No super early drama
It's tempting to commit to extremely early drama this summer - backing the fastest goal to be scored in 51 seconds or less at 7/101.70 - if only because it keeps us invested in every opening passage of play, right up to the final.
The problem is the numbers don't stack up.
There have only been three goals scored in this early timeframe in the last 10 tournaments, the last one converted in 2014.
Granted, the expansion of the World Cup is a big factor to consider, with 104 matches to be played, as opposed to 64 last time out. Yet even with the 37.5% increase in matches it makes more sense to oppose a shock concession almost from kick-off.
A smidge under 4% of goals across Europe's big five leagues last term were converted in the opening five minutes. That's five minutes, not 51 seconds or less.
So with the last 104 World Cup fixtures producing 294 goals you would expect 11-12 goals to have been scored very early. But there was just seven, only one of them coming even close to the 51 second mark.
It's entirely logical that on the biggest stage teams are much less inclined to be embarrassed from the off.
Back fastest goal to be scored at the 2026 World Cup in 52 seconds or more match time
More match balls kept
There was a glut of World Cup hat-tricks in the Eighties but that trend has diminished since. Still, two hat-tricks in each of the last three editions of the tournament is worth noting, a figure that should significantly rise with the greater volume of matches.
This is especially true when we acknowledge the calibre of teams who have qualified due to the expansion. For all that it's a wonderful story that Curaçao and Cape Verde have made it, they have to respectively face Germany and Spain in their opening games.
We have seen many times over that such disparities can produce one-man demolitions. Remember Harry Kane vs Panama? Or Xherdan Shaqiri running riot against Honduras four years prior?
Back 5+ hat-tricks to be scored at 2026 World Cup
Everyone on the scoresheet
Let's stay with Curaçao and Cape Verde, and bring in other minnows such as Qatar and DR Congo.
It may be patronising to suggest so, but for each, just scoring a goal this summer would be cause for celebration back home.
Thankfully, in this regard, the signs are good. Curaçao have converted consolations against Australia and Scotland in recent months. Cape Verde have put three past Serbia and two past Chile in 2026. DR Congo have only failed to score in two of their last 18 outings, facing decent opposition on occasion.
That only leaves Qatar to worry about but they at least did score when hosting the tournament in 2022.
Indeed, when revisiting previous tournaments there is even greater encouragement that every team can make their mark in the US/Canada/Mexico.
The last teams to fail to score at a World Cup finals were Algeria and Honduras, both in 2010.
Back every team to score 1+ goals at 2026 World Cup
A high own-goal count
Only two players suffered the indignity of scoring an own goal in Qatar. That's a bizarrely low number given that 294 goals were scored and typically one in 40 of them are OGs. It should conceivably have been 7+.
Four years earlier in Russia there was a bizarrely high number of them - 12. It was a talking point at the time.
What this reveals is an obvious truth, that the random act of conceding in your own net produces random numbers, impossible to predict.
What we do know however is that an extra 40 games amounts to 3600 more minutes for this act to occur.
Backing 12+ own goals this summer at 11/102.11 is the sensible play. Going higher though is a decent shout nonetheless.
Back 14+ own-goals scored at 2026 World Cup