The first stage of the World Cup is over.
This is the perfect time to do an analysis of all 32 teams before the knockout stages affect the statistics.
The cleanest team of the World Cup so far is Spain, having not had any cards.
The roughest team is Chile with 12 cards – all yellow, including one player who received two yellow cards in the same game. Even if you consider red cards to be worth twice as much as yellows, they still come last. Ironically, they played their last game against Spain! This is an average of four cards per game.
The teams who scored the most goals are Portugal and Argentina, with seven goals each, although all of Portugal's came in the match against North Korea, whereas Argentina's were spread out over several games.
The worst-scoring teams are Algeria and Honduras, who didn't manage a single World Cup goal.
The worst-scoring teams to make it through to the knockout stages are Ghana and England, with two goals each.
There are two teams who have managed clean sheets: Uruguay and Portugal. With a record like that, their qualification is not surprising.
The worst goalkeeping record goes (unsurprisingly) to North Korea, with twelve goals scored against them.
The worst goalkeeping record for a qualifying team is South Korea, who had six goals scored against them – one an own goal.
In terms of wins, draws, and losses, the best record is 3-0-0 to Argentina and Netherlands.
The worst team is Cameroon with 0-0-3.
The worst record for a qualifying team is 1-1-1 for several teams: Mexico, South Korea, Ghana and Slovakia.
So far, all but five of the FIFA referees assigned to the Word Cup have led a game: Joel AGULIAR of El Salvador, Martin HANSSON of Sweden, Subkhiddin MOHD SALLEH of Malaysia, Peter O LEARY of New Zealand and Martin VAZQUEZ of Uruguay have not refereed a game, although they have been fourth officials.
The nicest referee – with one card given out in total (although he's only controlled one game) – is New Zealand's Michael HESTER.
The nastiest referee is Khalil AL GHAMDI, with an average of eight cards per game including one red card.
This doesn't necessarily mean that the referees have made bad decisions. It's up to FIFA to decide, having watched the matches, which referee is best to supervise the final match. The ITV commentators claim that Howard WEBB (ENG) has been the best referee so far, but of course if England make it to the final, he won't be able to referee the game.
25/06/2010
24/06/2010
Day Fourteen: 24/6/2010
The champions are out!
Everyone was surprised today. I would have thought Italy would have played better, as England did yesterday. But they did not, and lost to a team that have never been in a World Cup before: Slovakia!
“As things stand now, reigning world champions Italy would join 2006 runners-up France in failing to progress from the group stage. This would be a FIFA World Cup first. Never before have the two finalists from the previous tournament been knocked out in the group stage the following World Cup. This even includes years in which the runner-up did not qualify.” - Fifa.com in Paraguay vs New Zealand matchcast (emphasis mine).
Interestingly, Paraguay lost their last three matches when the score was 0-0 at half time. This time, they have drawn against opponents New Zealand, but their previous good results put them through to the next round. New Zealand have had three straight group-stage draws now. The last time this happened in a World Cup was in France, 1998, with Belgium and Chile.
During the Italy/Slovakia game, one of the ITV commentators said this: “Kopunek never has to kick another football in his life again. He can bore his grandchildren forever." This was after Slovakia had gone 3-1 up. He had scored in an unmarked goal - something a lot of other players have failed to do this year. While the final score was eventually 3-2, this was still a game for the Slovaks to be proud of.
My predictions only came half-true in group F thanks to Italy's poor performance.
Next up, Netherlands – already through – took on Cameroon – who were already out, so I only watched the Japanese game. If the Netherlands had lost, Japan might have been able to go first in their group, but that wasn't the case. Japan took the lead in their game with two fantastic goals from free kicks, and although Denmark got one goal back, they were unable to emulate Italy as Japan got a third goal. It's the first time Japan have gone into the last 16 from the group stages away from home. So in this group, my predictions proved correct.
