THE TOURNAMENT

Brazil 2014 saw a record-tying 171 goals (equal with France 1998) at an average of 2.7 goals per game.

The first was an own goal from Marcelo, the final goal a silky winner from Mario Götze.

Plus there were a record 32 goals from substitutes.

There were 14 doubles and 2 hat-tricks (Thomas Müller & Xherdan Shaqiri). And 5 own goals.

13 Penalties awarded, 12 were scored and just 1 missed (Karim Benzema).

187 yellow cards were issued and 10 red ones. Costa Rica had the worst disciplinary record, while Colombia took home FIFA’s Fair Play award for the best one.

The 10 red cards are the fewest since 1986 (where there were 8 in total).

8 games went into extra time – a record tied with Italy 1990.

No Premier League players made the shortlists for Best Player, Best Goalkeeper or Best Young Player.

Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal managed to get game time for all 23 of his squad.

12 managers have already left their positions since the Cup ended.

Jermaine Jones’ belter against Portugal was the 2300th World Cup goal.

GERMANY

Miroslav Klose is now the all-time leading World Cup goal scorer. His 2 goals saw him past the legendary Ronaldo, and gave him 16 for his enviable career. Klose has played 24 World Cup games, including 2 Finals, and an unprecedented 4 semis.

In 4 World Cups, Klose’s team never finished lower than third place.

Mario Götze became the first player to score the winning goal in the final off the bench.

 Germany won its fourth World Cup, its first since the reunification, and their first major trophy since the 1996 European Champs. Brazil are the only team with more World Cups (5).

 Germany becomes the first European nation to win a World Cup in South America.

Their 8 World Cup final appearances are the most by any nation.

Germany’s 18 goals are the most by a team since Brazil hit that mark in 2002.

Six of this German side were in the Under 21 team that won the Euros in 2009 (Neuer, Höwedes, Khedira, Özil & Hummels).

Sami Khedira becomes the 10th player in history to win the European Cup and World Cup in the same year. 7 of them were from the Bayern/Germany sides of 1974, while Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid/Brazil 2002) and Christian Karembeu (Real Madrid/France 1998) were the others.

No team had ever scored 7 goals in a semi-final before. Germany’s 7-1 demolition of the hosts was also the biggest winning margin in a semi and in scoring those goals, they surpassed their opponents as the highest scoring World Cup team ever (now at 224).

Unsurprisingly, 7-1 is also the biggest ever loss by a host nation.

Germany also extend their record of tournaments in which they’ve progressed beyond the first round to 16.

ARGENTINA

Götze’s goal was the first time all tournament that Argentina had fallen behind. They trailed for a total of 7 minutes at Brazil 2014.

That goal was also the first that Argentina had ever conceded in extra time at a World Cup.

The last time that Argentina failed to have a shot on target (before the 2014 final) was the final in 1990… against Germany… which they lost 1-0.

At least they’ve still never lost a World Cup semi-final.

The ARG vs NED game was the first ever goalless semi.

In that game, Lionel Messi didn’t have a single touch in the opposition’s penalty area.

Messi did, however, come away with the Golden Ball for the best player at the tournament. He won 4 man of the match awards (more than anyone else in Brazil), created more chances than any other player, comfortably had the most successful dribbles, the most key passes and he was third in shots. Not quite at his best, but better than anyone else in isolation.

THE REST OF ‘EM

James Rodriguez picked up the Golden Boot with 6 goals in 5 games. He scored in every appearance, at a rate of a goal every 67 minutes. He’s the first player since Russia’s Oleg Salenko in 1994 to win the Boot despite not making the semis (Salenko’s Russia didn’t even make it out of the groups!).

Scoring in his first 5 World Cup appearances puts Rodriguez on par with Peruvian Teofilo Cubillas, the last to achieve that feat (between 1970-78). The last man to do that in a single tournament was the great Gerd Müller for Germany.

This was the 7th time in the last 8 Cups that the Golden Boot winner has come from outside the winning team.

Belgium only led for a total of 52 minutes in their 5 matches, for 4 wins, taking them to the quarter finals.

England picked up just one point – their worst ever performance. 1958 was the last time they were eliminated at the Group Stage. They’ve scored only 5 goals in their past 7 World Cup games.

After Russia’s failures, coach Fabio Capello has just a single win in 7 World Cup games managed.

With Ghana eliminated at the first stage, Germany, Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland are the only countries never to have been kicked out at the group phase.

Only 6 European teams made the round of 16, a record low, while a record high 3 CONCACAF teams did so.

All 8 group winners made it to the quarter finals for the first time.

Mexico have now been eliminated in 6 consecutive round of 16s.

Spain’s 5-1 defeat ot the Netherlands is the biggest ever loss by the defending champions. They became the third reigning champs to be knocked out in the group stage in the past four tournaments.

Spain were the first team eliminated. The only other defending champs that has happened to before was Italy in 1950 (defending a title won in 1938 before the war).

The last time Spain conceded 5 goals in an international was a 6-2 loss against Scotland (!) in 1963.

The Spaniards conceded more goals at this tournament than they did in winning Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 combined.

England’s Luke Shaw (18y 348d) was the youngest player to take the field in Brazil. Colombian Faryd Mondragon the oldest at 43y 3d.

In fact, Mondragon is the oldest ever player at the World Cup. He was an unused sub at the 1994 Cup, in which Diego Maradona played!

Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan now has 6 World Cup goals, the most ever by an African.

Algeria became the first African nation to score 4 goals in a World Cup game intheir 4-2 win over South Korea.

Tom Howard’s 15 saves against Belgium are a record high since that stat has been measured.

Honduras have played 9 World Cup games without a win now. The next teams on that list (all with 6 winless games) are El Salvador, Bolivia and NEW ZEALAND.

Switzerland haven’t scored a knockout goal since 1954.