The first record that Qatar 2022 has broken is that the tournament will go down as the highest-scoring FIFA World Cup in history. A total of 172 goals were scored across 64 matches this winter, one more than the 171 scored in Brazil in 2014 and at France ‘98. Qatar’s tally was helped by a six-goal thriller in the final, as well as a number of drubbings handed out throughout the event.
England thumped Iran 6-2 on the second day of the tournament, Spain hammered Costa Rica 7-0 just a few days later, and Croatia beat Canada by four goals to one during their second group game. There were also a number of thrashings handed out during the knockout stages. Portugal’s 6-1 demolition of Switzerland and Brazil’s 4-1 victory over South Korea immediately spring to mind.
The fact that the latest installment of the World Cup will go down as the highest scoring of all time is even more impressive considering the fact that the tournament also now shares the record for the number of goalless draws in the competition’s history. In the first week alone, there were four 0-0 statements. To put that into perspective, we had to wait 12 days for the first and only bore draw in Russia four years ago.
During the first week of the tournament, it looked as though this year’s World Cup would go down in history as a relatively drab affair. Luckily for fans and for the event organisers, the competition got better as it went on, and there was only one 0-0 draw in the entire knockout stage. That honour went to Morocco’s second-round victory over Spain, in which they defeated the 2010 champions on penalties.
At just 24 years of age, Kylian Mbappe has already done it all. At just 19, he became a World Champion. Four years later, he has added a silver medal to his gold, as well as picked up the Golden Boot award following a staggering eight goals this winter.
He is already the sixth leading goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history, tied with Pele on 12 goals. He is just four goals shy of Miroslav Klose’s record of 16, and it would take a brave punter to bet against the Paris Saint Germain man breaking that record in North and Central America in 2026.
One record that the goalscoring machine has already broken is that he now has the most goals scored in World Cup finals. His brilliant hat trick in the defeat to Argentina, added to his goal against Croatia in Moscow four years ago, now puts him at the top of the list on four goals, one in front of Geoff Hurst, Pele, Zinedine Zidane, and Vavá.
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