We now have quite a few players competing for the Adidas golden boot; top scorers are: Argentina's Higuain, Slovakia's Vittek (3 each) and Elano (Brazil), Honda (Japan), Villa (Spain), Fabiano (Brazil), Gyan (Ghana), Donovan (USA), Lee Jung Soo (South Korea) and Forlan (Argentina) with two goals each and the chance to increase that score. Nigeria's Uche and Australia's Holman also have two goals each.
The current qualifiers are from the following continents: South America (Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay), North America (Mexico, USA), Europe (England, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia), Asia (South Korea, Japan), Africa (Ghana). So the only unrepresented continent is Australasia, whose two teams are already out of the competition.
Now there is no chance that the world champions will win this year, so the World Cup is open to everyone who has the will and ability to go for it.
Goals per game: Mean – 2.16, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 4, Median – 4, Mode – 5, Range - 9
Predictions for tomorrow: Brazil are already through, and I think Portugal will also win as they have too-big a goal difference against Ivory Coast. Then Spain and Chile will go through from group H.
Everyone was surprised today. I would have thought Italy would have played better, as England did yesterday. But they did not, and lost to a team that have never been in a World Cup before: Slovakia!
“As things stand now, reigning world champions Italy would join 2006 runners-up France in failing to progress from the group stage. This would be a FIFA World Cup first. Never before have the two finalists from the previous tournament been knocked out in the group stage the following World Cup. This even includes years in which the runner-up did not qualify.” - Fifa.com in Paraguay vs New Zealand matchcast (emphasis mine).
Interestingly, Paraguay lost their last three matches when the score was 0-0 at half time. This time, they have drawn against opponents New Zealand, but their previous good results put them through to the next round. New Zealand have had three straight group-stage draws now. The last time this happened in a World Cup was in France, 1998, with Belgium and Chile.
During the Italy/Slovakia game, one of the ITV commentators said this: “Kopunek never has to kick another football in his life again. He can bore his grandchildren forever." This was after Slovakia had gone 3-1 up. He had scored in an unmarked goal - something a lot of other players have failed to do this year. While the final score was eventually 3-2, this was still a game for the Slovaks to be proud of.
My predictions only came half-true in group F thanks to Italy's poor performance.
Next up, Netherlands – already through – took on Cameroon – who were already out, so I only watched the Japanese game. If the Netherlands had lost, Japan might have been able to go first in their group, but that wasn't the case. Japan took the lead in their game with two fantastic goals from free kicks, and although Denmark got one goal back, they were unable to emulate Italy as Japan got a third goal. It's the first time Japan have gone into the last 16 from the group stages away from home. So in this group, my predictions proved correct.
We now have quite a few players competing for the Adidas golden boot; top scorers are: Argentina's Higuain, Slovakia's Vittek (3 each) and Elano (Brazil), Honda (Japan), Villa (Spain), Fabiano (Brazil), Gyan (Ghana), Donovan (USA), Lee Jung Soo (South Korea) and Forlan (Argentina) with two goals each and the chance to increase that score. Nigeria's Uche and Australia's Holman also have two goals each.
The current qualifiers are from the following continents: South America (Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay), North America (Mexico, USA), Europe (England, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia), Asia (South Korea, Japan), Africa (Ghana). So the only unrepresented continent is Australasia, whose two teams are already out of the competition.
Now there is no chance that the world champions will win this year, so the World Cup is open to everyone who has the will and ability to go for it.
Goals per game: Mean – 2.16, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 4, Median – 4, Mode – 5, Range - 9
Predictions for tomorrow: Brazil are already through, and I think Portugal will also win as they have too-big a goal difference against Ivory Coast. Then Spain and Chile will go through from group H.
23/06/2010
Day Thirteen part two: 23/6/2010
Predictions fail
Here are the goal time statistics:
Earliest Goal – 4 minutes, Stephen Gerrard for England against USA
Latest Goal – 95 minutes, Pereira for Uruguay against South Africa
Latest first goal – 92 minutes, Donovan for USA against Algeria
Mean – 51.7 minutes, Median – 52 (UQ - 73, LQ – 29)
So most goals seem to be scored in the middle of the game, around the start of the second half.
