Archive for World Cup
2022 World Cup round 8 goals review
2 goals were scored in the first half whilst 4 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 64 | |
| Home wins | 29 | 45.3 |
| Away wins | 20 | 31.3 |
| Drawn | 15 | 23.4 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 10.9 |
| Goals | 172 | |
| Goals/game | 2.7 | |
| First half goals | 67 | 39.0 |
| Second half goals | 105 | 61.0 |
| Home team goals | 101 | 58.7 |
| Away team goals | 71 | 41.3 |
delicious
digg
2022 World Cup round 7 goals review
3 goals were scored in the first half whilst 0 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 63 | |
| Home wins | 29 | 46.0 |
| Away wins | 20 | 31.7 |
| Drawn | 14 | 22.2 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 11.1 |
| Goals | 166 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 65 | 39.2 |
| Second half goals | 101 | 60.8 |
| Home team goals | 98 | 59.0 |
| Away team goals | 68 | 41.0 |
2022 World Cup round 6 goals review
3 goals were scored in the first half whilst 2 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 62 | |
| Home wins | 28 | 45.2 |
| Away wins | 20 | 32.3 |
| Drawn | 14 | 22.6 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 11.3 |
| Goals | 163 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 62 | 38.0 |
| Second half goals | 101 | 62.0 |
| Home team goals | 96 | 58.9 |
| Away team goals | 67 | 41.1 |
2022 World Cup round 5 goals review
3 goals were scored in the first half whilst 7 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 60 | |
| Home wins | 26 | 43.3 |
| Away wins | 20 | 33.3 |
| Drawn | 14 | 23.3 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 11.7 |
| Goals | 158 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 59 | 37.3 |
| Second half goals | 99 | 62.7 |
| Home team goals | 91 | 57.6 |
| Away team goals | 67 | 42.4 |
2022 World Cup round 4 goals review
13 goals were scored in the first half whilst 15 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 56 | |
| Home wins | 25 | 44.6 |
| Away wins | 19 | 33.9 |
| Drawn | 12 | 21.4 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 12.5 |
| Goals | 148 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 56 | 37.8 |
| Second half goals | 92 | 62.2 |
| Home team goals | 86 | 58.1 |
| Away team goals | 62 | 41.9 |
2022 World Cup round 3 goals review
16 goals were scored in the first half whilst 23 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 48 | |
| Home wins | 19 | 39.6 |
| Away wins | 19 | 39.6 |
| Drawn | 10 | 20.8 |
| Goalless draws | 6 | 12.5 |
| Goals | 120 | |
| Goals/game | 2.5 | |
| First half goals | 43 | 35.8 |
| Second half goals | 77 | 64.2 |
| Home team goals | 64 | 53.3 |
| Away team goals | 56 | 46.7 |
2022 World Cup round 2 goals review
12 goals were scored in the first half whilst 28 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 32 | |
| Home wins | 13 | 40.6 |
| Away wins | 10 | 31.3 |
| Drawn | 9 | 28.1 |
| Goalless draws | 5 | 15.6 |
| Goals | 81 | |
| Goals/game | 2.5 | |
| First half goals | 27 | 33.3 |
| Second half goals | 54 | 66.7 |
| Home team goals | 48 | 59.3 |
| Away team goals | 33 | 40.7 |
2022 World Cup round 1 goals review
15 goals were scored in the first half whilst 26 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 16 | |
| Home wins | 7 | 43.8 |
| Away wins | 4 | 25.0 |
| Drawn | 5 | 31.3 |
| Goalless draws | 4 | 25.0 |
| Goals | 41 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 15 | 36.6 |
| Second half goals | 26 | 63.4 |
| Home team goals | 27 | 65.9 |
| Away team goals | 14 | 34.1 |
2018 World Cup round 8 goals review
3 goals were scored in the first half whilst 3 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 64 | |
| Home wins | 25 | 39.1 |
| Away wins | 26 | 40.6 |
| Drawn | 13 | 20.3 |
| Goalless draws | 1 | 1.6 |
| Goals | 169 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 65 | 38.5 |
| Second half goals | 104 | 61.5 |
| Home team goals | 90 | 53.3 |
| Away team goals | 79 | 46.7 |
2018 World Cup round 7 goals review
1 goals were scored in the first half whilst 1 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 63 | |
| Home wins | 24 | 38.1 |
| Away wins | 26 | 41.3 |
| Drawn | 13 | 20.6 |
| Goalless draws | 1 | 1.6 |
| Goals | 163 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 62 | 38.0 |
| Second half goals | 101 | 62.0 |
| Home team goals | 86 | 52.8 |
| Away team goals | 77 | 47.2 |
2018 World Cup round 6 goals review
1 goals were scored in the first half whilst 3 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 62 | |
| Home wins | 23 | 37.1 |
| Away wins | 26 | 41.9 |
| Drawn | 13 | 21.0 |
| Goalless draws | 1 | 1.6 |
| Goals | 161 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 61 | 37.9 |
| Second half goals | 100 | 62.1 |
| Home team goals | 84 | 52.2 |
| Away team goals | 77 | 47.8 |
2018 World Cup round 5 goals review
6 goals were scored in the first half whilst 5 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 60 | |
| Home wins | 22 | 36.7 |
| Away wins | 25 | 41.7 |
| Drawn | 13 | 21.7 |
| Goalless draws | 1 | 1.7 |
| Goals | 157 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 60 | 38.2 |
| Second half goals | 97 | 61.8 |
| Home team goals | 82 | 52.2 |
| Away team goals | 75 | 47.8 |
2018 World Cup round 4 goals review
7 goals were scored in the first half whilst 17 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 56 | |
| Home wins | 22 | 39.3 |
| Away wins | 22 | 39.3 |
| Drawn | 12 | 21.4 |
| Goalless draws | 1 | 1.8 |
| Goals | 146 | |
| Goals/game | 2.6 | |
| First half goals | 54 | 37.0 |
| Second half goals | 92 | 63.0 |
| Home team goals | 79 | 54.1 |
| Away team goals | 67 | 45.9 |
2018 World Cup round 3 goals review
12 goals were scored in the first half whilst 25 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 48 | |
| Home wins | 17 | 35.4 |
| Away wins | 22 | 45.8 |
| Drawn | 9 | 18.8 |
| Goalless draws | 1 | 2.1 |
| Goals | 122 | |
| Goals/game | 2.5 | |
| First half goals | 47 | 38.5 |
| Second half goals | 75 | 61.5 |
| Home team goals | 64 | 52.5 |
| Away team goals | 58 | 47.5 |
2018 World Cup round 2 goals review
20 goals were scored in the first half whilst 27 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 32 | |
| Home wins | 14 | 43.8 |
| Away wins | 13 | 40.6 |
| Drawn | 5 | 15.6 |
| Goalless draws | 0 | 0.0 |
| Goals | 85 | |
| Goals/game | 2.7 | |
| First half goals | 35 | 41.2 |
| Second half goals | 50 | 58.8 |
| Home team goals | 49 | 57.6 |
| Away team goals | 36 | 42.4 |
2018 World Cup round 1 goals review
15 goals were scored in the first half whilst 23 were scored after half-time.
Here is the league summary so far this season:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 16 | |
| Home wins | 5 | 31.3 |
| Away wins | 8 | 50.0 |
| Drawn | 3 | 18.8 |
| Goalless draws | 0 | 0.0 |
| Goals | 38 | |
| Goals/game | 2.4 | |
| First half goals | 15 | 39.5 |
| Second half goals | 23 | 60.5 |
| Home team goals | 21 | 55.3 |
| Away team goals | 17 | 44.7 |
Martino takes over Argentina
Martino replaces Alejandro Sabella who took the South American nation to the final of the 2014 World Cup where they lost to Germany.
Martino left Barcelona after the Catalan club failed to win any piece of silver. Barcelona also finished second behind Atletico Madrid.
The former Paraguay coach will now be tasked with taking Argentina to glory at the 2015 Copa America.
