From shock results, early exits, late drama, VAR and more, it’s been a World Cup to remember! With the help of Opta, we take a look at the standout stats from the 21st edition of tournament…
Tournament stats…
July 1, 2018 was just the second day in which two World Cup games (Spain v Russia, Croatia v Denmark) both went to a penalty shoot-out – the other was June 21, 1986 (France v Brazil, Mexico v Germany).
This was the first ever World Cup to see all competing teams score at least two goals, with Panama being the final team to complete the collection (a goal each against England and Tunisia).
43 per cent of the goals scored at the 2018 World Cup came from set-piece situations (73 of 169), more than at any other edition of the competition since 1966.
There were 22 penalties scored at the 2018 World Cup, the most in any edition of the competition.
There were nine winning goals scored in the 90th minute or later at the 2018 World Cup (excluding extra-time), more than at any other edition of the tournament.
Since 1966, only Grzegorz Lato & Andrzej Szarmach (5 for Poland) and Michael Ballack & Miroslav Klose (5 for Germany) have combined for more World Cup goals than Edinson Cavani & Luis Suarez (4 for Uruguay).
Essam El-Hadary (45y 161d) broke the record for the oldest player to appear at a World Cup, with the Egyptian goalkeeper aged two years & 158 days older than Colombian Faryd Mondragón, who previously held the record. He also saved a penalty in this match for Egypt.
Against Argentina in the round of 16, France’s Kylian Mbappe became the first teenager to score at least twice in a World Cup match since Pele netted twice for Brazil against Sweden in the 1958 final.
Didier Deschamps is the third person to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager, after Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and West Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer.
In his first World Cup as manager of Belgium, Roberto Martinez oversaw six wins from seven games; only Luis Felipe Scolari won more matches in his first World Cup as a manager (7 in 2002) than the Spaniard.
Joachim Low became the third consecutive manager of the reigning World Cup champions to see his side eliminated in the group stage, following Vicente Del Bosque in 2014 (Spain) and Marcelo Lippi in 2010 (Italy).
Team facts…
Russia’s victory against Saudi Arabia means that the host nation has never lost their opening match in any of the 21 editions of the FIFA World Cup (W16 D6 L0).
In their match against Japan, Belgium became the first team to come from 2+ goals down to win a World Cup knockout round match within 90 minutes since Portugal beat North Korea 5-3 in the 1966 quarter-final.
Mexico have now been eliminated in each of their last eight World Cup knockout matches – the longest ever streak of consecutive knockout eliminations in the competition (QF 1986 + last 16 1994 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 & 2018).
Switzerland have never won a World Cup knockout match; suffering elimination in all seven matches, including their last four round of 16 games (in 1994, 2006, 2014 and 2018).
Croatia became just the second side to progress on a penalty shoot-out in consecutive knockout games in a World Cup tournament after Argentina in 1990 (v Yugoslavia and Italy).
Brazil have been eliminated by a European nation in each of the last four editions of the World Cup (France 2006, Netherlands 2010, Germany 2014 and Belgium 2018).
England’s World Cup…
England scored nine goals from set pieces at the 2018 World Cup – the most by a team in a single World Cup tournament since 1966.
Gareth Southgate’s side had six different players score for them in this tournament; their most ever in a single World Cup campaign.
Harry Kane scored six goals for England in the 2018 tournament; the joint-best by an England player in a single World Cup campaign, following Gary Lineker in 1986. Following his goal against Colombia, Kane became the first player to score in six consecutive England appearances since Tommy Lawton did so in 1939.
Kieran Trippier created 24 chances for England at the 2018 World Cup – a record for an England player since 1966, breaking Bobby Charlton’s total of 18 in 1966.
Southgate became just the third manager to take England to the semi-final stage of a World Cup tournament, following Sir Alf Ramsey in 1966 and Sir Bobby Robson in 1990.
Eden Hazard was directly involved in seven goals at the World Cup (three goals, four assists); the joint-best of any Belgium player since 1966 (Jan Ceulemans also with seven).
Excluding own goals, Kevin De Bruyne’s strike against Brazil saw him become the 100th different player to score at the 2018 World Cup finals.
Kane scored six goals from six shots on target at the 2018 World Cup – the last player to score as many as six goals at a World Cup tournament while converting 100 per cent of his shots on target was Jairzinho in 1970 for Brazil (7 goals from 7 shots on target).
Dele Alli is the second youngest player to score for England at the World Cup (22y 87d), behind only Michael Owen (18y 190d against Romania in 1998).
The final…
Kylian Mbappé (19y 207d) is the second youngest player to score in a World Cup final, after Pele for Brazil in 1958 (17y 249d).
Mario Mandzukic became the first ever player to score an own goal in a World Cup final. Mandzukic is only the second player in World Cup history to score a goal for his team and an own goal in the same match, after the Netherlands’ Ernie Brandts against Italy in 1978.
This was the highest-scoring World Cup final since England beat West Germany 4-2 back in 1966.
Croatia are the first team to lose in their first ever appearance in a World Cup final since the Netherlands in 1974 (1-2 vs West Germany).
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Sourse: skysports.com
