The impact of goals in the classification level for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa

Abstract

Introduction: Soccer is the most popular coletive sport in the world. Every four years, FIFA organizes the main championship: the World Cup. The most important moment in a soccer match is the goal, because it sets the advantage and disadvantage between the teams. Objective: This research aims to analyze and identify what part of the soccer match has the highest chance to occur a goal. Materials and Methods: This study is characterized as descriptive and observational. Data were collected directly from overviews of the games at the FIFA website (www.fifa.com). Were analyzed the summaries of 830 matches, were recorded 2.464 goals. The total playing time was divided in 6 parts of 15 minutes. Results: 2.464 goals were registered at all, there was a higher incidence of goals at the 15 final minutes of the match, in other words, from 76 to 90 minutes, totaling 574 goals (23.30%) in that period. Discussion: Studies of different championships also showed that the highest incidence occurs goals in the 15 final minutes of the match, however, these studies were performed in different championships and dates. Conclusion: The 15 final minutes of the match is the time that is recorded the highest number of goals, totaling 574 goals in this part of the game, representing a percentage of 23.30% of the total 2.464 goals, while the other part of the match also had a high number of records was from 60 to 75 minutes into the match, it having a percentage of 18.22%, showing considerable difference in relation to last part of the match, 5.08%.