With the World Cup group stage now firmly behind us, the road to international glory has become considerably shorter. The challenge, however, has become far steeper, with every remaining nation now just one defeat away from elimination.
72 matches completed, 48 nations shrunk down to 32 as the knockout phase got underway and with the Round of 32 and 16 now also in the history books, all eyes are on the last eight teams that are left in this year’s tournament.
The top four seeds of Spain, Argentina, France and England have made it this far, while the respective challenges of Belgium, Switzerland, Morocco and Norway await over the next few days in a bid to reach the semi-finals.
This also means that a further 24 knockout phase matches have taken place to date and once again, it is time to crunch those all-important numbers.
Goals Per Game
With 96 of the 104 tournament matches now played, a total of 280 goals have been scored. This equates to an average of 2.91 per game – a decrease from the 2.98 goals per game that were scored after 48 tournament matches.
The pace of goals slowed down ever so slightly but still close to three goals per game on average. Those who wanted entertainment from the North American edition of the World Cup have certainly been well served and the knockout phase to date has generated 65 of those 280 goals.
This means that when we look at the 24 Round of 16 and 32 games that have taken place, the average goals per game for the knockout phase stands at 2.70. As the jeopardy levels increase, the attacking output has been dialled down just a notch but far from showing signs of safety first.
Both Teams To Score %
When looking at the scorelines of the 96 games in our data sample, things have held largely steady since we have left the Group Stage section behind. Of those 96 matches, 52 of them have finished with both teams finding the net – or 54.17% in percentage terms.
A percentage that stays at the same level at the end of the group stage and when looking at the 24 knockout phase matches in isolation, 13 of the 24 have seen both sides breach their opponents' net – again 54.17%.
This means that for every 24-game block in this World Cup (three group stage blocks and the Round of 32 and 16 treated as one block), an average of 13 matches end with both teams scoring.
Over 2.5 Goals %
A statistic that will be of interest to those who are viewing the World Cup through a betting lens is the number of games that have finished with over 2.5 goals. Of the 96 sampled, it is now tipping further towards those who prefer backing over rather than under.
This means that 53 matches have tipped into three or more territory or 55.21% when looking at it from a percentage perspective. If we look at the 24 knockout games on their own, 13 of the 24 ended with three or more total games – the same percentage as the both teams to score analysis.
Team Wins When Scoring First %
While it is also good news for those nations that have managed to score first, because if you can draw first blood during the 2026 tournament, your chances of going on to win the game are boosted considerably.
Of the 96 games, there have been 72 wins. 59 of those have seen the nation that opens the scoring then pick up three group stage points or advance to the next round of the tournament. This means a 61.46% hit rate when looking at all fixtures, 81.94% when taking draws out of the equation.
In the 24 knockout phase matches that were analysed, 15 nations scored first and went on to advance, four matches ended in stalemate after 120 minutes, and four sides crashed out after opening the scoring – Japan, DR Congo, Senegal, Croatia and Egypt.
Clean Sheet %
If attacking football largely dominated the opening stages of the tournament, the defensive numbers continue to tell a different story. Clean sheets have remained relatively scarce, although the number of goalless draws has now risen to eight.
After 96 tournament matches, there have been 52 clean sheets from a possible 192 team performances, meaning only 27.08% of teams have prevented their opponents from scoring.
The eight goalless draws account for 16 of those 52 clean sheets, leaving 36 occasions where a team has kept a clean sheet while also winning the match.
Equally telling is that 88 of the tournament's 96 matches have featured at least one goal, highlighting just how difficult it has been for both teams to emerge without conceding.
Looking exclusively at the knockout stage, the 48 teams that have featured across 24 matches have managed just 12 clean sheets in total, suggesting defensive shutouts have become even harder to achieve as the quality of opposition has increased.
Average cards per game
In terms of discipline, a total of 259 cards were shown across the opening 96 games. That equates to an average of 2.69 cards per game. This figure has increased from 2.66 after the first 72 tournament matches, as more teams have now been pulled up by a match referee for ill-discipline.
Egypt are the tournament bad boy with 12 cautions to their name, one more than that of outgoing hosts Canada. While South Africa and Qatar share the unwanted record of the most red cards, with two each.
While Argentina and Spain are the best behaved of the eight remaining teams left in the competition, with just three cautions each to their name.
One-goal winning margin
Another interesting trend emerges when analysing winning margins. While close contests have certainly existed, victories have generally been more convincing than narrow.
Of the 96 matches played, 72 have produced a winner. However, only 31 of those victories have been decided by a single-goal margin. That represents 32.29% of all matches and 43.06% of all wins, suggesting that once a team establishes an advantage, fixtures are more likely to open up than remain finely balanced until the final whistle.
The remaining 41 victories (56.94% of all wins) have come by a margin of two goals or more. This distribution points towards either a clear quality gap between the two teams or the momentum swing that often follows the opening goal.
