Since Pelé’s World Cup debut, there has not been a World Cup with as many goals as in 2026
It is being the World Cup of victories. The last two have been Japan’s 4-0 win over Tunisia and the Netherlands’ 5-1 win over Sweden. But also Canada thrashed Taste by 6-0, Germany to Curacao for 7-1 e England gave a resounding 4-2 to Croatiaamong other games with a number of goals rarely seen in professional football. These results reflect a unique statistic that reveals that the 2026 World Cup is being one of the most colorful and entertaining in history. Fans like goals, and that’s what they’re seeing.
They have been played 36 matches since the current edition of the World Cup began and they have marked 109 goalsreflecting a statistic of 3.03 goals per confrontation. According to ‘Opta Analyst’, it is the highest average since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, in which Pele led to Brazil to raise the trophy to the sky of Solna. In this tournament, the 3.6 goals per game.
It is also true that more goals have been scored than expected. For those who are not familiar with this metric, it consists of evaluating the quality of the players’ shots. Each action is rated on a scale from 0.00, which would be an occasion in which it is practically impossible to score, to 0.99, a shot that is almost a sure goal. Well, of the 109 goals that have been scored to date, there are 90 expected goalswhich means 19 more goals than should have happened according to this statistic.
Expert analysts are trying to explain the reason for so many goals. Some blame the poor quality of some goalkeepers. Precisely, it has been put as an example to Eloy Roomgoalkeeper Curacao who plays in the second division of the United States and who scored seven goals from Germany. However, this morning from Saturday to Sunday he completed a true recital under the sticks by signing fifteen stops in front of Ecuador and stay just one away from equaling Tim Howardwho completed the highest number of saves in a World Cup match in 2014, of course, with extra time, which makes the Curacao goalkeeper’s feat even greater. Ecuador generated almost three expected goals and was left to zero thanks to Room, so it seems that this hypothesis does not hold up. Others have even blamed the official ball. Adidas Trionda. Joe Hartlegendary goalkeeper England and now a soccer analyst, stated that “I have the feeling that the ball reaches the goalkeeper faster of what they believe comes from their foot.
Another fact that makes it evident that the spectacle has increased in relation to the previous World Cup in Qatar in 2022, is that In the first 36 games of that tournament there were 5 games without goals. However, in the current one there have only been two 0-0 and, precisely, one is that of Spain in view of Cape Verde. Also in the last World Cup, in that same number of matches, 90 goalswhich means 2.5 goals per game0.53 fewer goals per confrontation if we compare it with the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