Here is some stats for Martino at Barcelona in the 2013/14 season:
| Barcelona 2013/14 season | |
|---|---|
| Rank | 2 |
| Played | 38 |
| Points | 87 |
| Won | 27 |
| Drawn | 6 |
| Lost | 5 |
| Goal difference | 67 |
| Clean sheets | 16 |
| Failed to score | 6 |
| Goals scored | 100 |
| Goals conceded | 33 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 |
| Biggest win | Barcelona 7 - 0 Levante Barcelona 7 - 0 Osasuna |
| Biggest loss | Sociedad 3 - 1 Barcelona |
| Scored 3 or more | 20 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 3 |
| Scored 5 or more | 4 |
| Conceded 5 or more | 0 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 50 |
| Won | 16 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Goal difference | 49 |
| Goals scored | 64 |
| Goals conceded | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 37 |
| Won | 11 |
| Drawn | 4 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Goal difference | 18 |
| Goals scored | 36 |
| Goals conceded | 18 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 |
Dunga takes over from Scolari
Dunga was in charge for four years from 2006 up to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
The team bowed out in the quarter-finals when they lost to the eventual runners up Netherlands.
Like Dunga Scolari was on his second team coaching Brazil but his team suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat at the hands of champions Germany.
Here is some stats for Brazil in the group stages where Scolari looked he had team that could challenge for the trophy:
| Brazil Group stages | |
|---|---|
| Played | 3 |
| Points | 7 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 1 |
| Lost | 0 |
| Goal difference | 5 |
| Clean sheets | 1 |
| Failed to score | 2 |
| Goals scored | 7 |
| Goals conceded | 2 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.7 |
| Biggest win | Cameroon 1 - 4 Brazil |
| Biggest loss | No loss |
| Scored 3 or more | 2 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 0 |
| Scored 5 or more | 0 |
| Conceded 5 or more | 0 |
Here is a table showing all the goals scored by each team:
| Team | Goals |
|---|---|
| Iran | 1 |
| Honduras | 1 |
| Cameroon | 1 |
| Russia | 2 |
| Japan | 2 |
| Italy | 2 |
| England | 2 |
| Nigeria | 3 |
| Korea | 3 |
| Greece | 3 |
| Ecuador | 3 |
| Australia | 3 |
| Uruguay | 4 |
| Spain | 4 |
| Portugal | 4 |
| Ivory Coast | 4 |
| Ghana | 4 |
| Bosnia | 4 |
| USA | 5 |
| Mexico | 5 |
| Costa Rica | 5 |
| Croatia | 6 |
| Chile | 6 |
| Belgium | 6 |
| Switzerland | 7 |
| Algeria | 7 |
| Argentina | 8 |
| France | 10 |
| Brazil | 11 |
| Colombia | 12 |
| Netherlands | 15 |
| Germany | 18 |
Total Goals Scored : 171
Germany wins 2014 World Cup
Germany scored in the second half of extra time when the match looked like it was heading for penalties.
Germany finished being top goal scorers and without needing penalties to win a match.
Germany has now won four World Cups. They are one behind Brazil who have won five.
The next World Cup will be in Russia in 2014.
Here is the 2014 FIFA World Cup summary:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 64 | |
| Home wins | 28 | 43.8 |
| Away wins | 23 | 35.9 |
| Drawn | 13 | 20.3 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 10.9 |
| Goals | 171 | |
| Goals/game | 2.7 | |
| First half goals | 65 | 38.0 |
| Second half goals | 106 | 62.0 |
| Home team goals | 81 | 47.4 |
| Away team goals | 90 | 52.6 |
Netherlands claim third place
The results means that the host team has now shipped ten goals in its last two matches scoring just one on return.
Also seven of those ten goals Brazil has conceded have been in the first half.
The next match and the 64th of the World Cup will now be the final where Germany will play Argentina.
Here is the 2014 FIFA World Cup summary :
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 63 | |
| Home wins | 27 | 42.9 |
| Away wins | 23 | 36.5 |
| Drawn | 13 | 20.6 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 11.1 |
| Goals | 170 | |
| Goals/game | 2.7 | |
| First half goals | 65 | 38.2 |
| Second half goals | 105 | 61.8 |
| Home team goals | 80 | 47.1 |
| Away team goals | 90 | 52.9 |
Brazil break goal margin trend
With two matches to go the most popular goal margin win is a one goal margin with the one for 6 goals not surprisingly being the least.
So far three teams have lost by a four goal margin including defending champions Spain.
Here is a table showing all winning goal margins so far at the 2014 FIFA World Cup:
| Goal Margin | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 13 | 21.0 |
| 1 | 28 | 45.2 |
| 2 | 10 | 16.1 |
| 3 | 7 | 11.3 |
| 4 | 3 | 4.8 |
| 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 1 | 1.6 |
Its Germany-Argentina final
Germany scored five goals in a blistering first half and then two more in the second.
Brazil scored a face saving goal in the dying minutes of the match.
The other semi produced no goals during normal play and Argentina needed penalties to reach the final.
half-time.
Here is the 2014 FIFA World Cup summary so far:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 62 | |
| Home wins | 27 | 43.5 |
| Away wins | 22 | 35.5 |
| Drawn | 13 | 21.0 |
| Goalless draws | 7 | 11.3 |
| Goals | 167 | |
| Goals/game | 2.7 | |
| First half goals | 63 | 37.7 |
| Second half goals | 104 | 62.3 |
| Home team goals | 80 | 47.9 |
| Away team goals | 87 | 52.1 |
2014 World Cup round 5 goals review
3 goals were scored in the first half whilst 2 were scored after half-time.
Here is the 2014 World Cup summary so far:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 60 | |
| Home wins | 27 | 45.0 |
| Away wins | 21 | 35.0 |
| Drawn | 12 | 20.0 |
| Goalless draws | 6 | 10.0 |
| Goals | 159 | |
| Goals/game | 2.7 | |
| First half goals | 58 | 36.5 |
| Second half goals | 101 | 63.5 |
| Home team goals | 79 | 49.7 |
| Away team goals | 80 | 50.3 |
Group winners rule round of 16
3 goals were scored in the first half whilst 15 were scored after half-time.
None of the group runners up managed to reach the quarter-final stage and no team managed to score more than two goals.
Here is the 2014 World Cup summary so far:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 56 | |
| Home wins | 25 | 44.6 |
| Away wins | 20 | 35.7 |
| Drawn | 11 | 19.6 |
| Goalless draws | 5 | 8.9 |
| Goals | 154 | |
| Goals/game | 2.8 | |
| First half goals | 55 | 35.7 |
| Second half goals | 99 | 64.3 |
| Home team goals | 76 | 49.4 |
| Away team goals | 78 | 50.6 |
Battle of the confederations
The 11 member Oceania Football Confederation(OFC) was not represented at this tournament after New Zealand lost to Mexico in the play-offs otherwise all the five confederations are represented.
Here is a table showing the performance of each confederation:
| UEFA | CONMEBOL | CONCACAF | CAF | AFC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 13 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Won | 18 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| Win % | 46.2 | 72.2 | 41.7 | 20.0 | 0.0 |
| Drawn | 7 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Draw % | 18.0 | 11.1 | 25.0 | 20.0 | 25.0 |
| Lost | 14 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 10 |
| Loss % | 35.9 | 16.8 | 33.3 | 60.0 | 83.3 |
| 2nd Rnd | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| % 2nd Rnd | 46.1 | 83.3 | 75.0 | 40.0 | 0.0 |
| Won Grp | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| % Won Grp | 30.8 | 50% | 25.0 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
So far the best performing Confederation is the host one with five out of its six teams getting into the second round and half its teams winning their groups.
The worst performing Confederations is the Asian Confederation whose teams failed to get a single win and the best they could do is have two teams getting two draws for its haul of two points.
Netherlands finish group stage in style
The win means that the Netherlands will meet Mexico in the second round after Mexico also triumphed over Croatia to take second place.
Elsewhere they were debut second round for Algeria and Greece who will meet Germany and Costa respectively.
Here is a table showing all the teams in one big table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| Colombia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Argentina | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Belgium | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| France | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Germany | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Costa Rica | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Mexico | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Chile | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Uruguay | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| Algeria | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| USA | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Ecuador | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Greece | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 4 |
| Portugal | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 4 |
| Croatia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| Bosnia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Ivory Coast | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 3 |
| Italy | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| Spain | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
| Russia | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 2 |
| Ghana | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 1 |
| England | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 1 |
| Korea | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 1 |
| Iran | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 1 |
| Japan | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 1 |
| Australia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 0 |
| Honduras | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | -7 | 0 |
| Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | -8 | 0 |
So Cameroon prop the table having lost all its matches.
The other teams to fail to get a point are Australia and Honduras.
All teams managed to score at least one goal.
2014 World Cup round 3 goals review
15 goals were scored in the first half whilst 27 were scored after half-time.
Here is the 2014 FIFA World Cup group stage summary:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 48 | |
| Home wins | 20 | 41.7 |
| Away wins | 19 | 39.6 |
| Drawn | 9 | 18.8 |
| Goalless draws | 5 | 10.4 |
| Goals | 136 | |
| Goals/game | 2.8 | |
| First half goals | 52 | 38.2 |
| Second half goals | 84 | 61.8 |
| Home team goals | 64 | 47.1 |
| Away team goals | 72 | 52.9 |
France top after two matches
After creating a table which puts all the teams together in one big group, France has six points and also a group difference of six.
Other teams on six points are Belgium, Chile, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Argentina and Colombia.
Lying at the bottom of that table with no points and a goal difference of -6.
Below is the table in full:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| Chile | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Colombia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Costa Rica | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Argentina | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Belgium | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Germany | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Brazil | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| USA | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Mexico | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Nigeria | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Croatia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Algeria | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Ecuador | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Ivory Coast | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Italy | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Uruguay | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 3 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 3 |
| Ghana | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 1 |
| Japan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| Russia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| Iran | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 1 |
| Korea | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 1 |
| Greece | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| Portugal | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 1 |
| England | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 0 |
| Bosnia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
| Australia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 0 |
| Honduras | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| Cameroon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 0 |
| Spain | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 0 |
2014 World Cup round 2 goals review
17 goals were scored in the first half whilst 28 were scored after half-time.
The France/Switzerland match saw seven goals scored whilst the Algeria/South Korea match added a further six goals to the total.
The highest scoring draw has been 2-all. So every team that has scored three goals has gone on to win the match.
Here is the summary so far for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 32 | |
| Home wins | 15 | 46.9 |
| Away wins | 11 | 34.4 |
| Drawn | 6 | 18.8 |
| Goalless draws | 3 | 9.4 |
| Goals | 94 | |
| Goals/game | 2.9 | |
| First half goals | 37 | 39.4 |
| Second half goals | 57 | 60.6 |
| Home team goals | 48 | 51.1 |
| Away team goals | 46 | 48.9 |
Costa Rica win knocks out England
The result means that England can only amass a maximum three points with one match left now whilst Italy or Uruguay will have one of them at six points or both at four points.
England will now join Australia, Cameroon and Spain in playing their last match with nothing to play for but pride and ranking points.
Italy will progress to the knockout stages with a draw whilst Uruguay needs to win to stay in Brazil.
Spain, Socceroos exit World Cup
Spain become only the fifth defending champion to exit the tournament at the Group stage level.
The last team to do so was France in the 2002 edition of the tournament hosted by Japan and South Korea.
The Socceroos can only finish on three points if they beat Spain but that will not be enough and they also head home.
The last match between the defending champions and the Socceroos will just be to avoid the wooden spoon. A draw will be enough to consign Spain to fourth place.
Goals galore in World Cup group matches
20 goals were scored in the first half whilst 29 were scored after half-time.
There were only two draws in round 1 from a total of 16 matches.
Nigeria and Iran played out the first goalless draw of the tournament whilst Russia and Korea finished off the round with a one-all draw.
Here is the summary so far:
| Number | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches played | 17 | |
| Home wins | 10 | 58.8 |
| Away wins | 4 | 23.5 |
| Drawn | 3 | 17.6 |
| Goalless draws | 2 | 11.8 |
| Goals | 49 | |
| Goals/game | 2.9 | |
| First half goals | 20 | 40.8 |
| Second half goals | 29 | 59.2 |
| Home team goals | 30 | 61.2 |
| Away team goals | 19 | 38.8 |
Spain, Netherlands in same group
The 2014 FIFA World Cup draw has pitted the defending champions against the runners-up in the same group and they will be joined by Chile and Australia.
The hosts Brazil are going to meet Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon.
Elsewhere in Group D there is Uruguay, England, Italy and Costa Rica.
These are all the eight groups:
Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon.
Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia.
Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan.
Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy.
Group E : Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras.
Group F: Argentina, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Iran, Nigeria.
Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA.
Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea.
TipsChallenge will once again be running a tipping competition for the World Cup and the fixtures will be ready soon.
Socceroos, Korea, Iran secure World Cup places
The three countries join Japan who had already qualified after topping Asian qualifying Group B.
Iran topped Group A whilst South Korea came in second place.
Asian has four and half places and the the teams that finished third in the qualifying groups will play each other with the winner facing the fifth placed South American team.
So Jordan will meet Uzbekistan in the play-off to be played in September.
Serie A back strike called off
The first match of the season will therefore be between the defending champions AC Milan against Lazio.
Last seasons's runners up Inter Milan will play Palermo away whilst Juventus will host Parma.
The first round of the season was cancelled after the players called for strike action.
Russia, Qatar hosts World Cup in 2018, 2022
It will be the first time for both countries to host the event.
For Qatar who are hosting the 2011 Asian Cup, it will be the first time the World Cup has been hosted in the Middle East.
The results mean that the FIFA 2026 will be in North America, South America, Africa or Oceania.
Osieck takes Socceroos helm
Osieck who has experience in Asian football will lead the Socceroos at the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar.
After the Asian Cup his task will turn to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
If the Socceroos win the Asian title in Qatar then there will be the 2013 Confederations Cup to contend with as well.
More about Osieck's background can be found here.
Spain, Paraguay best defences in World Cup
Spain had the best defence conceding just two goals in seven matches but Paraguay came second conceding also two goals but in five matches.
After five matches, Paraguay and Uruguay were on the same footing with two goals conceded but Uruguay went on to concede a further six goals in its next two matches to slip down the defence ranking.
Switzerland and Portugal each conceded one goal each but the Swiss only played three matches and Portugal four.
Portugal and Uruguay were in fact the only two teams not to concede a goal in the group stages.
Below is table showing all the goals conceded by each team:
| Team | Goals |
|---|---|
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Paraguay | 2 |
| New Zealand | 2 |
| Japan | 2 |
| Algeria | 2 |
| Slovenia | 3 |
| Serbia | 3 |
| Ivory Coast | 3 |
| Honduras | 3 |
| Ghana | 4 |
| France | 4 |
| Brazil | 4 |
| USA | 5 |
| South Africa | 5 |
| Nigeria | 5 |
| Mexico | 5 |
| Italy | 5 |
| Greece | 5 |
| Germany | 5 |
| England | 5 |
| Chile | 5 |
| Cameroon | 5 |
| Netherlands | 6 |
| Denmark | 6 |
| Australia | 6 |
| Argentina | 6 |
| Slovakia | 7 |
| Uruguay | 8 |
| Korea | 8 |
| Korea DPR | 12 |
World Cup goals decline in 2010
A total of 145 goals were scored with 59 scored in the first half and the remaining 86 in the second.
This number is not very much different from the goals scored four years when 147 goals were scored.
But there is a huge difference when this is compared with 2002 and 1998 where 161 and 171 goals were scored as shown in the table below:
| World Cup | Goals |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 145 |
| 2006 | 147 |
| 2002 | 161 |
| 1998 | 171 |
If the decline in the number of goals continues in 2014 its quite possible that the number of goals scored then could be less than the 141 scored in the 1994 edition hosted by the United States but which featured 24 teams and 52 matches.
The table below shows the number of goals scored by each team:
| Team | Goals |
|---|---|
| Honduras | 0 |
| Algeria | 0 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Korea DPR | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| Serbia | 2 |
| New Zealand | 2 |
| Greece | 2 |
| Cameroon | 2 |
| South Africa | 3 |
| Slovenia | 3 |
| Paraguay | 3 |
| Nigeria | 3 |
| England | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 |
| Chile | 3 |
| Australia | 3 |
| Mexico | 4 |
| Japan | 4 |
| Ivory Coast | 4 |
| Italy | 4 |
| USA | 5 |
| Slovakia | 5 |
| Ghana | 5 |
| Korea | 6 |
| Portugal | 7 |
| Spain | 8 |
| Brazil | 9 |
| Argentina | 10 |
| Uruguay | 11 |
| Netherlands | 12 |
| Germany | 16 |
Total Goals Scored : 145
Spain lifts World Cup
Spain who were playing in their maiden World Cup final, made it third time unlucky for the Netherlands who had lost in the final twice before.
