Lack of goals in Qatar heat as players struggle with early kick-offs

If you’ve been staying up to watch the World Cup and thought there weren’t many goals, you’d be right. And this stat shows how bad it’s been.

Lionel Messi head in hands after the loss to Saudi Arabia.

If you have been watching the World Cup, but also enjoy an early bedtime, chances are you haven’t seen many goals from Qatar.

From the six early games played at the World Cup so far - 1pm local time and 9pm AEDT - only two goals have been scored in the first half.

So if you’ve been heading to bed at halftime of the early game, you’ll only have seen Lionel Messi score for Argentina against Saudi Arabia and Mitch Duke score for the Aussies against Tunisia.

A lack of goals is becoming a bit of a regular occurrence in Qatar.

There have already been five 0-0 draws in the opening days of the tournament, compared to just one in Russia four years ago.

The six 1pm kick-offs so far have seen only two first half goals. #FIFAWorldCup

• Messi (Argentina-Saudi Arabia)
• Duke (Australia-Tunisia) pic.twitter.com/kpxoL2xRpB

— Adriano Del Monte (@adriandelmonte) November 27, 2022

Games have been averaging 2.32 goals a game across the tournament, the lowest since the 2.27 goals average in South Africa in 2010.

And that numbers has been boosted by some big wins, like Spain’s 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica and England destroying Iran 6-2.

For fans wanting goals, luckily there hasn’t been a scoreless match since England and USA shot blanks on Friday.

But the lack of goals in the 1pm games may just show how energy sapping the heat is in Qatar.

The World Cup was controversially moved from the regular June-July period to November-December to avoid the Qatar summer, where temperatures reach 50C.

But even playing the Qatari winter, temperatures are above 30C for the 1pm games.

And for players who have come to Qatar after playing in Europe with only a week to acclimatise, it isn’t an easy adjustment.

Lucky we have Mitch Duke, one of just two players to score in the first half of the 1pm games in Qatar.

Of the 1pm games without a first half goal so far, we’ve seen Morocco and Croatia draw 0-0, Switzerland win 1-0 with a second half strike, Iran score two very late goals to beat Wales and Costa Rica score a late goal to upset Japan 1-0.

Former US player Alexi Lalas - who played at two World Cups - said it may be down to smaller nations improving.

Lionel Messi head in hands after the loss to Saudi Arabia.

“I certainly think the gap in talent and competitive balance between international teams has certainly closed with the globalisation of the game,” he told Fox Sports in the US.

“But so often we desperately try to ascribe meaning and reason to this game, and sometimes it’s really just simply the result of some random and unpredictable things happening. Kind of like life.”

The record number of 0-0 draws at a World Cup is seven, so that record could easily be broken.

One advantage is the end of the 1pm games - much to the annoyance of Australians enjoying watching the World Cup at a reasonable hour.

The Cameroon-Serbia game tonight is the final 1pm kick-off, with the final group games kicking off at 6pm and 10pm over four days.