Brasilia, June 27: The group stage of the 2014 Fifa World Cup concluded on Thursday. The 15-day long affair was a memorable one for all football-lovers of this planet and they would look forward to the same excitement in the knock-out stages that would kick off on Saturday.

Numbers; Schedule; Results; Points Table; News; Photos

How did the tournament's group phase go? Here is a look at some facts from the 48 matches played so far in the tournament.

136 goals scored in the group stage

The tournament so far has seen 136 goals, which means 2.8 goals have been produced per match. In the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa, only 101 goals were produced in the first stage (per match average of 2.1)

Red cards and yellow cards

The average number of red cards shown per match in the the group stage in this WC is 0.2 and for yellow cards, it is 2.7. In the 2010 edition, the figures were 0.3 and 3.8, respectively.
The average passes per team in this World Cup during the group stage were 384 (31 more than that of 2010). The actual playing time in this WC has been 55.4 minutes per match on an average. In 2010, it was 69.8.

Most number of goals scored in Group B

In terms of scoring, Group B has produced the most number of goals (22) in this World Cup while Group D has produced the least number of goals (12). The Netherlands have scored most number of goals (10) followed by Colombia (9) while Iran, Cameroon and Honduras have scored the least number of goals (1).

Conceding just one goal

Mexico, Costa Rica and Belgium conceded just one goal in the group stage.

Netherlands beat Spain 5-1, France beat Switzerland 5-2 while 5 games ended goalless

The victory by the biggest margin with the most number of goals was recorded in the Netherlands-Spain game in which the former won 5-1. The most number of goals were scored in the France-Switzerland match (7). There were five goalless draws.

Neymar, Messi, Muller lead the race for the Golden Boot

In terms of scoring, three players have scored four goals so far and they are Neymar of Brazil, Messi of Argentina and Thomas Muller of Germany. [Read: Golden Boot standings]

Two hat-tricks so far

Two hat-tricks have been scored in the group stages. The first one was scored by Germany's Muller against Portugal (match score 4-0) while the other one was scored by Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri against Honduras (match score 3-0). Shaqiri's hat-trick was the 50th the history of the World Cup. [Read: Interesting facts about WC hat-tricks]

The group stage of the 2014 World Cup saw 136 goals being scored

Four top 10 teams failed to reach Round of 16

Four teams from the top 10 in Fifa rankings failed to make it to the second stage in this World Cup and they are Spain, Portugal, Italy and England. Barring Portugal, the other three have been World Cup champions with Spain being the holders.

Four teams got full 9 points

The Netherlands, Colombia, Argentina and Belgium won all their group matches to get full 9 points.

Bradley covered the maximum distance

Michael Bradley of the USA has covered the maximum distance on the field in the group stage. He ran for a total of 38,019 metres.

Foster didn't concede any goal

England goalkeeper Ben Foster had a perfect saving record as he did not concede any goal.

Most number of complete passes

The Germany-USA match saw the most number of passes being completed (1,277).

For Latin America, only Ecuador failed to progress

The only team from Latin America which failed to qualify for the Round of 16 was Ecuador. All the others, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay proceeded to the next round from their groups.

All 4 Asian teams finished at the bottom of the group

This World Cup was a forgettable affair for the Asian continent. All the four teams from Asia finished last in their respective groups after failing to win a single match. They scored just 9 goals while conceded 25. This was the first time since 1998 that no Asian team succeeded to qualify for the knock-out stage.

Pre-quarterfinals line-up:

Brazil vs Chile; The Netherlands vs Mexico; Colombia vs Uruguay; Costa Rica vs Greece; France vs Nigeria; Argentina vs Switzerland; Germany vs Algeria; Belgium vs USA

Oneindia News