With just 2 games to go, the 2010 World Cup is on course to be one of the lowest scoring World Cup tournaments in history. And with Spain, the '1-0 Kings', in the Final we could be relying on Germany and Uruguay scoring a bundle to keep 2010 out of last place.
3 goals would see the tournament match the lowest ever gpm ratio of Italia 90, while just 2 would see South Africa become the most goal shy World Cup ever. To leap frog Germany 2006 in the table, the 4 remaining teams need to muster 9 goals between them in the Final and the 3/4th place game.
It's interesting that, barring a 20 goal miracle over the weekend, the last 3 World Cups will rank in the 4 lowest scoring World Cup tournaments ever. Has international football become more defensive? Have the differences in quality between the 'big and small' nations evened out? Other than North Korea, there wasn't really a terrible team in this World Cup. Yes England, France and Italy underperformed, but I mean there were no 'minnows' just along for the experience. Look at the performances of Australia and New Zealand for example. Both had opportunities to get out of their groups...
When it's all said and done, we'll revisit that discussion, but for now here's the stats table!
Average goals-per-match for each World Cup tournament:
5.385 : Switzerland 1954
4.667 : France 1938
4.118 : Italy 1934
4.000 : Brazil 1950
3.889 : Uruguay 1930
3.600 : Sweden 1958
2.969 : Mexico 1970
2.808 : Spain 1982
2.781 : Chile 1962
2.781 : England 1966
2.712 : United States 1994
2.684 : Argentina 1978
2.672 : France 1998
2.553 : West Germany 1974
2.538 : Mexico 1986
2.516 : Korea/Japan 2002
2.297 : Germany 2006
2.242 : South Africa 2010
2.212 : Italy 1990
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