OFFSIDE: Too many goals in World Cup 2026? Wait for the knockout rounds… |: Football News:

Ted Lasso is a rare silver lining during the dark days of COVID. When the world is locked down, an American football coach in charge of a soccer team has the interesting job of not only coaching a team in a sport he doesn’t know, but also lifting the spirits of the world in its darkest days. And against all the odds, Ted Lasso was able to do that and finally make Americans fall in love with a sport almost exclusively associated with suburban moms and minivans.The received wisdom until then was that soccer was not as high-scoring and fast-paced as baseball, basketball, hockey and American football, and therefore did not appeal to the American psyche. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that this World Cup, with North America as co-host, is one of the most free-scoring tournaments in recent memory.Football lovers try to offer different reasons for this. Some blame the hydration break. Some focus on the ball as if it is harder to catch and have a mind of their own in mid-air. Some blame the 48-team World Cup that has led to lopsided contests because we have never seen a country lose 7-1. Sunday League purists say strict refereeing prevents defenders from kicking bollocks away from attackers.But the numbers are at least not made up. After 54 games, this edition has 161 goals. That’s 2.98 per game. Qatar 2022 finished with 172 goals in 64 games at 2.69 per game. Russia 2018 managed 2.64. South Africa 2010 was 2.27 per game.

Is this just the episode of the group’s shenanigans or is there more? Because group phases lie. They often flatter and exaggerate like life insurance agents.

Golden Boot Race

The race for the Golden Boot is equally ridiculous. Messi now has five goals. In many World Cups, that number will get you the gong. Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland were stranded with four each, accidentally arranged by hunger. Deniz Undav, Johan Manzambi, Matheus Cunha, Ismael Saibari and Jonathan David are in the three. Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane, and many others, hide both.

There’s a Ball

The ball has also become part of the story and the Adidas Trionda is unfair compared to the Jabulani from 2010 which is the most hated sphere since the meteor wiped out the dinosaurs. Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart has raised doubts about the ball, pointing out that even elite players are being tricked into acting badly because of it. The Trionda has a four-panel construction and deep seams that give the ball its own mind and make it harder for keepers.

Defense, where are you?

But it’s not always a ball. Defense, fans say, has become a lost art in the game. Too much refereeing has lost the brawlers, the hard tacklers, the men who put their heads where angels fear to tread. Opta’s defensive-error numbers show that 25 errors led directly to goals, compared to 37 across the 2018 and 2022 World Cups combined.Some of it was due to technique, and some of it was due to bad touches, loose clearances and goalkeepers panicking when Erling Haaland hurt them. Of course, we have fairy tales of keepers from small countries like Cape Verde or Curacao, or the way Carlos Queiroz’s Ghana eliminated the England attack.The goals themselves tell a similar story. Reuters reported seven own goals in the first 10 days, with the tournament threatening a record 12 sets in 2018. Add five substitutions, tired backlines, stricter defense in the VAR era and a wider gap in quality in a 48-team World Cup, and the scoring spike is reasonable.

Wait for the Knockout Stage?

But this points to another kind of problem. As we move towards the business end, the tournaments will get tougher. Brazil 2014, for example, had 2.83 per game in the group stages and 2.19 in the knockouts. Germany 2016 saw 2.44 in the group stage and 1.88 in the knockouts. 2002 had 2.71 per game, with knockouts dropping to 1.94. Of course, there are exceptions. Qatar 2022 and Russia 2018 both have high goal counts.The real defensive squeeze usually comes once the tournament reaches the quarter-finals and beyond. That’s when teams stop chasing goal difference, stop playing open-ended group games, and start treating every mistake like a career-ending mistake. Perhaps that’s why even now Germany’s 7-1 demolition of Brazil lingers in the memory.Time will tell if the goal-scoring fest continues into the knockout stages, where defenses will be better equipped, forwards and attackers will be tougher, and we’ll find out if the group stage is just a beautiful anomaly.

Third place showdown

And now comes the most infamous waiting room of the tournament. With only eight of the 12 third-place teams going through, four points should be close to a boarding pass, making Bosnia and Herzegovina virtually safe. The three-point pack – Sweden, Croatia, South Korea, Algeria, Paraguay and Scotland – is where the real blood pressure lives, because the goal difference is now as important as the goals. Cape Verde and Belgium, both sides, are still breathing but need help. DR Congo, Ecuador and Senegal are in the danger zone, where another result elsewhere could be baggage.

That is the hidden price of all purposes. Every 90th minute consolation, every own goal, every keeper’s flap now sits on the table like evidence in court. The knockout race has started, only a few teams are watching it from the hotel rooms. The top eight third-placed teams qualify, with points first, then goal difference, goals scored, fair play and FIFA ranking used as tiebreakers.

Viewing Meme:

And the winner: