In WC 2026, players are thinking out of the box

Remember James Rodriguez’s strike against Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup, that left-foot volley on the half-turn after the Colombian cushioned the ball on his chest?

- Dhiman Sarkar

Or Lionel Messi's free-kick against Nigeria wrapping his left boot around the ball so that it arced into goal also in the same edition? Or Messi scoring from range against Mexico in 2022 picking a spot from a thicket of legs in a manner that was out of ordinary?

If you do, it is probably because of the sheer audacity of the attempts. Also, because with every World Cup since 2010, goals from outside the penalty area have been a rare thing going rarer. As per the AI powered assistant Copilot, nearly 16% of the 145 goals scored in South Africa were from outside the 18-yard box. The number kept dropping in World Cups thereafter hitting 7.6% in 2022 where 13 of the 172 goals were long-rangers.

After all 48 teams have played once, the trend is on the up. Of the 70 goals scored till the end of Wednesday's matches, at least 12 or 17% of them were long-rangers.