World Cup group stage: A by the numbers look at the tournament so far

The World Cup’s group stage has come to an end. Here’s a look at five stats that have come to define how this tournament is going so far.

The group stage of the World Cup is officially over and everyone gets a much-deserved day of rest. Saturday marks the start of the round of 16 with a clash of titans featuring Argentina and France.

What kind of a tournament has it been so far? Statistics tell part of the story of the past 48 matches over the past two weeks. The first week of Russia 2018 highlighted some trends, such as the increase in the number of own goals, but the final two matches from each group also revealed that teams were not afraid to play offensively.

It has been a weird group stage that’s for sure. The stats from the past two weeks do tell an interesting story.

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This tournament is also shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory — and that’s saying a lot given how great games were at Brazil 2014. Cautious play has been virtually non-existent (other than in the France-Denmark match) and there have been some surprises. This trend bodes well for the knockout stage, where teams often get more defensive for fear of losing. With eight goals scored in the 90th minute or later, expect late-game heroics to continue.

What have we learned after 48 games? Here is a look at five categories that highlight what has been a drama-filled two weeks and what these stats tell us about what to expect in the knockout stage.

Goals, goals, goals

With an average of 2.54 goals per game, the group stage featured plenty of offense. There was only one scoreless draw, the aforementioned France-Denmark game. If this trend continues, Russia 2018 would rank somewhere in the middle compared to the other 20 editions of the tournament. Being somewhere in the middle isn’t bad given how defensive some of these tournaments have become in recent years.

Brazil 2014, considered a tournament with plenty of offense, featured 2.7 goals per game. The trend, generally, is for games to get tighter in the knockout rounds. Running up the score is unlikely, with Brazil’s 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinals four years ago an outlier.

Of the 16 knockout matches at the last World Cup, eight went to extra time and only four to a penalty-kick shootout. The hope is that it continues to rain goals and that the drama seen in some of those final group stage matches spills over into next week.

Golden shoe race

Who will be the tournament’s top scorer remains up for grabs. Indeed, the race for the tournament’s top scorer remains heated going into the round of 16. The top five scorers at Russia 2018 are still alive in this tournament, each one trying to come up on top and join some of the game’s all-time greats.

Leading the back is England’s Harry Kane, who has five, followed by Romelu Lukaku of Belgium and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, both with four. In third place, its a two-way tie between Denis Cheryshev of Russia and Diego Costa of Spain, both with two goal apiece.

These last two players, Cheryshev and Costa, will go head-to-head in the round of 16 when they meet on Sunday. These two could see their tally rise, also because there have been so many penalty kicks (thanks VAR) awarded at this tournament.

Own goals

The running joke on social media is that “own goal” will be the top scorer at this World Cup. The group stage saw a record nine own goals, shattering the previous record of six at France ’98.

As teams continue to push for goals and player attempting from all kinds of directions may be a reason for so many defensive errors. It could also be that sloppy defending becomes the norm after teams are so eager to venture outside their own half. Germany’s traditional high line defense, for example, hurt them this time around, especially against South Korea.

Own goal remains the top scorer at this tournament. It remains to be seen if any single player can beat it.

Clean sheets

For a tournament that has been loaded with offense, there have been some goalkeepers who have stood out.

There are many ways to determine a great goalkeeper, but one of them is clean sheets. It not only helps us know who is strong between the posts, but also gives us a snapshot of the defense playing in front of the keeper.

At this World Cup, Uruguay’s Fernando Muslera and his defense have been perfect. He’s given up no goals in three games. No other team can say that at this tournament. It will be interesting to see if Ronaldo and Portugal can pierce his net when the sides meet on Saturday.

Best confederations

There have been some upsets at this tournament, but some confederations have done better than others.

It is a bummer to see no African teams advance out of the group stage. The South American sides, all well supported, have the highest percentage of teams go through, with only Peru failing to do so.

Next: Brazil one step closer to redemption

CONCACAF, which did so well four years ago, could only see Mexico advance. Another reason we all wish the United States had qualified for the World Cup.