BY ARNE RICHTER
The football world has been amazed by the attacking spectacle that is the World Cup, with the heat and long distances to travel proving no hindrance to the goal fest.
At the halfway point of the tournament, 94 goals have been scored in 32 games.
If the average of 2.94 goals per game is maintained, it will become the highest scoring competition since 1970, FIFA president Joseph Blatter tweeted.
And there have been several records broken or rewritten already:
– Since the establishment of an official opening game to the World Cup in 1966, there has only once been more goals than the four struck in Brazil’s 3-1 win over Croatia.
That was in 2006 when Germany defeated Costa Rica 4-2.
– The Netherlands stunned defending champions Spain with a 5-1 win in their first match at the 2014 competition.
The Dutch had only twice before hit five goals, 5-1 against Austria in 1978 and 5-0 against South Korea in 1998.
– Germany defeated Portugal 4-0 to bag four goals in their opening game for the fourth consecutive time. In 2002 the Germans even recorded a thumping 8-0 win over Saudi Arabia.
– France have struck a total of eight goals in their opening two games, matching a record which has stood since the 1958 World Cup.
It was also at that competition in Sweden that Les Bleus last scored five in one game – a feat they actually managed twice, 7-3 against Yugoslavia and 6-3 against West Germany.
– Croatia defeated Cameroon 4-0 to set a new record for their largest win at the World Cup. Their previous best was 3-0 against Germany in the 1998 quarter-final.
– Algeria ended a 32-year wait for another World Cup victory by hammering South Korea 4-2 and also wrote themselves into the history books. No African team had scored four in a World Cup match before.
– Costa Rica’s victories over former champions Italy and Uruguay have given the Central Americans their best ever World Cup campaign. They have also scored four goals in the first two group games for the first time.
– Colombia last scored five goals in their opening two World Cup games in 1962. But Jose Pekerman’s side are faring better this time than at that competition – two wins have already guaranteed progress. In Chile they exited the tournament courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to Uruguay and 4-4 draw with the Soviet Union.
– Honduras have Carlo Costly’s goal in their 2-1 defeat to Ecuador to thank for not breaking a negative record for the longest time between goals. It was their first World Cup strike since 1982 and came after 511 minutes of football – another seven minutes would have taken the unwanted record currently held by Bolivia.
– Spain have also provided a lot of goals in 2014 but at the wrong end from the point of view of the defending champions. The seven they have conceded in two games represents their worst tally since 1950 – when they let in 12 over the whole tournament.
Source : Sapa-dpa /gbm