Like the previous matches in the knockout stages, Spain won by scoring just one goal but this time the goal was scored in extra time after the match finished goalless after ninety minutes.
Spain's goal was 145th of the tournament and Spain conceded just two in the whole tournament.
The Netherlands had gone into the final unbeaten and they found it hard to score against that last conceded a goal in the group stages.
Today I will just show the table that includes all the matches played and see how it looks now that the tournament is finished.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 18 |
| Spain | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 18 |
| Germany | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 15 |
| Argentina | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| Uruguay | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| Brazil | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| Ghana | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Japan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Paraguay | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Chile | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 6 |
| Portugal | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
| USA | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| England | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 5 |
| Ivory Coast | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Slovenia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Mexico | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| Korea | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 4 |
| Slovakia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 4 |
| South Africa | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 |
| Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Serbia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 3 |
| Greece | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 3 |
| Italy | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 2 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 1 |
| Algeria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| France | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 1 |
| Honduras | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 |
| Korea DPR | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 12 | -11 | 0 |
So this being a goal difference based table, Netherlands finishes top on number of goals scored but it would have been different if I consider head to head.
World Cup final: Netherlands vs Spain
It will be the third final for the Dutch but for Spain its the first time to reach this stage.
The Netherlands are unbeaten so far having won all their matches and they have scored 12 goals in the process and are currently second in the goal scoring charts behind Germany.
Spain hasn't been scoring many goals since the knockout stages and the knockout stage matches have all been won by an odd goal.
In the group stages Spain two goals against Honduras and Chile and they got their highest winning margin against Honduras.
Chile was the last team to score against Spain and the only other team to score against them was Switzerland.
Now I will take a look at the winning trend for the Netherlands:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Netherlands leading at half time, Netherlands winning at full time | 2 | 33.3 |
| Netherlands leading at half time, Netherlands losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Netherlands trailing at half time, Netherlands winning at full time | 1 | 16.7 |
| Netherlands trailing at half time, Netherlands losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Netherlands drawing at half time, Netherlands winning at full time | 3 | 50.0 |
| Netherlands drawing at half time, Netherlands losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Matches ending in result | 6 | 100.0 |
So the Dutch have 100% winning record and its important to note both teams have not played extra time so far.
The winning trend for Spain:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Spain leading at half time, Spain winning at full time | 2 | 33.3 |
| Spain leading at half time, Spain losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Spain trailing at half time, Spain winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Spain trailing at half time, Spain losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Spain drawing at half time, Spain winning at full time | 3 | 50.0 |
| Spain drawing at half time, Spain losing at full time | 1 | 16.7 |
| Matches ending in result | 6 | 100.0 |
The majority of Spain's wins have come in a match when they have gone into the break drawn and then score the winning goal in the second half.
So it will be interesting to see what changes in the trends will take place for the 2010 FIFA World Cup final as one team ends as a loser.
Germans finish third
Germany scored the first goal but the match was tied going into half time.
Soon after half time the Germans saw themselves behind as Uruguay became the first team to score more than one goal against Germany at this tournament.
Germany came from behind to secure the bronze medal.
This was Uruguay's second successive 3-2 loss having lost by the same scoreline against the Dutch in the semi-final match.
From having conceded just two goals before the semis, Uruguay have now gone from 2 conceded to 8 conceded in just two matches.
The table below shows the number of goals each team has conceded with just one more match to go:
| Team | Goals |
|---|---|
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Paraguay | 2 |
| New Zealand | 2 |
| Japan | 2 |
| Algeria | 2 |
| Slovenia | 3 |
| Serbia | 3 |
| Ivory Coast | 3 |
| Honduras | 3 |
| Ghana | 4 |
| France | 4 |
| Brazil | 4 |
| USA | 5 |
| South Africa | 5 |
| Nigeria | 5 |
| Netherlands | 5 |
| Mexico | 5 |
| Italy | 5 |
| Greece | 5 |
| Germany | 5 |
| England | 5 |
| Chile | 5 |
| Cameroon | 5 |
| Denmark | 6 |
| Australia | 6 |
| Argentina | 6 |
| Slovakia | 7 |
| Uruguay | 8 |
| Korea | 8 |
| Korea DPR | 12 |
Total Goals Conceded : 144
Unless the Dutch can score four goals against Spain in the final, Germany will finish the tournament as the highest scorers with 16 goals.
Bronze medal match: Uruguay vs Germany
Uruguay has had a very good run at this year's tournament but lost narrowly to the Netherlands in the semi-finals.
Before the semis Uruguay had not conceded more than one goal in a match and in the group stages they came out with a clean sheet.
Germany lost to Spain in its semi-final match and this was its second defeat of the tournament having lost to Serbia in the group stages.
Apart from that defeat Germany had been very impressive and scored four goals in three different matches including a 4-nil drubbing of Argentina in the quarters.
So taking a quick look at the winning trend for Uruguay:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Uruguay leading at half time, Uruguay winning at full time | 3 | 75.0 |
| Uruguay leading at half time, Uruguay losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Uruguay trailing at half time, Uruguay winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Uruguay trailing at half time, Uruguay losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Uruguay drawing at half time, Uruguay winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Uruguay drawing at half time, Uruguay losing at full time | 1 | 25.0 |
| Matches ending in result | 4 | 66.7 |
The other match not shown here was won on penalties against Ghana.
For Germany here has been the winning trend:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Germany leading at half time, Germany winning at full time | 3 | 50.0 |
| Germany leading at half time, Germany losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Germany trailing at half time, Germany winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Germany trailing at half time, Germany losing at full time | 1 | 16.7 |
| Germany drawing at half time, Germany winning at full time | 1 | 16.7 |
| Germany drawing at half time, Germany losing at full time | 1 | 16.7 |
| Matches ending in result | 6 | 100.0 |
Germany has so far not been stretched to extra time and it would be interesting to see what happens should this match reach that far.
Spain reaches maiden World Cup final
Spain will now meet the Netherlands who beat Uruguay to reach their third final.
Spain won by by an odd goal which is the same scoreline for all their knockout matches.
Germany went into the semi-final having only lost once and having scored 13 goals but they could not find the net against Spain.
The second half goal was enough for Spain to reach its first final in a match were no cautions were issued which could be the only match where that has happened so far.
I will take a look at the table that puts all the results together so far:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 18 |
| Spain | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Germany | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 12 |
| Argentina | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 6Uruguay | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| Brazil | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| Ghana | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Japan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Paraguay | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Chile | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 6 |
| Portugal | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
| USA | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| England | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 5 |
| Ivory Coast | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Slovenia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Mexico | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| Korea | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 4 |
| Slovakia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 4 |
| South Africa | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 |
| Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Serbia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 3 |
| Greece | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 3 |
| Italy | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 2 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 1 |
| Algeria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| France | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 1 |
| Honduras | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 |
| Korea DPR | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 12 | -11 | 0 |
Dutch beat Uruguay to reach third final
The Dutch scored first but Uruguay responded to get the match drawn at half time.
In the second half the Dutch scored two goals in less than five minutes to lead 3-1 and the Uruguay made for a closer scoreline with a goal in injury time.
This was the first time for both teams to concede more than one goal at this tournament.
At this point I will take a look at the scorelines so far this tournament and with three matches left:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 7 |
| 0 - 1 | 9 |
| 0 - 2 | 3 |
| 0 - 3 | 2 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 6 |
| 1 - 1 | 7 |
| 1 - 2 | 5 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 3 |
| 2 - 1 | 6 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 2 - 3 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 2 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
| 4 - 1 | 2 |
| 7 - 0 | 1 |
Portugal's 7-nil is still the most outstanding scoreline with no other team scoring more than four goals.
Germany demolishes Argentina
The South Americans had never failed to scored in a match but they faced an efficient German team that seemed to score with every attack.
