Half of all games at the World Cup in Qatar have been played – only the second day of the game is over. What are the statistics trends? What was special? The sports show balance of the first 32 games of the title fights.
Germany without a win for the first time
- There are 13 European teams in the tournament, only four of which have yet to win. And below that is Germany – alongside Denmark, Serbia and Wales.
- For the first time at a World Cup, Germany remained without a win in the first two preliminary round games and went into the final match day as the bottom of the group.
- Germany has only won two of their last ten games at a European Championship or World Cup finals. These wins were 2-1 against Sweden in 2018 and 4-2 against Portugal in 2021. Otherwise there were two draws and six defeats.
Three round of 16 – two teams out
Standards no longer a means?
- Only eight of the 81 goals came from corners (4) or free kicks (4). That’s around ten percent – at the 2018 World Cup, 25 percent of the goals came from corners or free kicks (43 out of 169).
- There was no direct free kick goal.
- There were nine penalties on Matchday 1, and only two on Matchday 2. Eight of the eleven penalties were awarded (Robert Lewandowski, Alphonso Davies and Salem Aldawsari missed).
Lots of zero numbers
- Despite the high-scoring games on Tuesday (Cameroon vs. Serbia 3:3 and South Korea vs. Ghana 2:3), the 0-0 trend continues: At this World Cup there have already been five 0-0 draws. Four years ago, only one of the 48 group stage games ended goalless. The World Cup record is seven clear numbers (last in 2014).
- 81 goals have been scored in 32 games so far (2.5 per game = 2018 World Cup it was 2.6).
African teams improved
- After the Africa quintet went without a win on Matchday 1, Senegal, Morocco and Ghana all achieved victories on Matchday 2.
- This means that there have already been as many African victories as at the 2014 World Cup and the 2018 World Cup (three each).
- In 2018, all five African teams were eliminated in the group stage, now all five teams still have a chance of reaching the round of 16.
Lots of stoppage time
- There was 6 hours and 24 minutes of stoppage time in the 32 games (an average of 12 minutes per game; at the 2018 World Cup it was only 9 minutes).
- This did not lead to more goals: although eleven goals were scored in added time (3 in the 1st half, 8 in the 2nd half), in the entire 2018 World Cup there were 22 (3 and 19 respectively).