. It is also good for teams to enter the last 16 on a winning note. A quick glance at the group standings shows us that the Groups A & G are already finalized, now only the leaders need to be identified after the last set of games. Interestingly in Group B if Iran can stun Portugal they can go through with Spain into the next round. In Group C if Denmark can beat France they will qualify top of the group. Australia can also progress from this group if they thrash Peru and Denmark is beaten by France. Only Croatia in Group D is secure of their first position. However, if Iceland beat Croatia, they could qualify on goal difference, even if Argentina beats Nigeria. In Group E if Switzerland defeats Costa Rica by over 2 goals and Brazil are held or defeated by Serbia then they will top the group. If Serbia defeats Brazil they will qualify. In Group F there is everything to play for, as there could be a 3-way tie if Sweden beat Mexico and Germany gets the better of South Korea with 3 teams on 6 points each. Finally, in Group H, seeded Poland is out and the rest of the three Japan, Senegal and Columbia can get through with the right result. However for Columbia to make it happen, they have only one way and that is to beat Senegal and qualify for the round of 16.

On the evidence of what we have seen thus far, we can safely say that the world of soccer is undergoing a churn and new pretenders to the throne have emerged. The likes of Belgium, Mexico, England, and Croatia have considerably narrowed the gap with the big boys of the game. But then I feel it is too early to write the obituaries of the traditional powerhouse teams, they have the historic pedigree, emotional resilience and a proud tradition of winning against the odds.

However, I have this sneaking feeling that this year might see the coronation of a new and unheralded team as the "Kings Of Soccer". We clearly see the makings of a new dawn, in this changing world of modern-day football. The very construct of life and nature is built on a foundation of rediscovery. "Change" is the all-pervasive constant, of the law of life. The history of mankind is one that is replete with endless changes, in every sphere of life, soccer included. I am reminded of poet Alfred Tennyson's immortal words from the poem 'Passing Of Arthur" where he echoes this sentiment "The old order changeth yielding place to new and God fulfills himself in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world." If one looks back at history, one will see that the Peles, Platinis, and Maradonas from the bygone golden era had made way for the likes of Ronaldos, Neymars and Messis, the contemporary superstars, now it looks like the time for them also to fade into memory has come, in order to allow for the Sun to shine on the immensely talented likes of Mo Salahs, Modrics and Lukakus of the soccer world, who will be the new heroes going forward.

I am looking forward to the last set of matches over the next four days, which will reveal to us ardent soccer-lovers, the final 16, and who will play whom, in the business-end of the tournament. Despite what was written above by me, my undying loyalty and eternal love for the Verde-Amarela army of my beloved Selecao is still rooting for and hoping that my favorite team Brazil, will clinch their 6th title this year.

Come on B-R-A-Z-I-L - B-R-A-Z-I-L !!!!!