Australia and England had all conceded four goals against Germany and now Argentina has joined them.
The Germans are now the leading goalscorers in the tournament as shown in the table below:
| Team | Goals |
|---|---|
| Honduras | 0 |
| Algeria | 0 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Korea DPR | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| Serbia | 2 |
| New Zealand | 2 |
| Greece | 2 |
| Cameroon | 2 |
| South Africa | 3 |
| Slovenia | 3 |
| Paraguay | 3 |
| Nigeria | 3 |
| England | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 |
| Chile | 3 |
| Australia | 3 |
| Mexico | 4 |
| Japan | 4 |
| Ivory Coast | 4 |
| Italy | 4 |
| USA | 5 |
| Spain | 5 |
| Slovakia | 5 |
| Ghana | 5 |
| Korea | 6 |
| Uruguay | 7 |
| Portugal | 7 |
| Netherlands | 9 |
| Brazil | 9 |
| Argentina | 10 |
| Germany | 13 |
Total Goals Scored : 132
Argentina are still second in the scoring charts but Germany can still increase this tally with two more matches to play.
Germany will now meet the winner between Spain and Paraguay.
WC Quarter-finals : Argentina vs Germany
The two teams met at the same stage in the 2006 edition and Germany came up winners after a penalty shootout.
Argentina go into this match unbeaten so far whereas Germany lost to Serbia in the group stages.
Both teams have conceded two goals so far but Argentina has scored ten goals compared to Germany's nine.
The table below shows the comparison stats based on the group stages only:
| Germany | Argentina | |
|---|---|---|
| Played | 3 | 3 |
| Points | 6 | 9 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 2 | 3 |
| Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 4 | 6 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 2 |
| Failed to score | 1 | 0 |
| Goals scored | 5 | 7 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 1 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Biggest win | Germany 4 - 0 Australia | Argentina 4 - 1 Korea |
| Biggest loss | Germany 0 - 1 Serbia | No loss |
| Score 3 or more | 2 | 2 |
| Concede 3 or more | 0 | 0 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 2 | 2 |
| Points | 3 | 6 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 1 | 2 |
| Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 3 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 4 | 5 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 1 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.0 | 2.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 1 | 1 |
| Points | 3 | 3 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 1 | 1 |
| Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 1 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 1 | 2 |
| Goals conceded | 0 | 0 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Brazil slump to shock defeat
The world number one team had entered the competition as favourites and they looked on course when they scored the first goal.
Brazil becomes the first team to get to half time in the lead and then lose as shown in the following which shows all the trends for matches that have ended in a result:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 14 | 33.3 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 12 | 28.6 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 1 | 2.4 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 8 | 19.0 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 7 | 16.7 |
| Matches ending in result | 42 | 72.4 |
The Netherlands will now meet Uruguay who beat Ghana 4-2 on penalties.
Spain edges past Portugal
The goal Spain scored is the only goal Portugal conceded in the tournament but the team also had two goalless draws.
Portugal scored seven goals and they were scored in one match and they failed to score against any other team.
Whilst their defence was sound, its fair to say that that their strike force only fired once and that was it.
Spain will now go and meet and Paraguay and the tournament turning out so well for a team that had a bad start after losing opening match to the Swiss.
With the round of 16 coming to an end, no team leading at half time has lost a match so far.
With just eight matches to go before the end of the tournament it will be interesting to see which team will be the first to lose after leading at the break.
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 14 | 34.1 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 12 | 29.3 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 8 | 19.5 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 7 | 17.1 |
| Matches ending in result | 41 | 73.2 |
Paraguay wins shootout over Japan
Either team had never reached the quarter-finals of a World Cup but Paraguay had a slight edge over the Japanese.
Paraguay managed to score all its five penalties but Japan missed the fourth one to lose 5-3 on penalties.
This was Paraguay's second goalless draw so far having had the same scoreline in the last group fixture against New Zealand.
Paraguay will now meet Spain in the quarters after Spain beat Portugal.
Today I will take a quick look at the scorelines in the tournament so far:
lines at full time and their frequency in the FIFA World Cup
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 7 |
| 0 - 1 | 8 |
| 0 - 2 | 3 |
| 0 - 3 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 6 |
| 1 - 1 | 6 |
| 1 - 2 | 5 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 3 |
| 2 - 1 | 5 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 2 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
| 4 - 1 | 2 |
| 7 - 0 | 1 |
So there has been seven goalless draws and also six matches have finished one all.
It looks like no team may now be able to score more than four goals and therefore Portugal's 7-nil will remain the highest score.
Brazil easily dispatches Chile
Chile started the tournament winning its first two matches 1-nil but then failed to beat Spain with ten resulting in the team finishing second in H hence the match against Brazil.
Brazil scored the first two goals inside four minutes and then scored the last goal in the second half.
The 3-goal margin becomes Brazil's biggest winning margin in this tournament so far.
In the earlier fixture the Netherlands beat Slovakia 2-1 to set up the fixture with Brazil.
Slovakia who qualified ahead of Italy in Group F were outplayed by the Dutch and only managed to score the consolation goal through a penalty towards the end of the match.
England loss sets up Argentina-Germany encounter
England who had scored two goals before this match added another one to finish with three but the Germans managed to score four goals for the second time in this tournament.
Argentina went three up before Mexico found the net and by then it was too late.
At the break the South Americans had scored and they went on to add a further one to cement their place in their quarters to meet a team that dismissed them from the tournament four years ago.
Now could be a good time to have another look at the goal margins so far:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 14 |
| 1 | 23 |
| 2 | 9 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 |
Winning by an odd goal is still the most popular goal margin so far.
2nd round World Cup: Argentina vs Mexico
Argentina has been impressive so far scoring seven goals in its three matches and conceding just one.
Argentina also won all its matches to be one of two teams with a perfect score. The other one is the Netherlands.
Mexico finished second after holding the hosts South Africa and then beating the 2006 finalists France before losing top of the table clash against Uruguay one nil.
So Mexico only failed to score in its defeat to Uruguay but kept one clean sheet against France.
For the rest of the stats from the group stages look at the table below:
| Argentina | Mexico | |
|---|---|---|
| From Group | B | A |
| Played | 3 | 3 |
| Points | 9 | 4 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 3 | 1 |
| Lost | 0 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 6 | 1 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 1 |
| Failed to score | 0 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 3 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 2 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Biggest win | Argentina 4 - 1 Korea | France 0 - 2 Mexico |
| Biggest loss | No loss | Mexico 0 - 1 Uruguay |
| Score 3 or more | 1 | 0 |
| Concede 3 or more | 0 | 0 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 2 | 1 |
| Points | 6 | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 2 | 0 |
| Lost | 0 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 4 | -1 |
| Goals scored | 5 | 0 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 1 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.5 | 0.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 1 | 2 |
| Points | 3 | 4 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 1 | 1 |
| Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 2 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 2 | 3 |
| Goals conceded | 0 | 1 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.0 | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.0 | 0.5 |
2nd round World Cup: USA vs Ghana
The USA has one win and two draws whilst Ghana won one, drew one and lost one.
Ghana's has scored two goals and both goals have come from penalties. It will be interesting to see if they will be able to score from open play against the United States.
The United States showed its fighting prowess after coming back from 2-nil to draw and almost win the match against Slovenia.
Here is some of the stats from the two teams so far:
| Ghana | USA | |
|---|---|---|
| From Group | D | C |
| Played | 3 | 3 |
| Points | 4 | 5 |
| Drawn | 1 | 2 |
| Won | 1 | 1 |
| Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 0 | 1 |
| Clean sheets | 1 | 1 |
| Failed to score | 1 | 0 |
| Goals scored | 2 | 4 |
| Goals conceded | 2 | 3 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.7 | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Serbia 0 - 1 Ghana | USA 1 - 0 Algeria |
| Biggest loss | Ghana 0 - 1 Germany | No loss |
| Score 3 or more | 0 | 0 |
| Concede 3 or more | 0 | 0 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 2 | 1 |
| Points | 1 | 3 |
| Drawn | 1 | 0 |
| Won | 0 | 1 |
| Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Goal difference | -1 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 1 | 1 |
| Goals conceded | 2 | 0 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 1 | 2 |
| Points | 3 | 2 |
| Drawn | 0 | 2 |
| Won | 1 | 0 |
| Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 1 | 0 |
| Goals scored | 1 | 3 |
| Goals conceded | 0 | 3 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.0 | 1.5 |
Spain, Chile reach second round
Spain beat Chile 2-1 after scoring two first half goals and with Switzerland being held to a goalless draw by Honduras, the two teams took the first two positions.
