NGN Offside

Cape Verde turned in another thrilling performance on Sunday in a 2-2 draw with Uruguay, this time with a much different style of play than in their first game, according to the data.

In its previous game, against Spain, Cape Verde’s goalkeeper made seven saves in an historic performance, and Cape Verde only had three successful dribbles. But against Uruguay, they more than tripled the amount of successful dribbles (11) and were much more willing to push the tempo and carry the ball up the pitch. 

With its 4-0 win on Sunday against Tunisia, Japan became the first Asian Football Confederation team in all of World Cup history to score four points during a game, according to FIFA. The key to Japan’s historic victory was its 3-4-2-1 player formation, according to data analyzed by Northeastern experts.

This is a well-known strategy of arranging players on the pitch in which three defenders are placed in the back, four midfielders are placed in the center and wings, two attackers are placed just above them, and a lone center forward is placed at the very top.

Midfield wing backs Keito Nakamura and Ritsu Doan were key to making it work. Wingers operate on the left and right flanks of the pitch, and are essential to passing the ball to the team’s attacking line. Keito and Doan did just that this weekend, creating scoring opportunities for some of the team’s most valuable players. 

Across 16 cities and three countries, the world’s biggest sporting event is one week old. Here’s a look at some key numbers from the first round of group-stage matches that tell the World Cup story so far. 

3.12 goals

The average goals scored per game is 3.12, up from 2.56 goals per game in the group-stage of round 1 from 2022. Northeastern University data researcher Brennan Klein posited that the increase in average goals per game could be attributed to an expanded field from 32 to 48 teams, now with more lower-ranked teams.

3 goals

Most goals scored by a single player in a game is three. Argentina’s star forward Lionel Messi scored a hat trick in the team’s opener against Algeria, tying Miroslav Klose’s record for most men’s World Cup goals at 16.

The first week of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is officially in the books. How did the top five ranked teams perform? 

Here’s what data from Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute tells us. 

Spain 

First match: tied with Cape Verde, 0-0

Next match: vs Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Jun 21, 12 p.m. EDT

The data suggests that Spain should have easily won its match up against Cape Verde on Monday. With its dense clusters of passes and dominance near the net, Spain was performing at full force. By contrast, Cape Verde had a far weaker showing and completed far fewer passes and direct shots. 

One week into the World Cup, the early data show that more shots are being taken immediately after the new hydration breaks.

Norway, Brazil, Scotland and Australia all scored goals shortly after the new water breaks.

In the Norway versus Iraq match, Norwegian striker Erling Haaland delivered his team’s opening goal shortly after the first three-minute pause that FIFA has mandated for this year’s World Cup, and his teammate Leo Østigård scored the third goal during the second half of play –  just three minutes after players were allowed to rehydrate and catch their breath.

Players are attempting more shots in the 10 minutes following a hydration break than in the same period preceding the pause to refuel.

“Magical.” 

That was the feeling that Brennan Klein, a Northeastern data researcher and lifelong soccer fan, says he felt when he could see his professional work with numbers and statistics come alive at a World Cup match on Tuesday. 

“It was a dream. … I had a phenomenal time,” said Klein, who was one of more than 63,000 people at the Norway versus Iraq match at Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.

Klein leads Northeastern’s NetSI Sport research team, which has been analyzing a host of soccer data from the tournament for Northeastern Global News’ blog, NGN Offside. One minute, Klein said he was marveling at Norway’s attack and defense patterns as a data researcher, noting, for example, Norway midfielder Martin Odegaard’s vision to find pockets of space on the pitch to counter Iraq’s defense.

The United States and Mexico opened the World Cup with victories, while the third host country, Canada, played to a draw. 

Brennan Klein of Northeastern’s Network Science Institute said he was impressed by the Americans’ strategy and execution, and the data confirmed that conclusion. 

“It was one of the best games I’ve ever seen a United States men’s team play, and there’s a lot of really interesting data to support that claim,” said Klein, who leads the NetSI Sport research team, which is analyzing a host of soccer data throughout the tournament for Northeastern Global News’ blog NGN Offside. 

Mexico, meanwhile, played a strong game overall, but Klein said it was difficult to assess the performance because they faced a much lower-ranked South Africa team by FIFA, which was also forced to finish the game with only nine players after two were sent off for receiving red cards. 

Spain should have defeated Cape Verde by an overwhelming margin, according to the data produced by Northeastern University’s NetSI Sport research group.

But Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar Dias, known by his nickname Vozinha, made seven saves, six from within the box, denying one of the top-ranked teams in the tournament an early victory, according to Brennan Klein, director of Northeastern University’s NetSI Sport research group.  

Klein said if you look at Spain’s passing map for the game, you would expect that Spain would have won by a wide margin. That’s because Spain dominated high in the pitch and executed more than a dozen key passes, which are passes that led to a shot on goal. The passing maps show clusters that illustrate Spain’s dominance in front of the net.

