In addition to consecrating Lionel Messi as the World Cup’s top scorer, Argentina became one of the seven countries that have already secured a place in the knockout stage, without having conceded a single goal until the end of the second round of the group stage.
Other traditional teams such as Spain, Uruguay and Belgium are still fighting for classification after facing the good performance of underdogs such as Cape Verde and Egypt, who have accumulated good statistics so far. Cape Verde led in successful tackles in the second round and was the team that committed the fewest fouls in the World Cup so far.
At the top of the scoring charts is Messi, with five goals in the World Cup, followed by Mbappé and Haaland who, with four goals each, also helped France and Norway, respectively, to guarantee qualification for the next phase.
Germany is the team that scored the most goals until the end of the second round, with nine in total. However, after the 7-1 debut against Curaçao, the team had difficulty getting past Ivory Coast and securing qualification in a 2-1 stoppage-time comeback.
Completing the list of seven classified are hosts Mexico and the United States, in addition to Colombia, which reached the spot after beating the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 in a game with many unsuccessful shots (one goal in 20 attempts).
Colombia’s next opponent is Portugal, currently second in Group K. After a 1-1 draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo in which Cristiano Ronaldo missed, the team scored 5-0 against newcomers Uzbekistan, which is the second team with the most goals conceded so far (8), behind only Tunisia (9).
In Group H, the traditional Spain and Uruguay had their lives made difficult by newcomers Cape Verde, who achieved historic draws against both. Spain, however, managed to improve its performance in the second round with a 4-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, while Uruguay remains uncertain with two draws.
According to data from Opta, a sports statistics company, the European team continues to lead the ranking of attempted passes. There were 726 touches with 668 hits, which represents 92% accuracy. England, however, was a little more precise: they completed 586 of the 633 passes attempted, an accuracy of 92.6%
Tubarões Azuis, a team from Cape Verde, had the best use of tackles in the second round games, with 15 of 16 attempts (94%). It is also the team that has committed the fewest fouls so far: five in two games, and broke a record in the first with just one infraction.
Another team that surprised positively was Egypt, which achieved its first victory in the World Cup in a 3-1 victory against New Zealand, taking the lead in Group G, a bracket that also includes Iran and Belgium.
Ghana committed 24 fouls, being the most violent team in the second round. When the first and second rounds are added together, Bosnia leads with 38 in total, followed by Haiti, with 37 and Ghana, with 33.
Paraguay was the team that received the most cards in the two rounds: there were seven, six yellow and one red. The total number of eight red cards in the competition already equals the number of expulsions in the last two editions of the tournament combined.
The Brazilian team led the total number of impediments suffered in the second round, with eight in total, followed by Colombia, with seven.
After a debut that left something to be desired, Brazil improved its offensive performance in the 3-0 victory against Haiti. Although he only shot eight times at goal, five of those shots were on target and three resulted in a goal, representing a shooting accuracy of 62.5%.
The team with the most submissions in the second round was Canada, with 32 in total. Although the accuracy of shots on target was lower, six were converted in the 6-0 rout of Qatar.
Opta data was collected at 8:30 am this Wednesday (24). Possible changes may occur with platform updates.
