5 reasons why this is the best World Cup ever

#4 Late goals and drama

Harry Kane scored a winner in the added time of second half against Tunisia

In the 56 games played so far, 146 goals have been scored by all teams combined and all 32 teams have scored at least one goal.

Out of the 146 goals, 23 goals were scored in the 90th minute or in the added time of the second half. That’s 15.75% of the total number of goals scored.

Out of these 23 goals, 9 goals were the winning goals in their respective games, four goals levelled the score and ten goals didn’t make any difference to the outcome of the game.

The winning goals were scored by Salem Al-Dawsari against Egypt, an own goal by Aziz Bouhaddouz against Iran, Ivan Perišić against Iceland, Philippe Coutinho against Costa Rica, Xherdan Shaqiri against Serbia, Toni Kroos against Sweden, Kim Young-gwon against Germany, Harry Kane against Tunisia and Nacer Chadli against Japan.

Some of these goals changed the final standings in their groups and even affected qualification. Chadli’s goal against Japan was the most recent late winner netted in the World Cup and it knocked Japan out after the Asian side led 2-0 in the second half of their Round of 16 game. This game was arguably the best game of the World Cup.

There have been goals late in many games after the 80th minute which changed the complexion of the game. Notably, Marcos Rojo scored a goal in the 86th minute against Nigeria and without that goal, Nigeria would have progressed to the next round in place of Argentina.

During the group stage, there was drama till the final whistle in Group B, Group D, Group F and Group H as a goal for any team playing in the final group stage game would have turned the table on its head.

In fact, Group G cut it so close that Japan progressed at the expense of Senegal because they picked up fewer yellow cards than the African side.