SHILLONG: Spain have some statistical records to overcome if they are to defend their champions tag at the football World Cup, which is just around the corner.
No team in over 50 years has won two consecutive World Cups and no non-South American team has been victorious on this continent’s soil in any of the four finals that were hosted there previously.
Based on FIFA records, Spain also happen to be the team that scored the lowest number of goals on their way to winning a championship.
With only eight to their name in 2010, at an average of 1.14 per match, they certainly did not set the tournament alight. Nevertheless, they did enough to be crowned World Champions.
Some other stats to emerge from the analysis include the fact that Brazil and Germany (including East and West divisions during the Cold War) have scored 210 and 211 goals, respectively, or around one-tenth each of the 2,200-plus goals scored in the history of the tournament.
Further statistics are in the table below.
