While it may not seem like it upon first glance, the Round Of 16 actually serves as the real ‘start’ of the tournament for many fans and pundits alike. Despite more than half of the games already being in the record books, the real hard work starts here for many teams as they attempt to navigate their way through four more games in an incredibly short space of time. It’s at this stage that we start to see some of the more elite teams really shine through, which can only be a good thing.

So with things set to get underway in a matter of hours, we thought it’d be interesting to analyse what the RO16 has provided us with in the 2010 and 2014 editions of the World Cup. As you can imagine there were some games that didn’t give us much of an indication as to what the mentality of the remaining 16 teams may be, but in other instances, there’s a pattern that emerges – depending on how you want to look at it.

In 2010, contrary to what happened in the group stages, the majority of the teams came out swinging in an attempt to secure their passage through to the quarter-finals. Across the eight games, we saw a grand total of 22 goals, meaning there was an impressive average of 2.75 goals per game. Germany scored the most out of all 16 teams with four against England, Paraguay & Japan produced the only 0-0, with Chile & Portugal being the only other two teams who failed to score at all. The majority of the encounters were settled inside 90 minutes, too, with Ghana’s win in extra time and Paraguay’s victory on penalties being the only two that went into ET and beyond.

In 2014, however, things were a little bit different, which is interesting given that the group stages seemed much more eventful. There were 18 goals in the eight RO16 games with an average of 2.25 per game. Colombia, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium all scored two goals apiece which was the most out of any of the teams involved. Ironically enough we didn’t get any 0-0s unlike 2010, although Uruguay, Nigeria and Switzerland all failed to hit the back of the net. Another intriguing statistic lies in the fact that five games went into extra time in an increase from two in 2010, with those being Brazil/Chile (penalties), Germany/Algeria (ET), Costa Rica/Greece (penalties), Argentina/Switzerland (ET) and Belgium/United States (ET).

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While you can draw your own conclusions from your findings, one thing that is undeniable is that we’re set for some fun games in the first knockout round this year in Russia. Things will be getting underway this afternoon when France take on Argentina, in a game between two big nations who have yet to really hit their stride. In 2010 and 2014 the heroes in the opening knockout games were none other than Luis Suarez & Neymar, so wouldn’t it be poetic for Messi to do the same in 2018 in a nostalgic call-back to the trio’s success together with Barcelona.

He hasn’t been himself as of late, but maybe that moment of magic against Nigeria will spur him on against the French.

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