World Cup 2026: Fastest World Cup to 100 goals in 68 years – does new format skew figures?
Mexican Julian Quinones scored the first goal of the World Cup in a 2-0 win over South Africa on June 11.
The goals have continued to fly since the opening game in Mexico City.
There was an avalanche of goals from Germany’s 7-1 defeat of opener Curacao in Houston on June 14 to Canada’s 6-0 defeat of Qatar in Vancouver four days later.
One of the reasons for so many goals may be the ‘Trionda’ ball used by Adidas in the matches.
It seems like many goalkeepers get caught up in the flight of the ball.
This was evident earlier this week when France captain Kylian Mbappe scored his second goal of the match and longest of the tournament, beating Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from 30 meters.
This was one of five strikes scored from more than 22 yards in the first round of the fixture.
Two of these goals were scored by Sweden’s Yasin Ayari from 24.8 yards and 24.3 yards respectively against Tunisia.
Goals by Australian Connor Metcalfe (25.6 yards against Tunisia) and Ismael Saibari (24.7 yards against Brazil) are in the top five.
Speaking to BBC Sport, former England goalkeeper Joe Hart said that goalkeepers had difficulty controlling the ball.
Hart noticed the ball running to Jordan Pickford quicker than expected when Martin Baturina equalized for Croatia against England on 17 June.
More than 10 goals were scored from outside the penalty area, not to mention goalkeepers kicking the ball after erroneous shots.
“There are one or two occasions where this football doesn’t behave as you would expect,” said former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who covers the World Cup for BBC Sport. “This is something to watch out for.”
This isn’t the first time World Cup balls have caused problems. During the 2010 tournament in South Africa, ‘Jabulani’ became known for his swerving, dipping and drifting movements, which were thought to have contributed to the scoring of many long-range goals.
At the time, England’s David James was one of the few players to criticize the ball, saying it would “allow extra goals” and “make some goalkeepers look stupid”.
“The ball sucks,” James said. “It’s terrible, but it’s terrible for everyone.”
At the end of the tournament, 26 of the 145 goals scored came from outside the field.
