GOALS GALORE FOR WORLD CUP 2014

Brazil has had its fair share of troubles hosting this 2014 FIFA World Cup. Several of the structures that were to have been built have not been completed and the billions of dollars, ore than 11 billion, that have been spent has sparked outrage from a portion of the population that believe the money would have been better served being spent on hospitals, schools and the police and helping to alleviate poverty in the South American nation.

Going in, things were more than a bit shaky for the country that will also host the Olympic Games in two years’ time. But so far on the pitch, things could not have been better. Goals galore including one that will go down as one of the all-time greats have made the first few days of this world cup perhaps among the best ever. Very few who witnessed that brilliant header from the Netherlands’ striker Robin Van Persie will ever forget it. It will take something special to top that this year.

At the time of writing – after eight matches – 28 goals have been scored in the World Cup. That’s an incredible 3.5 goals per match! In fact, of all the teams that have played so far only Cameroon have failed to score and when one considers that Mexico had two goals disallowed against their African opponents, the scoring rate could have even been higher. Other than Cameroon every team that has scored has been scored upon.

In the early years, the World Cup was full of goals. In 1930, for example, goals were scored at 3.89 per match. It got higher each tournament after and peaked in Germany in 1954 when 140 goals were scored in just 26 matches at an average of 5.38 goals per match was achieved.  Over time more matches have been added to the tournament schedule as more teams have been added but since 1954, more goals have been scored in only six more tournaments – 146 from 52 matches in 1982; 141 from 52 matches in 1994; 171 from 64 matches in 1998; 161 from 64 matches in 2002; 147 from 64 in 2006 and 145 from 64 in 2010. However,  as the numbers suggest, since 1954 scoring rates have steadily dipped until it got to an all-time low of 2.21 goals per game in 1990. There has only been marginal improvements in scoring rates since then.

What it meant was that the greatest show on earth wasn’t living up to its billing as scoring rates remained low and in truth, many matches were cagey affairs that lulled you to sleep. Nobody wanted to be scored on and many succeeded. Only occasionally would you see a flood of goals.

Thankfully so far, that has not been the case. 28 goals in eight games spells good things as the tournament progresses. We have seen good attacking football which has resulted in entertaining matches and so far lots of goals. We can only hope that this trend will continue to the remainder of the tournament.