With just one nil in the first round — thanks to the brilliant performance of goalkeeper Vozinha in Cape Verde’s game against Spain —, the 2026 World Cup has an average of 3.1 goals per game, more than the 2.6 in 2022, when four matches ended without goals.
The first round of the group stage also featured some thrashings, the biggest of which came from four-time champions Germany against Curaçao, a World Cup debutant, in a memorable 7-1.
The European team led the ranking of successful shots with 12 shots towards goal – seven were in, another five were saved. Curaçao had two successful shots (one goal) and another six out of bounds.
The first round of the World Cup also had a team that shot a lot, but without aim: Turkey, the team that took the most shots so far. In total, there were 30 attempts by the Turks. Of these, 12 were blocked by the Australian defense, 10 went out and 8 in the right direction — all saved by goalkeeper Beach. Australia beat Turkey 2-0.
On the opposite side, Iraq, Paraguay and Portugal managed to finish once in the opponent’s goal, and the ball went in. This efficiency, however, did not represent a good final result. The Iraqis and Paraguayans were beaten 4-1 by Norway and the United States, respectively. The Portuguese, favorites to beat the Democratic Republic of Congo, drew 1-1.
Disappointment also marked the match of the team that took the most shots in the first round of the World Cup. Of Spain’s 27 shots, 12 went to the baseline. The Spanish and Cape Verdeans were tied 0-0, a result much celebrated by the African country.
In terms of dribbling, there was a surprise at the top of the ranking. The team that made the most attempts on the field was the United States with 35 attempts, 22 of which were successful (62.9%). In less volume, but with greater efficiency, Australia converted 8 of the 11 dribbles attempted (72.7%).
Newcomers to the tournament, Curaçao and Uzbekistan are among the countries that had at least 50% dribbling success. The Caribbean country had 57% (12 out of 21), while the Asian team had 50% (5 out of 10).
In efficiency, Spain led in successful disarms. Of the 13 attempts, 12 were successful (92%). Argentina, which caught attention in the offensive part with three goals from Messi, had 70% of successful tackles. Mbappé’s France, 73%.
Unsurprisingly, Spain also led the ranking of passes attempted. The team took 800 touches and scored 734, with an accuracy of 91.8%. Portugal, however, with fewer passes, had greater precision. Of the Portuguese team’s 783 touches, 724 were successful (92.5%).
The group stage featured 603 shots from the teams, 63% (381) of which were made from inside the area, seeking a better position to score goals. The Netherlands were in a busy 2-2 draw with Japan and all ten of the team’s shots were made inside the area, including Van Dijk’s accurate header and Summerville’s placed shot that changed the score.
The first round of the World Cup had 167 more fouls than in 2022, mainly due to the greater number of games. The average number of cards decreased from 3.3 to 2.8 per game. Haiti leads in the number of fouls committed with 23.
There were also fewer yellow cards. Paraguay was the country most punished, with five cards in the game against the Americans. As for red cards, there are three so far, almost the same number shown in the Qatar Cup (4).
BRAZIL
Brazil performed below the average of the ten best-placed countries in several tactical criteria: goals, shots on goal, shot accuracy, time in possession of the ball, percentage of correct passes, dribbling, tackles, fouls committed, shots inside the box and shots outside the box.
The only metric in which the Brazilian team appears in the top 10 is shots from inside the area, where 77% of shots come from. Brazil, as we know, failed to aim. Of the 12 shots, four went wide and three were blocked by the Moroccan defense.
Compared to their debut in the 2022 World Cup, when they beat Serbia 2-0, Brazil plummeted in offensive production: there were 23 shots in the last World Cup compared to 12 this year.
Brazil also worsened in terms of tackles made (from 58.8% of attempts to 52.2%) and time in possession of the ball (from 58.7% to 51.2% of the total game).
In dribbling, for example, the countries in the top 10 had an increase of more than 40% compared to 2022, going from an average of 8.2 to 11.5. The United States led in dribbling, with 20, followed by Morocco, with 16.
Debutants’ performance
The debutants Curaçao and Jordan did well in dribbling, ranking among the top 10 in this regard.
Others that stood out among the top ten were the Democratic Republic of Congo (dribbles), Algeria (correct passes), Iraq (dribbles and tackles) and Egypt (tackles and shots inside the box, in the latter tied with Brazil, Iran, Canada, South Korea, the Netherlands and New Zealand).
The big underdog of the first round was Cape Verde, the only one to score a point among the four teams competing in the tournament for the first time.
Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan, although they managed to score a goal each, lost.
Cape Verde managed to hold off one of the favorite teams in the tournament with the help of seven saves from goalkeeper Vozinha and just one foul committed. It is the lowest number of infractions committed by a team in World Cups since 1966, the beginning of Opta’s historical series of measurements.
Goalkeeper Eloy Room from Curaçao was the one who conceded the most goals in the first round, with the new 7-1 that led Germany to overtake Brazil as the team that scored the most goals in the history of the World Cups.
Jordan and Uzbekistan lost by the same score of 3-1 against Austria and Colombia, respectively. But in terms of shots on goal, Jordan did better in their debut than Uzbekistan: 11 against 8.
Uzbekistan, led by coach Fabio Cannavaro, the last Italian captain to lift a World Cup trophy, was better than Jordan in possession: 38.6% against 36.8%.
Opta data was collected on Thursday afternoon (18). Possible changes may occur with platform updates.