Chile is the only South American team not to win its group and for coming second it will now meet the winner of Group G, Brazil.
Honduras' failure to score against the Swiss means they go home having failed to find the back of the net.
Brazil and Portugal played out a goalless draw and hence snatch the two top two places in that group.
Ivory Coast won 3-nil and finished third with North Korea going home having conceded the most goals than any other team in the tournament so far.
So if we put all the 32 teams into one big table like a league, this is how the table would look like after the group stages:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Uruguay | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Germany | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Spain | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Chile | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Portugal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
| Paraguay | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| USA | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| England | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Ivory Coast | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Mexico | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Slovenia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Ghana | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Korea | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 4 |
| Slovakia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| South Africa | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 |
| Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Serbia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 3 |
| Greece | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 3 |
| Italy | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 2 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 1 |
| Algeria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| France | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 1 |
| Honduras | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 |
| Korea DPR | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 12 | -11 | 0 |
So Argentina would be top and North Korea's inferior goal difference means it would finish last.
Le Guen leaves Indomitable Lions
The Indomitable Lions lost its first match against Japan and despite scoring first against Denmark they went on lose.
After the loss to the Danish Le Guen's team were out of the World becoming one of two teams to play their last fixture without any hope of progressing to the next round.
In the last fixture against the Netherlands, Cameroon lost 2-1 and go home pointless.
Below is some of the stats from Cameroon's group matches:
| Le Guen's Cameroon | |
|---|---|
| Team Group | E |
| Played | 3 |
| Points | 0 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 3 |
| Goal difference | -3 |
| Clean sheets | 0 |
| Failed to score | 1 |
| Goals scored | 2 |
| Goals conceded | 5 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | No win |
| Biggest loss | Japan 1 - 0 Cameroon Cameroon 1 - 2 Denmark Cameroon 1 - 2 Netherlands |
| Scored 3 or more | 0 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 0 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 2 |
| Points | 0 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Goal difference | -2 |
| Goals scored | 2 |
| Goals conceded | 4 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 1 |
| Points | 0 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Goal difference | -1 |
| Goals scored | 0 |
| Goals conceded | 1 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
Rehhagel leaves Greek post
Greece lost its first match against South Korea 2-nil but managed to beat ten men Nigeria 2-1 in the second match. The goals against Nigeria were Greece's first at a World Cup.
In the final match Greece lost 2-nil to Argentina and exited the tournament with three points.
Rehhagel won Euro 2004 with his Greek team but then failed to get to Germany 2006 World Cup.
Below is some of the stats from Greece's three matches:
| Rehhagel's Greece | |
|---|---|
| Team Group | B |
| Played | 3 |
| Points | 3 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Goal difference | -3 |
| Clean sheets | 0 |
| Failed to score | 2 |
| Goals scored | 2 |
| Goals conceded | 5 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | Greece 2 - 1 Nigeria |
| Biggest loss | Korea 2 - 0 Greece Greece 0 - 2 Argentina |
| Scored 3 or more | 0 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 0 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 2 |
| Points | 3 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Goal difference | -1 |
| Goals scored | 2 |
| Goals conceded | 3 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 1 |
| Points | 0 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Goal difference | -2 |
| Goals scored | 0 |
| Goals conceded | 2 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 |
Slovakia knocks out Italy
Italy only needed a draw to qualify for the round of 16, but the defending champions and four time winners found themselves trailing by 1 goal at half time before Slovakia lead 2-nil.
The result meant that Slovakia got second place behind the group winners Paraguay who played a goalless draw against New Zealand.
New Zealand therefore finished the tournament undefeated and conceded just two goals.
In Group F, the Netherlands won the group after beating Cameroon 2-1 to score a perfect score.
Japan were the runners up after beating Denmark 3-1.
Denmark could have qualified if they had won but Japan were quick off the blocks scoring two goals in the first half.
So far no team leading at half-time has gone on to lose the match and the table below shows the winning trends so far:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 9 | 28.1 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 9 | 28.1 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 7 | 21.9 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 7 | 21.9 |
| Matches ending in result | 32 | 72.7 |
There are four matches to go now to complete the group phases as Groups G and H play their matches.
It will interesting to see which team will become the first team to win having trailed at half time.
Socceroos finish off with a win
The Socceroos had a terrible start to the tournament losing 4-nil to eventual group winners Germany, but the team made amends as it went along culminating in the win over Serbia.
The win was not good enough for the team to stay a bit longer in South Africa as Ghana went through on goal difference.
Ghana lost its final group match 1-nil against Germany who won the group with six points.
Ghana has so far scored two goals and both goals being penalties.
Every team in Group D secured a win but Serbia's two losses meant it finished bottom of the group.
Here are the second half scorelines for the 2010 FIFA World Cup so far:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 12 |
| 0 - 1 | 6 |
| 0 - 2 | 4 |
| 1 - 0 | 8 |
| 1 - 1 | 3 |
| 2 - 0 | 3 |
| 2 - 1 | 3 |
| 6 - 0 | 1 |
So no team has scored more than two goals in the second half so far apart from Portugal. Portugal scored six in its match against North Korea.
England, USA scrap through
England scored their only goal in the first half and this was the team's second goal of the tournament in its match against Slovenia where England had to win to progress.
The USA left it late in injury time before also winning 1-nil in a match against Algeria.
The USA won the group on number of goals scored and will now meet Ghana from group D whilst England will now meet arch-rivals Germany.
Algeria finished the tournament without scoring a single goal whilst Slovenia could consider themselves unlucky going out on four points but being in the competition until the USA scored its goal.
Algeria could take heart from the fact they only conceded two goals and both in the later stages of their matches.
I will take a look at the first half score lines so far in this post and then second half in the next post:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 17 |
| 0 - 1 | 7 |
| 0 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 6 |
| 1 - 1 | 6 |
| 2 - 0 | 2 |
| 2 - 1 | 1 |
So so far nearly half the matches have gone into the break goalless.
South Africa fails to progress
The hosts won their last fixture against France 2-1 but the damage was done in their match against Uruguay when they lost 3-nil. Mexico therefore got second place on goal difference.
France, the 2006 finalists finished bottom of the group with no win but a draw and one goal.
In Group B, Argentina won the group with maximum points after beating Greece 2-nil with two second half goals.
South Korea joins them after managing a 2-all draw with Nigeria. Nigeria needed to win the match in order to reach the knockout stages but despite scoring first, they were unable to take advantage.
The next round of matches will decide groups C and D. In Group C England will play Slovenia whilst the United States will play Algeria.
In group D, Australia will play Serbia whilst Germany will face Ghana.
Goals galore as Portugal rout North Korea
The match was 1-nil at the break and there was no indication that six goals were to come in the second half as the North Koreans held their ground.
This is now the biggest winning margin in the competition so far and the table below shows the winning margins for all the 32 matches played so far:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 10 |
| 1 | 12 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 |
So the second round of matches saw 42 goals as opposed to 25 in the opening fixtures. 19 of the goals were scored in the first half and the second half has just four goals extra.
In Group H, Chile maintained its 100% record after beating Switzerland 1-nil and whilst Spain got its first win winning 2-nil against Honduras. Spain missed a penalty.
The last round of matches starts today with South Africa playing France with both teams aiming to stay in the tournament.
A draw between Uruguay and Mexico will knock off both teams.
Nigeria will be hoping from a helping hand from Argentina to progress whilst South Korea has its fate in its own hands.
Greece could also qualify if they beat Argentina and South Korea do not win against Nigeria.
Efficient Brazil overcome Ivory Coast
Brazil who won their opening fixture 2-1 against North Korea now have six points and Ivorians stay on one point.
Brazil scored first in the first half followed by two goals in the second half before the Ivorians scored their consolation.
The next match in the group will be Portugal against the North Koreans.
In Group F the defending champions Italy had to once again come from behind to draw against New Zealand.
