Opinion: Why goals have dried up in modern football
Diego Maradona and others
Hosts Russia thrashed hapless Saudi Arabia 5-0 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow yesterday
The 21st World Cup is here and there cannot be a better opening game for the hosts Russia as they thrashed hapless Saudi Arabia 5-0 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Not since 1950, has an opening game of the World Cup finished with such an imposing scoreline.
Since the inception of the World Cup back in the 1930s, there have been some notable trends in goals scored.
The first games of the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay had set the tone for the tournament. Eight goals were scored as France beat Mexico 4-1 and the USA saw off Belgium 3-0 on the opening day.
Champions Uruguay smashed in 15 goals in four games en route to becoming the first world champions, including a 6-1 victory over Yugoslavia in the semi-finals.
The tournament finished without a single draw, a ratio of 3.89 goals per game and with an average winning margin of 2.7 goals.
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The next four editions of the tournament - Italy 1934, France 1938, Brazil 1950 and Switzerland 1954 - saw even more goals with averages of 4.1, 4.67, 4 and a whopping 5.38 per game respectively.
However, the number of goals scored per game at the Word Cups since 1958, has declined more or less consistently and now hovers around the 2 mark.
The last game which saw the average cross 3 mark was in 1958 in Sweden.
The following World Cups in Chile 1962, England 1966, Mexico 1970 and the others were limited to 2.78, 2.78 and 2.97 respectively.
Even the South Africa World cup in 2010 and Brazil 2014 saw the average land at 2.23 and 2.7 respectively.
If goals were the sole measure of excitement, one could rightly claim that World Cups were better in the good old days.
Germany has scored more goals than any other side – 224 in 106 matches.
The difference for the teams that follow is notable as Brazil has scored 221 goals in 104 appearances, while Argentina has notched 131 in just 77 matches.
Italy netted 128 times in 83 games and France come in fifth with 106 goals in just 59 games.
Games are undeniably tighter these days, with weaker teams able to put up more of a defensive fight than in the past.
And based on the opener's result, it won't be a big surprise if the teams bring back the good old average number of goals scored per game, this football tournament.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZMCL)