Low goal count after first round
by Gary Al-Smith 23 January 2013, 16:35
Every one of the sixteen teams has now played a part in the 2013 African Cup of Nations, but not every team has scored a goal. The goal drought continues despite the generally cool weather and fine playing surfaces.
After the opening eight game in all four groups, just 13 goals have been recorded in 720 minutes of regulation time. This Afcon thus records the lowest goals per average ration since 2002, when 0.63 per game were scored in the opening round of eight games.
This time, we've seen a paltry 1.63 per game average - not good enough for a tournament looking to attract the tag of "exciting". The highest recent figure was the 26 goals scored in the opening eight games of the 2008 competition in Ghana, where 99 goals were scored at the end of the competition.
No Afcon before, or after, has been able to break that record from Ghana 2008.
