Tuesday, July 17, 2018

The 2018 World Cup table

The World Cup has ended, and as usual I prepare a table with the final positions of the tournament, based on a three-point system, goal difference (GD) and in case of tie (Australia, Costa Rica and Iceland), I have used FIFAs fair play (number of yellow cards):

Country
Games
Won
Tied
Lost
GF
GA
GD
points
1
France
7
6
1
0
14
6
8
19
2
Croatia
7
4
2
1
14
9
5
14
3
Belgium
7
6
0
1
16
6
10
18
4
England
7
3
1
3
12
8
4
10
5
Uruguay
5
4
0
1
7
3
4
12
6
Brazil
5
3
1
1
8
3
5
10
7
Sweden
5
3
0
2
6
4
2
9
8
Russia
5
2
2
1
11
7
4
8
9
Colombia
4
2
1
1
6
3
3
7
10
Spain
4
1
3
0
7
6
1
6
11
Denmark
4
1
3
0
3
2
1
6
12
Mexico
4
2
0
2
3
6
-3
6
13
Portugal
4
1
2
1
6
6
0
5
14
Switzerland
4
1
2
1
5
5
0
5
15
Japan
4
1
1
2
6
7
-1
4
16
Argentina
4
1
1
2
6
9
-3
4
17
Senegal
3
1
1
1
4
4
0
4
18
Iran
3
1
1
1
2
2
0
4
19
South Corea
3
1
0
2
3
3
0
3
20
Peru
3
1
0
2
2
2
0
3
21
Nigeria
3
1
0
2
3
4
-1
3
22
Serbia
3
1
0
2
2
4
-2
3
23
Germany
3
1
0
2
2
4
-2
3
24
Tunisia
3
1
0
2
5
8
-3
3
25
Poland
3
1
0
2
2
5
-3
3
26
Saudi Arabia
3
1
0
2
2
7
-5
3
27
Morocco
3
0
1
2
2
4
-2
1
28
Australia
3
0
1
2
2
5
-3
1
29
Costa Rica
3
0
1
2
2
5
-3
1
30
Iceland
3
0
1
2
2
5
-3
1
31
Egypt
3
0
0
3
2
6
-4
0
32
Panama
3
0
0
3
2
11
-9
0
TOTAL
32
64



169
169
0


It is clear that France were the best team in terms of points. Belgium, on third place, in fact had more points than the vice-champions, Croatia, who had to go through a couple of ties, while Belgium only lost one match. Uruguay, with four victories won more matches than England, who nevertheless got a well-deserved fourth place. Notice though, that both Uruguay and Belgium were eliminated by the later champions. Belgium was also the team with most goals and the best GD, while the best defenses according to least goals were Denmark, Iran and Peru. The worst defense was that of the Panamanian debutants, who also ended dead last in the table. The 2014 champions from Germany ended in the 23rd spot, which is their worst performance ever.

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