Below, theScore picks out the best statistics and stories to surface during an action-packed international break.
-1: Japan finished one goal shy of the biggest win in its history when it trounced Mongolia 14-0 in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier. The Samurai Blue’s record victory remains a 15-0 cruise against the Philippines in 1967.
0: Goals scored by Kylian Mbappe during an unexpectedly quiet international break for the French attacker. Though the Paris Saint-Germain star failed to bulge the net with his eight attempts on goal, France still broke a national record with eight successive away victories.
1: England registered a single shot on target over the first two matches of their European Under-21 Championship campaign. The Young Lions’ group stage elimination was heartbreaking in the end – they were through until Domagoj Bradaric’s 91st-minute smash for Croatia – but most of the damage was done in the losses to Switzerland and Portugal.
3: The United States missed out on a third straight men’s Olympic tournament following a 2-1 defeat to Honduras, prompting some deep introspection for the country’s soccer federation and Major League Soccer.
4: Teams that have started their UEFA World Cup qualification campaign with three wins. That includes Armenia’s national team, which has lifted a nation in turmoil following last year’s war with Azerbaijan.
5: Diogo Jota has started only five matches for Portugal. His return in those games? Six goals and two assists.
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Andy Robertson has played in as many Scotland-Israel games (6) as Liverpool-Manchester United games.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) March 28, 2021
8: South Africa’s Africa Cup of Nations record gets even worse. Bafana Bafana failed to qualify following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Sudan, meaning they’ll have missed eight of the tournament’s last 10 knockout rounds. It’s all been downhill since they won the trophy in 1996.
11: Canada’s 11-0 evisceration of the Cayman Islands in Monday’s rescheduled World Cup qualifier is a new record victory for the men’s team.
13: Erling Haaland didn’t score through three Norway matches during the international break, despite firing 13 attempts at the mesh. For comparison, this season the Borussia Dortmund phenom has scored 21 goals from 68 shots in the Bundesliga, 10 goals from 21 shots in the Champions League, and six goals from 14 shots in the Nations League.
14: Denmark is on fire. Kasper Hjulmand’s side scored 14 goals over three matches to begin its qualification campaign and, along with Sweden and Italy, is one of three teams yet to concede.
16: Robert Lewandowski’s goal haul from his last 10 matches playing for either Bayern Munich or Poland before he was ruled out for around four weeks with a knee ligament injury. He’s set to miss both legs of his team’s Champions League quarterfinal tussle with PSG.
18 – Aged 18 years and 27 days Jamal Musiala has become the youngest player for @DFB_Team_EN since Uwe Seeler in October 1954 (17 years and 345 days). Diamond. #GERISL pic.twitter.com/VrDYPJ1fKm
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) March 25, 2021
24: Aleksandar Mitrovic is averaging a goal a game in his last 24 appearances for Serbia. He hasn’t scored once in his last 24 outings for Fulham. Mitrovic is now his national team’s all-time top scorer with 41 finishes and tops the goal charts in UEFA World Cup qualifying with five strikes.
25: Roberto Mancini’s unbeaten streak as Italy boss. The longest run belongs to Vittorio Pozzo (30 games from 1935-39).
35: Germany’s unbeaten record in World Cup qualifiers until Wednesday’s humiliating setback to North Macedonia. Die Mannschaft’s shock defeat also marked their first home loss in a World Cup qualification group since their infamous 5-1 collapse to England in September 2001.
38: Spain has scored in 38 consecutive World Cup qualifiers, marking the national team’s best-ever run. Serbia was the last side to prevent Spain from scoring in March 2005.
69: On average, Michy Batshuayi scores every 69 minutes for Belgium. The striker has scored more goals for his country (22) than he has at three of the six clubs in his career (Crystal Palace, Dortmund, and Valencia).
88: Mexico’s squad for its CONCACAF Olympic qualification bid had a total of 88 caps for El Tri’s senior team. It was an experienced cohort – the United States collectively had 35 senior caps and Canada had 31 – and, unsurprisingly, it punched its ticket for the Tokyo Games.
136: International caps for Luka Modric. The Real Madrid midfielder surpassed Darijo Srna’s record of 134 Croatia appearances during the team’s first three fixtures of World Cup qualification.
1993: The last time Wales won five consecutive competitive matches at home until it repeated the feat following Tuesday’s huge 1-0 qualification win over the Czech Republic.
2,028: Days that Luke Shaw had to wait for another full match in an England shirt before last Sunday’s 2-0 win in Albania. His previous 90-minute showing was against Switzerland in September 2015.
6,500: Over 6,500 migrant workers from South Asia have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the 2022 World Cup a decade ago, according to findings published by The Guardian in February. Norway, Germany, and Belgium are among the national teams that protested Qatar’s human rights record over the international break.
