2018 World Cup
14 June to 15 July
Russia
For all your football betting needs, we take a look back on the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Didier Deschamps’ young and incredibly talented team won the tournament despite playing very much within themselves and one feels that they have only scratched the surface of their potential despite winning football’s biggest prize.
Inspired by the midfield power of Paul Pogba and the thrilling speed of teenage attacker Kylian Mbappe, Didier Deschamps’ team proved too strong for first-time finalists Croatia, who had come through a marathon three extra time games.
Africa will celebrate a France triumph given that so many of their players have roots in the continent (Pogba, for example, has familial roots in Guinea and his older brother Florentin even represents the West African country in international football), though the fact that all five CAF teams at Russia 2018 failed to advance beyond the group stage was a bitter pill to swallow.
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Nonetheless, the 2018 ‘Mundial’ was a wonderful tournament which will be remembered as much for its thrills, spills, upsets and controversies – not the least of which was the introduction of VAR, which climaxed in a highly-debatable penalty awarded to France in the final – as it will for the victory of Deschamps’ team and the resilient stamina of Croatia, who came through three straight extra time games to reach the final.
Gareth Southgate’s England also played a major role in the tournament, reaching the final four for the first time since 1990 and producing the tournament’s leading goal scorer (with six strikes) in Harry Kane, while the showing of Roberto Martinez’s Belgium was also a highlight.
The tournament also featured a surprisingly strong showing from host nation Russia, the stunning early exit of defending champions Germany, the almost laughable incompetence of Argentina – who were so incredibly reliant on a mis-firing Lionel Messi – and perhaps the international swansong for Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the game’s all-time greats.
The FIFA World Cup in Numbers
64 – the number of matches played at the 2018 World Cup in Russia
5910 – the total number of minutes played (excluding stoppage time) at the tournament with five knockout round matches going to extra-time
169 – the number of goals scored in Russia, just two short of the all-time high
2.64 – average number of goals per game, less than the 2.67 registered in Brazil
20 – Croatia’s world ranking (the lowest-ranked side ever to reach the final)
16 – goals scored by Belgium, the competitions top scorers
12 – the number of own-goals scored (a World Cup record)
9 – the number of goals scored in stoppage time
6 – goals scored by Golden Boot winner Harry Kane (three of which came from the penalty spot)
69 – the record number of goals which came from set-pieces
2 – World Cup titles now achieved by France
1 – goalless games at this year’s World Cup. Astonishing.
0 – African teams in the knockout rounds – a unwanted first since 1982
29 – the number of penalties awarded (another World Cup record – 10 of which were a result of a VAR review)
22 – of those spot-kicks were converted
72 – distance in km’s covered by Croatia’s Ivan Perisic
219 – number of yellow cards dished out
49,651 – total passes completed in the entire tournament
19.64 million – people in Britain who tuned in to watch England’s quarter-final against Sweden
19 years 6 months and 25 days – Kylian Mbappe’s age. The youngest player to appear and score in a World Cup final since Pele in 1958.
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