A fantastic pair of games to start the day off, with England playing Slovenia and the USA taking on Algeria. Somehow, England beat Slovenia 1-0, holding them off for a long time and unfortunately not scoring again, but preventing Slovenia from getting themselves a goal back. That guaranteed England's entry into the final 16, but Slovenia's future was uncertain. At the end of the match, the USA were still in a 0-0 tie with Algeria, but a fantastic goal in the 92nd minute from Donovan got the USA through, and left the Slovenians out of their first World Cup. This confirmed my first two predictions from yesterday's post.
England qualified after scoring only two goals in the competition – one against the US, and one against Slovenia, and this makes them so far the lowest-scoring team to qualify. Incidentally, this is the first time in over 40 years that England have ended the first half 1-0 against a European side and gone on to win (previously they had draws with Sweden in 2006 and 2002, and Ireland in 1990, and a loss against West Germany in 1970).
Next, Germany took on Ghana while Serbia played Australia. I predicted that Germany and Serbia would go through. For the first time in a World Cup, two brothers played against each other – German Jermome BOATENG took on his brother Kevin-Prince Boateng – their father is Ghanese, mother German. Kevin-Prince even played for Germany in the youth teams before choosing to play for his father's country. There's even a second Boateng on the Ghanan side – Derek - but he doesn't seem to be a relation.
In the end, Germany came first to nobody's surprise. Second was Ghana, thanks to their goal difference. So my prediction was not entirely correct. Germany will go through to face England – a great rivalry fuelled originally by the World Wars, and latterly by England's World Cup victory in 1966. In the history of England-Germany matches, they have played 27 times, with England winning 12 matches, Germany winning 10 and taking the two penalty shoot-outs that resulted in competition. There have been three friendly draws. England will hope to win outright, as Germany are unbeaten at penalties. Ghana face the mighty USA, and are probably going to be the only African team to qualify. Even if Ivory Coast beat North Korea and Portugal lose to Brazil (very likely), they will have to get an incredible score (and Portugal will have to lose by a lot of goals).
Goals per game: Mean – 2.08, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 3.93, Median – 4, Mode – 2,5, Range - 9
Predictions for tomorrow: Netherlands (playing failed Cameroon) and Japan from group E, Paraguay and (hopefully) Italy from group F. Paraguay is the only team to have won a game in this group, and as the Cup holders, Italy have a great incentive to continue.
Here are the goal time statistics:
Earliest Goal – 4 minutes, Stephen Gerrard for England against USA
Latest Goal – 95 minutes, Pereira for Uruguay against South Africa
Latest first goal – 92 minutes, Donovan for USA against Algeria
Mean – 51.7 minutes, Median – 52 (UQ - 73, LQ – 29)
So most goals seem to be scored in the middle of the game, around the start of the second half.
A fantastic pair of games to start the day off, with England playing Slovenia and the USA taking on Algeria. Somehow, England beat Slovenia 1-0, holding them off for a long time and unfortunately not scoring again, but preventing Slovenia from getting themselves a goal back. That guaranteed England's entry into the final 16, but Slovenia's future was uncertain. At the end of the match, the USA were still in a 0-0 tie with Algeria, but a fantastic goal in the 92nd minute from Donovan got the USA through, and left the Slovenians out of their first World Cup. This confirmed my first two predictions from yesterday's post.
England qualified after scoring only two goals in the competition – one against the US, and one against Slovenia, and this makes them so far the lowest-scoring team to qualify. Incidentally, this is the first time in over 40 years that England have ended the first half 1-0 against a European side and gone on to win (previously they had draws with Sweden in 2006 and 2002, and Ireland in 1990, and a loss against West Germany in 1970).
