![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/og_anatomy-1.png\")
The graphic above shows two bar charts: at left, the total number of own goals from the past three World Cups; and at right, the type of play that led to them from 2018 and 2026. Courtesy of Northeastern NetSI Sport<\/p>\nEgypt led Belgium 1-0 midway through the second half of its first World Cup match on June 15. As Belgium sent a crossing pass toward the net, multiple defenders tried to prevent Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku from scoring. The pass struck Egypt\u2019s Mohamed Hany\u2019s leg, and the ball goes into the net, tying the game 1-1, and ultimately leading to a draw.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Own goals \u2013 when a team accidentally scores on itself \u2013 can be confounding and deflating. They\u2019re also happening at a pace (11 as of Thursday morning) that\u2019s poised to break the tournament record of 12, set in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The graphic below shows two bar charts: at left, the total number of own goals from the past three World Cups; and at right, the type of play that led to them from 2018 and 2026.<\/p>\n
The graphic above shows two bar charts: at left, the total number of own goals from the past three World Cups; and at right, the type of play that led to them from 2018 and 2026. Courtesy of Northeastern NetSI Sport<\/p>\n
Own goals are soaring at World Cup. Here\u2019s the data behind the trend<\/p>\n
Own goals are typically the result of unfortunate luck, says Brennan Klein, director for Northeastern University\u2019s NetSI Sport research group. Four own goals have come off crossing passes this year, compared to zero own-goals on crossers in 2018. Klein says the data hasn\u2019t shown an increase in crossing passes overall this year.<\/p>\n
Still, the data can offer a glimpse into what\u2019s happening on these plays. Sometimes a player simply mishits the ball, like when Qatar\u2019s Mohamed Manai tried to clear a shot by Canada. But in other cases, the offensive team\u2019s pressure and speed lead to own goals on plays that would\u2019ve produced high scoring chances anyway. Egypt\u2019s own goal against Belgium is one example.<\/p>\n
The United States has benefitted from two own goals in this World Cup, but Klein says both were the result of U.S.\u2019s tactical style. The graphic below shows the progression that leads to the U.S. goal against Australia. U.S. forward Folarin Balogun receives a pass on the left side of the pitch, carries the ball diagonally toward the net, and makes a crossing pass to teammate Ricardo Pepi who is in prime scoring position. As Australia defender Cameron Burgess moves in to cut off the pass, the ball hits his foot as his momentum is toward the net, resulting in an own goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/possession_01_own_goal_10m.png\")
The graphic above shows the progression that leads to an own goal by Australia against the U.S. Courtesy of Northeastern NetSI Sport<\/p>\n
Own goals are soaring at World Cup. Here\u2019s the data behind the trend<\/p>\n
Greg St. Martin is a news reporter at Northeastern Global News. Email him at g.stmartin@northeastern.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Egypt led Belgium 1-0 midway through the second half of its first World Cup match on June 15.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,234943,105,101640,6866],"class_list":["post-512219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-own-goals","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}