Dead-ball situations proved to be very vital to outcome of matches at Russia 2018.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup was climaxed with France beating Croatia in the grand finale. Befittingly so, the competition's status of being one of the highest-scoring tournaments was resounded with Les Bleus seeing off their European counterparts via a 4-2 thumping.

In retrospect, the tournament generally provided enthralling experiences from the word go with all the 32 nations gunning to attain universal supremacy. Up until the end, the effectiveness of attacking forces was witnessed with the total goals scored after 64 games amounting to 169.

However, the 2.64 goal per game ratio was not the only commendable feat achieved. Of the overall goal tally recorded, 73 (43%) came from set-piece situation, the highest recorded at any edition of the World Cup since 1966. Again in the goals department, Belgium was the highest scoring side with 16 goals whereas runners-up Croatia proved to be more potent than any of the participants with 352 attacks.

Brazil's Neymar Jr despite ending the tournament with just two goal, tops the charts of the players to have made the most attempts at goal with 27. Goalscorer in the final Ivan Perisic's 72 kilometers was the most distance covered by any player while his country Croatia also boasted the best defense with 301 clearances, tackles and saves.

Impressive ball movements were also witnessed from time to time and, here, England finishing as the best passing team. The Three Lions completed 3,336 passes right from the group-stage to the third-place play-off. On an individual level, no player completed more passes than Spain's Sergio Ramos. The 32-year-old La Furia Roja skipper successfully landed 485 passes before his team was eliminated by Russia at the Round of 16.

There 49,651 passes completed by all the 32 teams involved at the 2018 World Cup with an average of 775.8 per game. Listed below are the other top statistics accrued after all the 64 games (all the stats are accessible on FIFA.com): 

  • Total and average yellow cards per match: 219 (3.5)

  • Total and average red cards per match: 4 (0.06)

  • Most saves: Thibaut Courtois (27)

  • Most scoring match: Belgium vs Tunisia (7)

  • Most attempts in a single match: Belgium vs Tunisia (31)

  • Most cards in a single match: Belgium vs Panama (8)

  • Most passes completed in a match: Spain vs Russia (1235)