Head-to-head conundrum, goals, clean sheets and red cards: 5 things from World Cup’s 2nd round

1. The Asian equation

All but one of nine Asian Football Confederation teams remain alive, although obviously, some are in better shape than others.

In Group A, South Korea need at least a draw against South Africa to secure second place. They could still finish last if they lose and the Czech Republic beat co-hosts Mexico, who are assured of top spot.

Despite a goal difference of -6, Qatar’s point against the Swiss means they could still advance by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina in Group B.

Australia cannot overtake Group D leaders United States, but need only a draw against Paraguay to secure second place.

With four points already in the bag, Japan are in the best position among Asian teams.

They could top Group F if they avoid defeat against Sweden and manage a better goal difference than what the Dutch can do against eliminated Tunisia. Otherwise, a draw would secure second spot.

Even a narrow defeat by Sweden might not be too damaging, as they could still progress as one of the eight best third-placed teams.

Similarly, Iran could top a tight Group G with a win over Egypt. But they could also face elimination if they lose or draw and the New Zealand-Belgium result goes against them.

In Group H, Saudi Arabia can move from bottom to second with a win against a spirited Cape Verde, who are unbeaten after holding past champions Spain and Uruguay to draws. At the very least, four points would stand them in good stead even if they finish third.Iraq, who are without a point, need to beat Senegal in Group I and improve on their poor goal difference to stand a remote chance in the third-place lottery.Jordan are out after losing to Austria and Algeria in Group J. Fellow debutants Uzbekistan also lost both games but still have slim hopes of progressing from third place if they can beat DR Congo in Group K.

2. Butting head-to-head

For the first time, head-to-head records – instead of goal difference or goal ratio – are used to separate teams level on points during the World Cup group stage.

The result is a higher chance of teams winning their groups or getting eliminated before their third and final group game.

So far, Mexico, the United States, Germany and Argentina have won their groups with two victories. Haiti, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan and Panama are out after two losses consigned them to last place based on the head-to-head rule.

In Panama’s case, after two hard-luck 1-0 losses to Ghana and Croatia, not even a win against England can bring them back into contention as one of the eight best third-placed teams in their group. If they beat England and Ghana beat Croatia, Panama would still be last despite having a better goal difference than Croatia.

The scenario could also lead to teams with nothing at stake in their last group match not fielding their strongest team, potentially giving their opponents an advantage at the expense of others in their group.

But some would argue that a head-to-head superiority is more valuable than a big goal difference that could be amassed by a freak result, and the luxury of being able to rest players is just rewards for earning the head-to-head advantage.

3. Goals and clean sheets

It is one thing to bang in multiple goals in one game – think Russia’s Oleg Salenko’s five goals against Cameroon that helped him win the Golden Boot with six goals in 1994 – but another to consistently score in every match.

In the history of the tournament, only four players – Hungary’s Gyorgy Sarosi (five goals in four games in 1938), Uruguay’s Alcides Ghiggia (four in four, 1950), Frenchman Just Fontaine (13 in six, 1958) and Brazil’s Jairzinho (seven in six, 1970) – managed to play the maximum number of games at any one edition and score in every one of them.

At this World Cup, only 11 players still have the chance to join this elite club. Unsurprisingly, they include Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Frenchman Kylian Mbappe and Norway’s Erling Haaland.

The other eight are Canada’s Cyle Larin, Morocco’s Ismael Saibari, Brazil’s Vinicius Jr, Germany’s Deniz Undav, the Netherlands’ Crysencio Summerville, Japan’s Daichi Kamada, Uruguay’s Maxi Araujo and Colombia’s Daniel Munoz.

At the other end, World Cup-winning goalkeepers who have kept clean sheets in every match are even rarer. In fact, no one has managed to accomplish the feat.

At this edition, only four have kept back-to-back clean sheets. The first three are Mexico’s Raul Rangel, Spain’s Unai Simon and Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez, who was the Golden Glove winner in 2022.

The fourth is Ghana’s Benjamin Asare, who played the second half against Panama after Lawrence Ati Zigi injured his groin and then shut out England.

It is worth noting that in 2006, Pascal Zuberbuhler did not concede a single goal in all of his team’s four games before Switzerland lost in a penalty shoot-out to Ukraine after a 0-0 last-16 draw.

4. Penalty pain and gain

Talking about Messi and the Swiss, they both have had mixed fortunes with spot kicks at football’s biggest stage.

Messi may have claims to be the Greatest of All Time, but he is pretty average at penalties, especially at the World Cup.

After squandering efforts from the spot against Iceland in 2018, Poland in 2022 and another against Algeria on June 22, out of seven attempts overall, the Argentina talisman holds the undistinguished record of most penalties missed at the World Cup.

Had he converted all of them, his World Cup top-scoring record would have reached 21 by now.

Meanwhile, Switzerland have played 41 games in 12 previous editions of the World Cup and incredibly never had a penalty awarded in their favour.

That streak ended in 2026 when they got one in the 1-1 draw with Qatar, and like buses that come late and then two at a time, they got another in their 4-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

5. Seeing red

While the record of 28 red cards from the 2006 World Cup will take some beating, the eight dismissals from the ongoing edition after only the second round of group matches have already doubled the total tally from each of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Six of these were straight reds, which is just three off the record of nine, set in 2006 and 2010.

Among these, there was an unwanted record set by Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron in their 1-0 win over Turkey as the midfielder became the first player to be sent off at the World Cup under FIFA’s new rule that disallows footballers from covering their mouths during confrontations.