Top five records broken at FIFA World Cup 2018

These records had been lying stagnant for a long time.

The 2018 World Cup provided a lot of action from the first game till the last. France's consistent performance throughout the tournament helped them outscore first-time finalists Croatia, thus winning their second title.

The 2018 tournament will surely be remembered as a World Cups of minnows because of the way they held their own against the so-called big teams. Countries like Argentina, Germany, Spain had a very a tough time, which made the contest more exciting and surprising. Another aspect which made this edition of the event standout was the number of records broken with each match. 

Digging deep into World Cup history, Khel Now presents five such interesting records that were broken in this edition of the FIFA World Cup.

5. Harry Kane became the first player to score two or more goals in the first two World Cup games since 1974

The England #9 had a dream run in the tournament's group stages. The striker racked up five goals in his first two games. The Tottenham ace scored a brace in England's first game against Tunisia, including the winner in injury-time.

He started the second game on the same note against Panama, scoring a hat-trick which made him the first player to score two or more goals in the first two games of the World Cup since Poland's Grzegorz Lato in 1974. Kane later won the Golden Boot for the six goals he scored in the tournament. 

4. The 2018 World Cup saw only one 0-0 draw since 1954

The 2018 World Cup witnessed only one goalless draw which provided jam-packed action for the spectators. They had at least a goal to celebrate in almost every game.

France Vs Denmark was the only game where both the teams failed to send the ball past the opposition keeper. The last World Cup which had no goalless draw was in 1954. 26 games were played in that edition and almost all the games saw at least one goal scored.

3. Iceland became the smallest country ever to play in the FIFA World Cup

Iceland's magical run which started at Euro 2016 saw them playing in their first ever FIFA World Cup. Though the country with a population of 337,669 failed to make it out of group stages, they will surely be proud of the way their team fought at the mega event.

The previous smallest country to play a World Cup was Trinidad and Tobago with a population of 1.3m in 2006.

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2. Most own-goals scored in a single edition

12 own-goals were scored in 64 matches, which puts the 2018 World Cup first in the list for most own-goals scored in a single edition.

Mario Mandzukic scored the first-ever own goal in the final of a FIFA World Cup, which handed France a crucial 1-0 lead in the big game.

1. Most penalties awarded in a single World Cup

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The inclusion of VAR in this edition of the FIFA World Cup proved very crucial. 29 penalties were awarded and out of those 22 were scored.

VAR was the crucial factor in the final as well, as the referee awarded a penalty to France, which helped Les Bleus to get back in the driving seat again.