New Zealand scored first the Italians needed a penalty to make the scores even.
In an earlier match, Paraguay dispatched Slovakia 2-nil to now sit on top of Group F.
Here is the graph showing the goals conceded by each team so far:
Cameroon exists World Cup
Cameroon were the first to score in the first half and Danes responded before the break before scoring a winner in the second half.
Denmark and Japan will play each other in the final group match with Denmark needing a win to advance to the second round but a draw will do for Japan.
With Cameroon's defeat, the Netherlands have won the group and can now afford to rest their players for their remaining group fixture. They are also the first team to reach the last 16 in this tournament.
In a Group D match, ten men Australia managed to hold on to a draw to go into the last fixture against Serbia still with a chance of qualifying for the second round.
A draw in their last match against Germany will be enough for Ghana to advance to reach the knockout phase.
For Germany a draw may not be enough and so this sets up to be an exciting encounter.
Below is the graph showing the goals each time has scored so far:
After tomorrow's matches I will show the graph for the goals conceded.
England, Algeria in goalless draw
Algeria had lost to Slovenia in their opening match and win a against the USA will give them a chance for second round if Slovenia draws or beats England.
In the other Group C fixture, USA came from 2-nil down at half-time to force two-all draw to get another point and stay in second place in the group.
Slovenia are the unlikely table toppers in Group C with four points are now a point away from the second round.
In a shocking result in Group D, Serbia beat Germany 1-nil after a first half goal after Germany had been reduced to ten men.
Germany had a penalty saved and that was the first penalty to be saved in the tournament so far.
After a brilliant start for Germany when they scored four goals past Australia they will now go into their last match against Ghana fighting to stay in the tournament.
Ghana will meet Australia in their second match and a win will see them through to the second round.
With draws making a comeback after the two draws in Group C, this time I will look at the drawing trend in the tournament so far:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Draw at half time, draw at full time | 6 | 75.0 |
| Home team leading at half time, draw at full time | 1 | 12.5 |
| Away team leading at half time, draw at full time | 1 | 12.5 |
| Drawn matches | 8 | 34.8 |
So six matches drawn at half time have ended draws and so far only two teams trailing at half time have managed to force a draw.
It will be interesting to see if this trend continues and in the remaining group matches.
Greece wins first points as Nigeria crumbles
Nigeria were the first to score but once they were reduced to 10 men, Greece took advantage to score its first goals in the World Cup finals and with that the three points.
In the other group B match, Argentina won 4-1 against South Korea and this became the most high scoring match of the tournament so far with five goals scored.
Argentina are now favourites to win the group with their last match being against Greece. South Korea will meet Nigeria. All teams can still qualify.
In the group A match, Mexico edged out France 2-nil and a draw in their last match against Uruguay will see them and Uruguay qualify.
The hosts South Africa and 2006 finalists France look very likely to exit at the group stage. France are still to score a goal in this year's tournament.
So lets have a look at the winning goal margins are shaping out after 20 matches played so far:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 6 |
| 1 | 8 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 |
| 5 | 0 |
Still winning by an odd goal is still leading followed by drawn matches.
Swiss shock favourites Spain
The European champions are one of the favourites to lift the trophy in South Africa and all the Swiss needed was a goal in the second half that secured all three points.
Spain will now need to get points in their next two matches in order to stay in the tournament.
In the same group H, Chile also beat Honduras 1-nil to record their first win in the World Cup for in more than 40 years.
With the end of the first round of matches, lets take a look at the scorelines in the 16 matches played so far:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 2 |
| 0 - 1 | 4 |
| 1 - 0 | 2 |
| 1 - 1 | 4 |
| 2 - 0 | 2 |
| 2 - 1 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
Winning by one goal has been the most popular and lets hope that in the second round of matches we will see at least both teams scoring.
Ivory Coast, Portugal in stalemate
In arguably one of the toughest groups in the competition, both teams were trying to avoid defeat considering that Brazil are also in this group.
In the other group G match, Brazil edged out North Korea 2-1 to lead the group on three points.
North Korea became the first losing team to score a goal after all the previous losing teams had failed to score a goal.
In the first match of the day, New Zealand drew Slovakia to earn their first point at the World and also first goal at the World Cup.
The goal in injury time denied what looked like a Slovakian and now the group is tied up on 1 point after the other tie between Italy and Paraguay ended one-all.
There are just two fixtures to go in this first round of fixtures as Honduras take on Chile and Spain faces the Swiss challenge.
So for now lets take a look at the first and second half scorelines for the first 14 matches of the tournament which has seen very few goals:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 8 |
| 0 - 1 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 3 |
| 1 - 1 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 1 |
and for the second half:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 5 |
| 0 - 1 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 2 |
| 1 - 1 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 2 |
| 2 - 1 | 1 |
So 8 matches out of the 14 played so far have gone to the break goalless and hence only six goals in the first half.
The second half has seen nine goals in total to get an average of just a goal match.
Japan off to a winning start
The goal scored in the first half was enough for a team that had failed to win in all its five pre-World Cup friendlies.
In that same group the Netherlands scored two second half goals against Denmark to top the group on goal difference.
In Group F, the defending champions Italy managed a draw having gone a goal down in the first half. The other match in that group will see New Zealand play Slovakia.
After the New Zealand/Slovakia Group G fixtures will kick in with with Ivory Coast playing Portugal and Brazil entertaining North Korea.
The most popular scoreline so far has been 1-nil and so this is confirmed with the goal margins in the following table:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 4 |
| 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 |
With just five matches in this round to go, no losing team has so far managed to score a goal.
All the winning teams have maintained clean sheets and lets see if the remaining five matches can maintain that.
Goals galore as Germany crushes Socceroos
Before this match only South Korea had scored two goals but the Germans scored two goals in each half to shoot to the top of Group D.
Australia's Tim Cahill also became the first player to receive a straight red card in this year's tournament when he got his marching orders in the second half.
In the other Group D match, Ghana beat Serbia 1-nil through near the end of the match.
In a Group C fixture Slovenia beat Algeria 1-nil to top the group that also includes England and USA.
This is the halfway mark of the first group matches and there have been very few goals with 13 goals scored so far.
England, USA share the spoils
England was the first to score but the Americans replied just before half-time for this to become the first match so far to see two goals scored in the first half.
Greece's drought at the World Cup continued with the Greeks falling 2-nil to South Korea. The South Koreans scored in each half to top Group B on goal difference.
In the other group B match, Argentina edged out Nigeria with a lone first half goal.
So five matches in and we have three draws already and so far the highest winning margin is two in the two matches where there has been a result.
Its still too early in the tournament and on day 3 Algeria will play Slovenia and in Group D Serbia will play Ghana followed by the Germany/Australia match.
South Africa passes first test
They could indeed have won the match in the second half but a draw seemed liked a fair result after Mexico dominated all the early exchanges.
The second test will be to come out of the group and on their second half showing they may as well come out of the group.
There wasn't much to write about in the second Group A fixture between France and Uruguay which ended goalless apart from the first red card of the tournament issued to Uruguay's Lodeiro.
So its two draws and two goals so far and lets what the next set of matches will bring.
World Cup Preview : Argentina
In particular the 1986 winners have arguably the most potent strike force which includes current World Player of the Year Lionel Messi.
In their strike force are two players who had a lot of influence in both the Europa Cup final and the Champions League final.
Sergio Aguero had an assist in both Atletico Madrid goals whilst Diego Milito scored both Inter Milan goals in their win over Bayern Munich.
The problem for Argentina is for their coach Diego Maradona to coordinate this team into a winning machine and once he does that I think they can go as far as the final.
In Argentina's group are South Korea, Nigeria and Greece and their opening match will be against Nigeria.
World Cup Preview : Socceroos
The Socceroos find themselves in a tougher group than they had last when Germany hosted the event.
In the Socceroos group will be Germany, Ghana and Serbia and the Socceroos will need to beat one of these teams to have any chance of getting into the second round.
In 2006 the Socceroos reached the second round and were then knocked out by eventual winners Italy.
Whilst the star for the Socceroos in 2006 was Harry Kewell, this time the stars have to be Tim Cahill and goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
Its very hard to say that the team has got stronger since 2006 and this means its going to be a lot tougher to progress at this year's tournament.
