World Cup Groups in Review

ECSTASY & AGONY THE DRAMA OF THE GROUP STAGE AT RUSSIA 2018...

After 15 days of action and 48 thrilling matches, the FIFA World Cup has gone from 32 hopefuls to 16 contenders...

10 The number of European teams to advance against 4 eliminated. South American nations fared even better by percentage with 4 out of 5 teams reaching the Round of 16, while Africa had all of its representatives eliminated.

Only 3 teams... Finished with 3 wins out of 3: Uruguay (who did it without conceding a goal), Croatia and Belgium FINAL STANDINGS

TOP SCORERS SO FAR 5 - Harry Kane (ENG) 4 - Romelu Lukaku (BEL) Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) 3 - Denis Cheryshev (RUS) Diego Costa (ESP) NOTE: All of their teams advanced to the Round of 16

Speaking of scorers... Not since Diego Maradona at Mexico 1986 had someone scored two goals in back-to-back World Cup matches. But Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku did it within a day of each other in Group G .

The hosts start fast Russia started the party in style, scoring 5 to open the event against Saudi Arabia and adding another 3 in their next win over Egypt.

Perhaps the most dramatic set of matches came in Group B , which not only saw Spain and Portugal play out a 3-3 thriller, but it ended with 2 wild draws that were decided by goals in second-half injury time

22% The remarkable percentage of goals in the group stage (27 out of 122) scored in the last 10 minutes + injury time. Neymar's goal against Costa Rica in minute 90+7 was the latest-ever recorded in regular time.

Lionel Messi and Argentina's group stage was a complicated one. A missed penalty and shock draw with Iceland gave way to a wonder goal and late win against Nigeria that saw them through Group D .

In contrast to Argentina, Germany seemed to have recovered from a stunning defeat to Mexico with a last-gasp win over Sweden only to be eliminated by a loss against Korea Repbublic. This was the first group-stage exit in their history.

Records Set... At 45 years and 161 days, Essam El Hadary became the oldest player in finals history. The record for penalties awarded in a World Cup was shattered in the group stage with 24 awarded. The previous record was 18.

MARKS MADE... Lionel Messi scored the 100th goal of the event in the win over Nigeria. It took until the 37th match of the group stage for a 0-0 draw, and there was only 1 in the entire 48 matches. The 2500th goal in the history of the World Cup came from the boot of Tunisia's Fakhreddine Ben Youssef against Panama.