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DOHA, Qatar — More crosses creating more goals. Winning penalties with "total genius" like Cristiano Ronaldo. Pressing opponents to get the ball back quickly. FIFA's expert analysts picked their World Cup trends Saturday from the first 16 games. The Technical Study Group saw more and better crosses creating more goals coming from wide areas. 14 instead of three at the same stage of the 2018 tournament. Nine penalty kicks awarded in 16 games puts this World Cup on a record pace for spot-kicks. FIFA analyst Sunday Oliseh suggested strikers like Cristiano Ronaldo are getting smarter at tempting defenders into making fouls.
