Tournament Goals

1982 was the first year that there were group stages and then sixteen knockout games (from second round to final) so it seems best to examine only these for tournament goals as they most resemble the current format.

Year	Total Goals	Number Of Matches	Average Goals Per Game
2010	145	64	2.27
2006	147	64	2.30
2002	161	64	2.52
1998	171	64	2.67
1994	141	52	2.71
1990	115	52	2.21
1986	132	52	2.54
1982	146	52	2.81

Range Of Goals

According to the figures the most goals we can expect at the 2014 World Cup is 180 and the least amount of goals is 141. This is a massive range which need to be narrowed down further.

Even over the last four World Cups, which are the only World Cups that have featured 64 games, there is a range of 24 goals between the lowest and highest amount of goals.

Clues From The European Championships

Like the recent World Cups, the recent European Championships have seen a decreasing amount of goals in recent years. Euro 2008 though had exactly the same amount of goals as Euro 2004. This is an indication the style of play is similar to how it has been over the last four years or so meaning the number of goals should be most similar to the 2006 figure of 147.

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