Where's the Beautiful Game?
People are complaining about boring games and the few goals scored so far in the World Cup (only 25 balls hit the net). Well, it is understandable that some teams prefer to play defensively in order to push their chances to qualify for the next phase up to the last round. There are some squads using the 5-4-1 formation: 5 players in the back, 4 protecting the middle field and only one striker. This is clear that they enter in the field looking for a "nil-nil" score, making the game truncated. Other people try to blame the ball.
However, after checking some game statistics, I realized that the players are trying hard to score, check this numbers:
1 - Brazil - 26 shots – average of 1 shot in each 3.40 minutes
2 - Spain - 24 shots – 1 shot each 3.75 minutes
3 - Argentina and Chile - 20 shots each – 1 shot each 4.5 minutes
4 - England, Netherlands, South Korea and France - 18 shots each – 1 shot each 5 minutes
The expectation is that the games in the 2nd round will have more emotion. Teams need to make the result, they can’t afford stay behind and wait and see, especially those which drew or lost. I hope new open games will come in the next round. There will be no "first game anxiety" (or it shouldn’t be), players will be familiarized with the type of field and ball. Despite which team wins, let the beautiful game play.
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