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World Cup: Group A-D Passing and Shooting Summary

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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JUNE 17: Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina heads in his third goal and his side's fourth during the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Group B match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City Stadium on June 17, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Group D is the only group that stands out in terms of passing totals, while Group B had the highest shooting percentage:

Passes/G Weighted Avg Shots/G Goals/G
Group A 349 76.05 21.8 10.58 0.92
Group B 343 75.78 22.1 11.50 1.42
Group C 330 70.18 21.3 10.50 0.75
Group D 391 80.78 20.7 11.92 1.00
Overall 352 75.35 21.4 10.79 1.04

Argentina really stands out in the shooting department - they took the most shots, scored the most goals, and despite being up big to Australia South Korea, allowed the second-fewest shots of any advancing team. To some extent that shows the weakness of Group D, but it also shows how good of a team they are:

Shots F Goals Sh% Shots A Goals Sh%
Argentina 45 7 15.6 25 1 4.0
South Korea 33 5 15.2 31 6 19.4
Germany 36 5 13.9 26 1 3.8
Uruguay 35 4 11.4 27 0 0.0
Mexico 28 3 10.7 32 2 6.3
USA 41 4 9.8 35 3 8.6
England 36 2 5.6 23 1 4.3
Ghana 41 2 4.9 29 2 6.9
Advancing 36.9 4.0 10.8 28.5 2.0 7.0
Overall 32.4 3.1 9.6 32.4 3.1 9.6

At the other end, we have very timely goal-scoring from South Korea and Mexico.

If you were looking for weaker performance by Argentina in the passing department, you weren't going to find it:

Passes For Weighted Vs Weighted % of Pass
Argentina 1648 365 597 136 73.4
Mexico 1294 283 789 177 62.1
England 1200 265 811 178 59.7
Germany 1509 315 1065 216 58.6
USA 881 195 953 210 48.0
Ghana 1022 228 1141 230 47.2
South Korea 874 195 1027 219 46.0
Uruguay 765 166 1288 287 37.3
Advancing 1149 251 959 206 54.0
Overall 1055 226 1055 226 50.0

Uruguay's an interesting case here - they didn't appear to have a lot of ball possession, but they had pretty good control of their scoring opportunities, and they spent a lot of their time with the lead. It's hard to know what to make of them finishing dead last in passing among the 16 teams that have finished their schedules so far.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

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