Why World Cup own goals are on the rise

The United States' two victories so far at the 2026 World Cup have had a similar feel: a blistering start to the game, lots of attacking down the flanks rather than through the middle, and an own goal to get going. Paraguay's Damian Bobadilla turned the ball into his own net at the start of the U.S.'s 4-1 win, then Cameron Burgess repeated the trick in Australia's 2-0 defeat by the co-hosts on Friday. It means the United States have become the first side in history to benefit from own goals in consecutive men's World Cup games. Lucky? A little bit. But own goals, it seems, are a fairly major part of this World Cup. In total, seven own goals have been scored at the tournament so far, five more than were scored in the entire 2022 tournament. This is, to a certain extent, an outlier based on a small sample size, while there were only 32 teams in Qatar. But own goals have, over the years, become increasingly common in football. Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app. Take data from the Premier League, for example. In the first 17 seasons of the division, there was fewer than one own goal scored every round in the English top flight. In 2009-10 there was a spectacular rise to 53 own goals from 38 rounds of fixtures and, while that remains the peak, the have been another seven seasons where there have been 38 or more own goals per season, according to data company Opta. While it's possible that better television footage, with more angles available for replays, may have contributed to certain goals being given to an unfortunate defender rather than the attacker, Opta insists its definition has remained consistent throughout the Premier League era. The added peculiarity is that defenders are no longer clumsy lumps who can't control the ball with their feet -- they're increasingly technically skilled passers. Yet they're increasingly sticking the ball in their own goal. What has changed is the nature of attacking, particularly down the flanks. Once it was customary to hit crosses into the box from close to the edge of the penalty box, usually out-swinging deliveries towards the far post -- imagine a David Beckham delivery. Balls like that aren't generally going to end with a defender putting the ball into his own goal. The preferred manner of delivery out wide these days is different. For a start, it involves quicker attacks. It also involves getting to the byline and putting the ball across the six-yard box. Therefore, defenders are often sprinting back towards their goal, and the ball is played in a manner where it might simply hit them and bounce in. The best example of this from the World Cup so far is Belgium's equaliser against Egypt, which initially seemed like a Romelu Lukaku goal with his first touch after coming on as a substitute, but the final touch was actually provided by Mohamed Hany. The two own goals in favour of the United States have been a little more clumsy. Bobadilla's trickled over the line agonisingly for Paraguay, and Burgess surely should have sorted his feet out quicker and anticipated that the ball would be fired towards his feet. But the basic point remains: the U.S. attacked into a wide area and put the ball across the box in both moves -- only a simple touch was required to bring a goal. While not actively playing for own goals, they are nevertheless forcing the defenders to clear the ball running at full pelt towards their goal. Own goals like this -- including off the goalkeeper -- are now a regularly common occurrence. The figure of seven own goals also includes other types of goals. Iraq's Aymen Hussein -- who had previously scored at the right end earlier in the game -- was a little unfortunate that an aerial ball bounced off him and dropped in for Norway's final goal in a 4-1 win. On the other end of the scale, Qatar midfielder Mohamed Manai's wild slash into his own net against Canada seemed entirely unnecessary. But own goals from low balls or cut-backs driven into the six-yard box aren't entirely coincidental. To a certain extent, they're part of the plan. In the age of expected goals, perhaps the next step is calculating expected own goals -- such a statistic would show that balls like those can be of serious value.