I have never followed any of the previous world cup championships or for that matter any major international football tournaments as closely as the 2006 world cup. This world cup has been an interesting one, especially qualifying rounds and the round 2. But quarter finals haven’t lived upto the expectations. Most of the teams resorted to defensive tacticts and seemed to be driven by “not to concede goal first” theory. When I looked at average no. of goals scored / match during various stages of the world cup, an interesting trend emerged:
Round Matches Goals Average No. of
Scored* Goals / Match
Qualifying 48 117 2.44
2nd round 08 15 1.88
QFs 04 06 1.50
* – Excludes penalty shoot-outs
Statistics supported the theory that probabaly teams become defensive as they progress. Or may be that the teams as they progress, encounter stiffer opposition and hence are not allowed to score as freely as in the initial rounds. But has it been the trend even with earlier international tournaments? Lets hope that semifinals and final betray this trend.