There is no doubt that since joining the Asian Federation qualifying has become a lot easier and the problem will now be at the tournament itself.
Its upfront where the Socceroos seem to have the most problems. There is only one recognised striker in the squad in Josh Kennedy but he is not a top notch striker.
However, the Socceroos will expect goals to come mostly from midfield and in particular from Cahill. Others like Marco Bresciano could chip in with a goal or two.
Scott McDonald was dropped from the squad because he did not fit in the way the team plays and this shows that the team is only going to play in one particular way with a lone striker upfront.
The Socceroos will open their campaign against Germany and a win in that match will make things look so much brighter for Pim Verbeek's team.
World Cup Preview : South Africa
South Africa are hosting the tournament and therefore as hosts find themselves seeded in Group A.
The Bafana Bafana match against Mexico will go a long way in giving an indication of where they stand. That match could define their whole tournament.
Bafana Bafana missed the 2006 tournament having been to South Korea/Japan in 2002.
They have never been out of their group in two previous attempts but home advantage means that they may this time get enough points to reach the second round.
Apart from Mexico, the other teams in their group are 2006 finalists France and Uruguay.
This makes it a very tough group and its hard to see France not getting out of the group but a draw between France and Uruguay could be what South Africa wants assuming they win against Mexico.
A loss against Mexico will mean a very tough road ahead and so the hosts will need to settle quickly and treat the first match as a final.
South Africa's strongest weapon could be in their coach Carlos Alberto Parreira who has won the World Cup before and he was brave enough to drop local hero Benni McCarthy from the squad.
Parreira will therefore be hoping that his team will play more than three matches in this tournament.
World Cup Preview: Netherlands
My first pick will be the Netherlands. There are many expectations around the Netherlands national team, especially when they are seen as one of the strongest candidates to win this championship. Here are some aspects to consider before make your World Cup picks.
Without any doubt, Netherlands didn’t have a complicated road in the qualifying campaign, keeping the first place in Group 9 with eight wins in eight matches played against Norway, Scotland, Macedonia and Iceland.
Among the strengths of the Orange are Robin Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, men that any coach in the world would like to have in their selected list.
The Netherlands offense is known for its strength and relies on the brilliant technique of Van Persie; Holland could be crowned as a great team and could make of South Africa 2010 World Cup their biggest achievement, if they forget about their fears.
On the other hand, the quality of Sneijder’s game and Robben's ability will be the key in the development for the Oranges in this World Cup; keep in mind these three players together could become very dangerous weapons.
As in any team we are always going to find strengths and weaknesses and I think the easy qualifying process of Netherlands cannot be taken as a reference point of what we might see in South Africa.
Also, the Orange defense has always been discussed, especially when players like Joris Mathijsen, Johnny Heitinga and Andre Ooijer are compared with the legends Frank de Boer and Jaap Stam, comparison that shows the drop suffered by Netherlands in quality of their defense compared to the previous decade.
This will be a great challenge for Netherlands and they could think in South Africa as their great opportunity to become world champions for the first time; however I think that if they reach the quarter-finals would be a good tournament and everything beyond that stage would be a big surprise for many.
The TipsChallenge 2010 World Cup tipping competition is already in full swing and should be as exciting as ever and other sites to keep check will be the BBC World Cup site and also Soccernet.
Elephants go for Eriksson
Eriksson will replace Vahid Halilhodzic who was sacked after the Elephants were eliminated from the 2010 Africa Nations Cup before the semis.
This will be Eriksson's third conscutive World Cup having been at the showpiece tournament with England in 2002 and then in 2006.
This becomes Eriksson's third national job after he had a similar role with Mexico.
Eriksson's appointment means that two African countries will be coached by Swedish coaches after Nigeria appointed former Sweden coach Lars Lagerback last month.
Verbeek to move on
So it means that the Socceroos will have somebody else in the dugout come the Asian Cup in January 2011.
Verbeek guided Australia's qualification to World Cup and also the 2011 Asian Cup and the World Cup will be his first and last tournament with the Socceroos.
Also on the coaching front, Ivory Coast are still to find a new coach to replace Vahid Halilhodzic who was sacked after the Africa Nations Cup.
Whoever takes over the Elephants will have very little time to get ready for the tournament.
Nigeria turns to Lagerback
Nigeria dismissed local coach Shaibu Amodu after he finished third at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in favour of a foreign coach.
This is a short term contract as Lagerback will be with Nigeria until the end of the World Cup.
Lagerback was at the last World Cup in Germany as coach of Sweden.
Lagerback has never coached an African team before and this will also be his first time to coach outside Sweden.
He was the coach of Sweden from 1998 to 2009. He took sole responsibility of the team in 2004 and he resigned in 2009 when Sweden failed to reach the World Cup finals.
Brazil draws Portugal, Ivory Coast
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia
Group E: Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark
Group F: Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland
The hosts South Africa will kickoff the tournament on June 11 2010 in a group A match against Mexico.
Four and a half hours later, Uruguay will place France to complete the round 1 matches for Group A.
TipsChallenge will run a 2010 World Cup tipping competition and this is already set up with the fixtures for the first three rounds available.
The 2010 World Cup draw format
The seeded teams are host South Africa and then holders Italy plus Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.
The seeded teams will be in put in eight groups and South Africa the hosts will be in Group A and the rest of the seeded teams will head groups B to H.
Port 2 will comprise Asia, Oceania and North and Central American teams. The teams in this pot are Australia, Japan, Honduras, Korea DPR, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States.
Port 3 will be for African and South American teams. The teams are Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The last pot comprises of the unseeded European teams and these are Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.
So for the World Cup draw On Friday, a group will comprise a team from each pot but no group will have more than one team from that confederation apart from Europe. There can be two teams in a group from Europe with one being seeded and another being unseeded(pot 4).
Group A for example will comprise of South Africa and then one of Chile, Paraguay or Uruguay, an unseeded European team and then one team from the Asia, Oceania and North and Central American pot.
A 33 team World Cup draw format
In the unlikely event that FIFA grants this request, it will result in an interesting World Cup with one group having 5 teams. This changes the whole dynamics of the World Cup draw in order to accomodate the extra team and the extra four matches and the byes to go with them.
So in this post I will take a quick look at what a 33 team World Cup would look like.
In a normal 32 team World Cup the draw has eight groups of four teams each. Basically each group cannot have two teams from the same confederation apart from teams from the UEFA confederation. Also no group can have three teams from the UEFA.
So in a 33 team World Cup draw I think there will still be eight groups but one of them with 5 teams. This will result in a 68 match World Cup instead of the normal 64.
The teams in the five team group will have to play four matches each in the group stages and the two top teams would qualify for the second round.
It will not be possible to play the last group matches at the same time because one team in the five team group will have a bye and so FIFA will have to think about this one.
In this case I think the draw would have to put Ireland in that group because they are the ones who requested that extra place and therefore may not mind playing four games instead of three.
So the question is what happens to the other four teams. I think they will have to choose a team each from the other confederations including UEFA but maybe not put France in there.
So to fit in with the extra four matches in the group stages and still finish on the scheduled date, 11 July 2010, this five team group would have to start their matches before the opening ceremony, 11 June, 2010.
The opening match is normally played by the host nation(2006) or the defending champions(2002) but in the 33 team World Cup the opening match would have to come from the five team group and before the opening ceremony.
As I said the 33 team World Cup will be an interesting proposition and so lets wait and see what FIFA will do.
If you have any other ideas of how the 33 team World Cup can go just post that in the comments.
2010 World Cup draw nears
This will be the first time that the World Cup has been held in Africa and also it will be the first time for the continent to have six representatives in the tournament.
After the World Cup draw has been conducted the fixture list for the group stages will be released and teams can start preparing their way out of the group stage.
TipsChallenge will have the fixtures on the site for the World Cup tipping competition.
The 2010 World Cup teams
For the first time Africa will have six teams in the tournament because South Africa is hosting.
The 32 teams are listed below classified in their regions:
Africa: South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria
Asia: Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
Europe: Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
North, Central America : Honduras, Mexico, United States
Oceania: New Zealand
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
TipsChallenge will be running a 2010 World Cup Tipping competition and the fixtures will be available on the site once the drawn has been made in December.
