re the WC thread below, and attacks vs defences

Think (if you had any hopes of England winning it) then our relative weakness in defence is yet another reason not to get your hopes up.

These are the number of goals conceded by the last 5 winners:

Brazil 1994: 3
France 1998: 2
Brazil 2002: 4
Italy 2006: 2
Spain: 2

Even that 'outlier' - Brazil in 2002 - is hardly too shabby. 4 goals conceded in 7 games. (And 2 of those 4 goals were in their final group game vs Costa Rica, when they'd already qualified, and won 5-2.)

Suggests that keeping teams out seems to win WCs as much as / more than anything else nowadays...

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, May 13, 10:28:10