Next, Germany took on Ghana while Serbia played Australia. I predicted that Germany and Serbia would go through. For the first time in a World Cup, two brothers played against each other – German Jermome BOATENG took on his brother Kevin-Prince Boateng – their father is Ghanese, mother German. Kevin-Prince even played for Germany in the youth teams before choosing to play for his father's country. There's even a second Boateng on the Ghanan side – Derek - but he doesn't seem to be a relation.
In the end, Germany came first to nobody's surprise. Second was Ghana, thanks to their goal difference. So my prediction was not entirely correct. Germany will go through to face England – a great rivalry fuelled originally by the World Wars, and latterly by England's World Cup victory in 1966. In the history of England-Germany matches, they have played 27 times, with England winning 12 matches, Germany winning 10 and taking the two penalty shoot-outs that resulted in competition. There have been three friendly draws. England will hope to win outright, as Germany are unbeaten at penalties. Ghana face the mighty USA, and are probably going to be the only African team to qualify. Even if Ivory Coast beat North Korea and Portugal lose to Brazil (very likely), they will have to get an incredible score (and Portugal will have to lose by a lot of goals).
Goals per game: Mean – 2.08, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 3.93, Median – 4, Mode – 2,5, Range - 9
Predictions for tomorrow: Netherlands (playing failed Cameroon) and Japan from group E, Paraguay and (hopefully) Italy from group F. Paraguay is the only team to have won a game in this group, and as the Cup holders, Italy have a great incentive to continue.
Day Thirteen part one: 23/6/2010
England, USA, do it!
I was hoping for that victory and it came! I went through the games thinking my predictions would fall flat, but at the last minute the USA scored and also made it through. Now we both go through. I suspect Germany will be first in their group, with Serbia second. Looking forward to Germany against England.
ENGLAND!!!!
I was hoping for that victory and it came! I went through the games thinking my predictions would fall flat, but at the last minute the USA scored and also made it through. Now we both go through. I suspect Germany will be first in their group, with Serbia second. Looking forward to Germany against England.
ENGLAND!!!!
22/06/2010
Day Twelve: 22/6/2010
France fail as Argentina shine
Here's some goalscorer age stats:
The youngest goalscorer is unchanged from last time: Germany's Mueller, aged only 20. The oldest goalscorer is Mexico's Blanco, who scored a penalty against France aged 37. The mean age of a scorer is 27.2, and the median is 27.5, with a lower quartile of 25 and an upper quartile of 29, suggesting most goalscorers are in their late 20s. Indeed, the age with the most goalscorers is 29.
A fantastic game for South Africa, but disappointingly they failed to get through to the next round of the World Cup as Uruguay only won 1-0 against Mexico - goal difference was the deciding factor. France have shown themselves to be a terrible team – they went through more than 338 minutes of World Cup matches without scoring a single goal – which is two-and-a-half matches from this year's cup, and one-and-a-half matches from last year's cup. So Mexico go through on goal difference (+1) as second in their group.
The referee of the France-South Africa game did not do a fantastic job – the first goal was off the shoulder of South African KHUMALO, and the red card against GOURCUFF that brought France down to 10 men was probably undeserved. There has been a lot of bad refereeing in this tournament so far, but let's hope we have a few good refs to choose from to take the Final.
France head home to face a government enquiry into the mess they've ended up in. The only two previous times they have failed to get into the knockout stages – 1966 and 2002 – they were in Uruguay's group each time, and failed to get more than a single point. South Africa are already at home, so there's no long distance to travel for their players, but they put on a great final performance.
Argentina played Greece as South Korea took on Nigeria in the second pair of games today. There was fantastic play in the South Korea/Nigeria game that kept the other two teams guessing as to who would go through. After missing an easy goal in the second half, Yukubu then scored a penalty his team earned to get them on level terms again with the Asian side. All the players were flagging by the end, and struggling to keep going.
