In football, there is a metric called xG, or “expected goals.” It shows the probability of a shot resulting in a goal based on several factors, such as the location of the shot, the type of pass the player received to shoot and the number of markers in the play.
Thus, the higher a player’s xG, the more clear scoring chances he had throughout the World Cup.
In this edition, among the players with the most expected goals is Spaniard Ferran Torres, 26. According to FIFA, he had 1.99 expected goals in the group stage, the seventh highest mark of all players, ahead of Kylian Mbappé (1.72 expected goals), for example.
But, unlike Mbappé, who already has 4 goals in this edition, Ferran Torres has not yet found the net.
The Spaniard revealed by Valencia and had a good spell at Manchester City gained a reputation for missing goals when he arrived at Barcelona.
One of the episodes that stigmatized him was the match against Napoli in the 2021-2022 Europa League. On that occasion, Ferran even scored a penalty goal, but missed four clear chances throughout the match. The weight of the mistakes was so great that Ferran left the field crying.
Torres managed to recover in the following seasons. In the latter, he scored 21 goals in 49 games played, in addition to providing 3 assists: these are his best career numbers. But he continues to deal with the weight of fame for wasting chances.
After scoring an offside goal in the match against Saudi Arabia, the striker was caught, according to fans’ lip reading interpretation, saying “please let it be a goal” while the move was being reviewed.
In Spain’s second match in the World Cup, two of Fúria’s (the Spanish team’s nickname) goals were scored by Mikel Oyarzabal, Ferran’s attacking duo, who had less xG so far (1.7), but converted more.
In addition to Ferran, other players with high xG in the group stage missed out. This is the case of Enner Valencia, from Ecuador, and Mehdi Taremi, from Iran.
Currently, Lionel Messi is the top scorer in the World Cup, with 6 goals scored. Check out the ranking of this and other statistics in the Top 10 of the World Cup.
