World Cup in Qatar sets scoring record with 172 goals
Lusail, (AP): The six-goal final between France and Argentina set a World Cup record of 172 at this year's tournament.
The previous tournament record of 171 goals was set in 1998 and 2014. The 1998 tournament in France was the first edition in the current 64-game, 32-team format.
A new record is likely to be set at the 2026 World Cup, which has been expanded to 48 teams playing either 80 or 104 games.
On Sunday, Argentina and France drew 3-3 through extra time to set the record. Lionel Messi scored two goals for Argentina and Kylian Mbappe got a hat trick for France the first in a World Cup final since 1966.
Argentina won the title, its third, by prevailing 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
It was the second straight six-goal final. France defeated Croatia 4-2 four years ago in Russia.
The 2.63 goals per game average in Qatar is far below the World Cup record of 5.38 goals per game at the 1954 edition in Switzerland.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