Despite a terrible lack of possession for Greece, they held Argentina off their first goal for 77 minutes before DEMICHELIS finally scored to bring the South American side in the lead. They eventually won 2-0 with some fantastic play. To nobody's surprise, Argentina successfully qualified winners of group B to play against Mexico. South Korea go on to face Uruguay.
Predictions for tomorrow: England and USA to qualify from group C, Germany and Serbia to qualify from group D. I would say Germany and Ghana if they weren't playing each other, and I expect Germany to win this game, and Serbia to beat Australia.
We have two South American, one mid-American and one Asian side through to the next round of the World Cup so far. If my predictions prove correct, then three European and one North American side will join them.
Goals per game: Mean – 2.14, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 3.92, Median – 4, Mode – 2,3, Range – 9
It seems goals are increasing, and the roughness of the games is decreasing.
Here's some goalscorer age stats:
The youngest goalscorer is unchanged from last time: Germany's Mueller, aged only 20. The oldest goalscorer is Mexico's Blanco, who scored a penalty against France aged 37. The mean age of a scorer is 27.2, and the median is 27.5, with a lower quartile of 25 and an upper quartile of 29, suggesting most goalscorers are in their late 20s. Indeed, the age with the most goalscorers is 29.
A fantastic game for South Africa, but disappointingly they failed to get through to the next round of the World Cup as Uruguay only won 1-0 against Mexico - goal difference was the deciding factor. France have shown themselves to be a terrible team – they went through more than 338 minutes of World Cup matches without scoring a single goal – which is two-and-a-half matches from this year's cup, and one-and-a-half matches from last year's cup. So Mexico go through on goal difference (+1) as second in their group.
The referee of the France-South Africa game did not do a fantastic job – the first goal was off the shoulder of South African KHUMALO, and the red card against GOURCUFF that brought France down to 10 men was probably undeserved. There has been a lot of bad refereeing in this tournament so far, but let's hope we have a few good refs to choose from to take the Final.
France head home to face a government enquiry into the mess they've ended up in. The only two previous times they have failed to get into the knockout stages – 1966 and 2002 – they were in Uruguay's group each time, and failed to get more than a single point. South Africa are already at home, so there's no long distance to travel for their players, but they put on a great final performance.
Argentina played Greece as South Korea took on Nigeria in the second pair of games today. There was fantastic play in the South Korea/Nigeria game that kept the other two teams guessing as to who would go through. After missing an easy goal in the second half, Yukubu then scored a penalty his team earned to get them on level terms again with the Asian side. All the players were flagging by the end, and struggling to keep going.
Despite a terrible lack of possession for Greece, they held Argentina off their first goal for 77 minutes before DEMICHELIS finally scored to bring the South American side in the lead. They eventually won 2-0 with some fantastic play. To nobody's surprise, Argentina successfully qualified winners of group B to play against Mexico. South Korea go on to face Uruguay.
Predictions for tomorrow: England and USA to qualify from group C, Germany and Serbia to qualify from group D. I would say Germany and Ghana if they weren't playing each other, and I expect Germany to win this game, and Serbia to beat Australia.
We have two South American, one mid-American and one Asian side through to the next round of the World Cup so far. If my predictions prove correct, then three European and one North American side will join them.
Goals per game: Mean – 2.14, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 3.92, Median – 4, Mode – 2,3, Range – 9
It seems goals are increasing, and the roughness of the games is decreasing.
