CHENNAI: When Just Fontaine of France scored 13 goals in the 1958 edition of the World Cup, no one would have betted that his record of most goals in a single tournament would be broken. While the likes of Eusebio (9 in 1966) and Gerd Muller (10 in 1970) came within distance, Fontaine's wonder effort has stood the test of time. However, that remarkable feat is under threat with numerous players in the race for the Golden Boot in the ongoing edition of the World Cup.
Big-hitters like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Ousmane Dembele have set the stage ablaze and now have a serious chance to raise the bar. So far, 261 goals have been scored in this edition in USA, Canada and Mexico, breaching the previous record of 173 in Qatar in 2022. But it has to be noted the World Cup is being held in a new format — expanded from 32 to 48 participating nations. That has meant more matches, which naturally means more goals.
According to former India captain and Zee5 expert Bhaichung Bhutia, the reason behind goal surge is the expansion itself. The former striker felt, because of expansion, the standard is not the same.
"What has happened is, we have got 48 teams in this World Cup. So you also don't have that competitiveness that you had in the earlier World Cup. With more teams having qualified, the standard obviously is not going to be as it was the previous edition. I think that's why you see a lot of scorers already competing for the top spots," he told this daily in a virtual interaction facilitated by the broadcaster.
While the number of teams is a reason, another is the sheer attacking quality that teams bring in. According to ESPN’s data, 41 per cent of the first 100 recorded goals — all in the group stages — have come from open play. In recent times, some of the elite clubs have relied on set-pieces to get the results, but this statistic shows that open play goals are here to stay. "This is also because teams lack experience of playing the World Cup. But at the same time, I think we have seen some high-scoring goals have happened not with in fact one or two smaller countries but also a lot of teams actually playing a more open, attacking brand of ball," he added.
While these names are currently in the running for the boot, the driving force behind the goals are the wingers. With the concentration of most attacks coming from the wings, it is no surprise that wingers have done the key work. Michael Olise is an apt example. With five assists – the highest so far this tournament — the Bayern Munich star has an Expected Assist (xA) rate of 2.3. Olise's playmaking directly fuels Mbappe and Dembele's statistics. Another metric that Olise excels at is his line-breaking passes. He is level with Bilal El Khannous of Morocco – another wide player in the number of defensive line breaks attempted with 21 but has a success rate of 81 per cent (El Khannous has 67 per cent).
But goals haven't just come because of wingers. Take Johan Manzambi's case. The Swiss has thrived despite lack of supply from wingers. With an xG of just 0.63, he managed to score three goals in four games, in addition to three assists. His xG efficiency stands at 4.73, higher than Mbappe, Messi and Harry Kane. "He made a big difference in Switzerland’s win over Algeria. He looks quite strong, effective and very promising," Bhutia added.
With wingers mostly at the centre of decisive plays, they will continue to be the key force in the remaining games. While the forwards reap the rewards, it is the wingmen that bring the fuel to their fire.