Eliminated, Germany is the team with the most accurate shots and dribbles; see curiosities of the 1st phase of the Cup

Four of the five top scorers of the 2022 World Cup are still in contention with their national teams after the end of the first phase of the tournament, this Friday (2).

Englishman Marcus Rashford, Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, Spaniard Álvaro Morata and Dutchman Cody Gakpo each scored three goals. An average, therefore, of one per game.

In addition to them, the Ecuadorian Enner Valencia also reached that mark, but the South American team did not get a place in the round of 16.

In terms of finishing, the players who hit the target the most were Lionel Messi and Mbappé. The Argentine, however, only scored two goals and stopped the goalkeepers on six occasions. The Frenchman scored one more goal, in a total of seven successful shots.

In collective terms, the team with the most accurate finishes was, curiously, Germany. The four-time world champion sent 24 balls towards the goal, scored in six of them and demanded saves from opposing goalkeepers in the other 18.

It was not enough. Even with that volume in the attack, coach Hansi Flick’s team was disappointing and was eliminated in the first phase of the World Cup, with only one victory.

In second place in the ranking is Brazil, with 21 shots on goal. The selection, however, scored only 3 goals. It was one of the worst offensive runs among the 16 ranked teams, tied with Australia and just ahead of the United States and Poland.

In all, 120 goals were scored in this first phase, 2 less than in the previous World Cup. The average is 2.5 per game.

When it comes to skill, the best dribbler in the first phase was the German Jamal Musiala, with 19 dribbles and successful overtakes on the markers. Below him appear the Canadian Alphonso Davies and the Ghanaian Mohammed Kudus, with 11 and 10, respectively.

Overall, the team that bet the most on individual plays was Canada, with 89 attempts. Germany’s success, however, was superior, with the same 31 hits, but in 68 moves (46%).

Famous for the individuality of its players, Brazil relied more on the collective game and does not appear among the teams with more dribbling. There were 59 attempts, 41 of them unsuccessful.

The most hunted athletes on the field were the Senegalese Ismaila Sarr, with 13 fouls received, the Costa Rican Joel Campbell and the Mexican Hirving Lozano, with 11 each. The most absent were the Dutchman Denzel Dumfries and the Tunisian Issam Jebali, with 10 infractions each.