21/06/2010
Day Eleven: 21/6/2010
Portugal leave North Korea behind again as Spain keep a clean game
Here's how the cards and goals are spread over the positions:
Total goals: 67, Total cards: 130 (some players got more than one)
The first game of the day was North Korea against Portugal. At first, the brave Asian side held their ground, but Portugal showed that their draw against Ivory Coast was a fluke as they scored one goal in the first half. In the second half, North Korea fell to pieces as Portugal got six more goals for the top-scoring game of the tournament. Last time these teams met was in the second round of the 1966 World Cup, where North Korea went 3-0 up and then lost 5-3 thanks to the incredible Eusebio! He scored 4 goals in that game, and went on to become the top scorer in the cup. [It was England who won, though :D]
Afterwards, Chile won their second game 1-0, giving them six points. This puts Chile at the top of their group thanks to Switzerland's previous win and Spain's loss. It's likely this group will be determined by goal difference if Switzerland beat Honduras and Spain beat Chile. So it's up to the teams to make sure they score as many goals as possible! This game has been the roughest so far of the tournament, with 10 cards including a straight red to Switzerland! Saudi-Arabian referee AL GHAMDI Khalil has previously refereed the game between France and Mexico, where six yellow cards were given out. It seems from his record that he does often give out a lot of cards, and he's a teacher in 'normal life', so feel sorry for his students! World Referee.com gives him the worst refereeing performance of the tournament so far! He also gave Chile a goal that was clearly offside.
Finally, Spain took on Honduras. After a defeat to Switzerland despite being the better team, they had to do well, and succeeded, winning 2-0. Both goals were scored by David VILLA, which also puts him in contention for the Adidas golden boot. Spain also managed another clean game, getting no cards once again. This means that Spain is the only team in the tournament that has not received any cards!
Goals per game: Mean – 2.09, Median – 3, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 4.06, Median – 4, Mode – 3,5, Range - 9
Here's how the cards and goals are spread over the positions:
| Position | Goals scored | Number of card earners |
| Goalkeeper | 0 | 3 |
| Defender | 9 | 48 |
| Midfielder | 24 | 45 |
| Striker | 35 | 21 |
Total goals: 67, Total cards: 130 (some players got more than one)
The first game of the day was North Korea against Portugal. At first, the brave Asian side held their ground, but Portugal showed that their draw against Ivory Coast was a fluke as they scored one goal in the first half. In the second half, North Korea fell to pieces as Portugal got six more goals for the top-scoring game of the tournament. Last time these teams met was in the second round of the 1966 World Cup, where North Korea went 3-0 up and then lost 5-3 thanks to the incredible Eusebio! He scored 4 goals in that game, and went on to become the top scorer in the cup. [It was England who won, though :D]
Afterwards, Chile won their second game 1-0, giving them six points. This puts Chile at the top of their group thanks to Switzerland's previous win and Spain's loss. It's likely this group will be determined by goal difference if Switzerland beat Honduras and Spain beat Chile. So it's up to the teams to make sure they score as many goals as possible! This game has been the roughest so far of the tournament, with 10 cards including a straight red to Switzerland! Saudi-Arabian referee AL GHAMDI Khalil has previously refereed the game between France and Mexico, where six yellow cards were given out. It seems from his record that he does often give out a lot of cards, and he's a teacher in 'normal life', so feel sorry for his students! World Referee.com gives him the worst refereeing performance of the tournament so far! He also gave Chile a goal that was clearly offside.
Finally, Spain took on Honduras. After a defeat to Switzerland despite being the better team, they had to do well, and succeeded, winning 2-0. Both goals were scored by David VILLA, which also puts him in contention for the Adidas golden boot. Spain also managed another clean game, getting no cards once again. This means that Spain is the only team in the tournament that has not received any cards!
Goals per game: Mean – 2.09, Median – 3, Mode – 2, Range – 7
Cards per game: Mean – 4.06, Median – 4, Mode – 3,5, Range - 9
20/06/2010
Day Ten: 20/6/2010
Italy continue to be bad, Brazil give no surprises
A shocking game from reigning world champions Italy, who have once again only drawn with supposedly-inferior opponents. New Zealand are the second-lowest FIFA/Coca-Cola ranked team in this World Cup, so what does that say about the Italians? The last time the reigning champions failed to win their first two matches in a World Cup was France back in 2002.
First, the card stats. There have been:
4 red cards
5 double-yellows to a single player in the same game
8 players have received two yellow cards in separate group-stages games
85 players have only had one yellow card
The two teams with the least cards given are North Korea and Spain, having not had any, although both teams are yet to play their second group stage matches.
The roughest team so far is Serbia, who have received 8 cards so far including one player sent off with two yellow cards against Ghana. This is partly because of their participation in the nine-card game.
The first game played today was Paraguay against Slovakia. Paraguay held Italy to a 1-1 draw in their first game, which is a mixture of good Paraguayan and bad Italian football. Slovakia lost 2-0, and also had three yellow cards, having previously drawn with New Zealand. If Italy beat Slovakia they will qualify, but if they draw then Paraguay have to beat New Zealand to go through. If Slovakia (somehow) beats Italy, they will qualify provided Paraguay lose. So this group is (surprisingly) anyone's game.
After Italy's disappointing draw with New Zealand, you can only assume that they're not going to retain the cup. A lot of supposedly-good teams this year are failing to do well. France and England have done especially poorly, and after a fantastic start, Germany have also fallen behind. However, Argentina and Brazil are doing well, and we've yet to hear from Portugal.
The big news is that France's star player Nicolas ANELKA has been sent home, and the entire French squad has disputed this decision, and thus refused to train. It remains to be seen how well they will fare against South Africa.
Brazil had another good match against Ivory Coast, winning 3-1. It's Brazil's second victory this World Cup, and continues their fantastic record. Ivory Coast is team led by ex-England coach Sven Goran-Ericcson, who led England to the quarter-finals of the last two World Cups. He may not have been able to beat Brazil, but bringing Portugal to a 1-1 draw is fantastic!
Goals per game: Mean - 1.97, Median - 2, Mode - 2, Range - 5
Cards per game: Mean - 3.93, Median - 4, Mode - 3,5, Range - 8
A shocking game from reigning world champions Italy, who have once again only drawn with supposedly-inferior opponents. New Zealand are the second-lowest FIFA/Coca-Cola ranked team in this World Cup, so what does that say about the Italians? The last time the reigning champions failed to win their first two matches in a World Cup was France back in 2002.
First, the card stats. There have been:
4 red cards
5 double-yellows to a single player in the same game
8 players have received two yellow cards in separate group-stages games
85 players have only had one yellow card
The two teams with the least cards given are North Korea and Spain, having not had any, although both teams are yet to play their second group stage matches.
The roughest team so far is Serbia, who have received 8 cards so far including one player sent off with two yellow cards against Ghana. This is partly because of their participation in the nine-card game.
The first game played today was Paraguay against Slovakia. Paraguay held Italy to a 1-1 draw in their first game, which is a mixture of good Paraguayan and bad Italian football. Slovakia lost 2-0, and also had three yellow cards, having previously drawn with New Zealand. If Italy beat Slovakia they will qualify, but if they draw then Paraguay have to beat New Zealand to go through. If Slovakia (somehow) beats Italy, they will qualify provided Paraguay lose. So this group is (surprisingly) anyone's game.
After Italy's disappointing draw with New Zealand, you can only assume that they're not going to retain the cup. A lot of supposedly-good teams this year are failing to do well. France and England have done especially poorly, and after a fantastic start, Germany have also fallen behind. However, Argentina and Brazil are doing well, and we've yet to hear from Portugal.
The big news is that France's star player Nicolas ANELKA has been sent home, and the entire French squad has disputed this decision, and thus refused to train. It remains to be seen how well they will fare against South Africa.
Brazil had another good match against Ivory Coast, winning 3-1. It's Brazil's second victory this World Cup, and continues their fantastic record. Ivory Coast is team led by ex-England coach Sven Goran-Ericcson, who led England to the quarter-finals of the last two World Cups. He may not have been able to beat Brazil, but bringing Portugal to a 1-1 draw is fantastic!
Goals per game: Mean - 1.97, Median - 2, Mode - 2, Range - 5
Cards per game: Mean - 3.93, Median - 4, Mode - 3,5, Range - 8
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