From the corner of an otherwise silently studious Curry Student Center at Northeastern University, a chorus of “Ohhh!”s rang out.

Cape Verde’s goalkeeper Vozinha, whose full name is Josimar José Évora Dias, had saved yet another goal in the country’s FIFA World Cup debut against powerhouse Spain. And the nearly dozen football fanatics and casual observers who watched Monday’s match from Northeastern University’s Center for Intercultural Engagement couldn’t contain their excitement.

“He’s carrying that team!” said Lydia Lutake, a 20-year-old studying data science and design. 

Ultimately, Cape Verde held off Spain’s seven shots on goal, ending the match 0-0.

Lutake follows the professional soccer team FC Barcelona, and several players also are part of Spain’s national football team. But she was supporting Cape Verde because her country, Tanzania, didn’t make the 2026 World Cup. She had planned to watch the match regardless, but decided to spend it with others at the center’s first of four World Cup watch parties.

Qatar’s matchup against Switzerland this weekend in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, is sure to be a hot one — in more ways than one.

The forecasted game-time temperature will be 89 degrees Fahrenheit, according to meteorologists.  

To ensure player well-being, the 2026 FIFA World Cup has implemented mandatory hydration breaks in every match.

But this may not only refuel players, it could also influence game strategy, said Brennan Klein, director of the NetSI Sport research group, at Northeastern University.

“The question is, are there tactical shifts that happen after the hydration breaks, because if there are … you might get coaching during the breaks,” Klein said,noting that the fluid breaks could give coaches a chance to modify tactics according to the trajectory of the game.

The 2026 World Cup is bringing together teams and fans from 48 countries in North America. From travel logistics to the accommodations for hundreds of thousands of visitors, organizers are addressing a host of considerations. For public health officials, one of those factors is also the spread of disease. 

Disease surveillance has taken on a whole new meaning in the post-pandemic world. The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be the event commanding the most attention, but other outbreaks — both domestic and international — are also of concern. COVID-19 is still lingering, global health officials are still monitoring the hantavirus outbreak that rocked a cruise ship last month and here in the U.S., the country is seeing the largest number of measles cases since the disease was considered eradicated in the U.S. in 2000. Meanwhile, more common viruses and bacteria continue to impact our daily lives. 

The FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off in the Boston area this weekend and local officials say the region is prepared for crowds, traffic, severe weather and security threats based on its experience with the Boston Marathon, New England Patriots football games and other major events.   

However, transportation challenges and other logistical hiccups are expected. And the anticipated boon for the hospitality industry has not yet materialized, according to experts.

The games begin Thursday in several cities across North America. For Boston, Saturday’s match between Haiti and Scotland will be the first of seven to take place at Boston Stadium, the temporary name for Gillette Stadium, which is situated in the suburban town of Foxborough about 25 miles southwest of Boston.

Soccer is like a dance, and every team competing in the FIFA World Cup 2026 will bring its own signature style and choreography to the pitch. 

Team Spain employs a more direct style of play, prioritizing attackers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, for example. Team Portugal places a major focus on its midfielders such as Bernardo Silva.    

And nowhere are these play styles revealed more clearly than in the work of Northeastern’s NetSI Sport research group, which maps, analyzes, and visually highlights teams’ passes, goals,  interceptions and more to identify patterns and trends. 

So what can the data tell us about how the countries ranked in the top five — France, Spain, Argentina, England and Portugal —  might compete in this year’s World Cup? 

Who are the top players to watch in the FIFA World Cup 2026? 

Northeastern University Network Science Institute researchers have analyzed an extensive, comprehensive dataset and compiled a list of key players.

Brennan Klein, assistant teaching professor of physics, leads a research team that pairs its study of complex networks with a passion for soccer. 

The team’s secret weapon: the Hudl Statsbomb dataset, which logs over 3,400 events per match. Every pass, shot, dribble, tackle, pressure, ball carry and additional metadata — timestamped and pinpointed to the exact spot on the pitch where it happened. The dataset for the pre-World Cup analysis included more than 13,000 matches.  

Team Australia kicked it long from the goalkeeper. Switzerland took a slower approach and preferred short passes over long drives. Spain, on the other hand, tended to string the ball with sharp, sideways passes across the field. 

Those are a few of the takeaways from passing-style graphics that Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute developed of the top soccer teams at the FIFA World Cup 2022 that showcased their most distinctive passing clusters. 

Northeastern’s Network Science Institute’s NetSI Sport research group, which studies sports by analyzing comprehensive datasets and determining emergent patterns, plans to deliver more information and insights on players and teams competing in the FIFA World Cup 2026, which takes place June 11 to July 19.