The team that wins the World Cup in Qatar will be the one with the best wide players. At least that’s the view of Arsène Wenger, former Arsenal manager and now head of global football development at Fifa.
In his current role, Wenger runs Fifa’s football analytics team, combing through a trove of data collected during every World Cup match. He recently explained the team’s findings after the group stages in Qatar, and found one key change since Russia 2018 — crosses are back.
The number of goals scored from crosses in Qatar is 83 per cent higher than at the same stage in 2018, with far more of the attacking play now coming down the flanks. Wenger believes that since 2018 most teams have got better at defending the area in front of their own goal, leading to a drop in the number of shots — especially from outside the box.
The average number of attempts on goal per game in Qatar is 10.9, compared with 12 in Russia, 12.9 in Brazil in 2014, and 14.1 in South Africa in 2010.The upshot is that wingers are now what make the difference at this level, according to Wenger.