Ahead of Friday’s World Cup draw in Costa Do Sauipe in Bahia, the Press Associoation’s MatchStory compiled a unique set of data after studying all of the goals scored and conceded by the qualified teams.
England were drawn out alongside Uruguay, Italy and Costa Rica in Group D and the first game for Roy Hodgson’s side takes place in the early hours of Sunday 15 June when they meet Italy in Manaus.
And according to MatchStory, England’s centre-back pairing will need to be alert, with the Italians having scored 42 per cent of their goals during qualifying with headers.
Hodgson will take heart from the fact that Italy are less strong in the air at the back though, conceding 33 per cent of goals from headers.
England should also look to target the Italian right side, with the Azzurri shipping 44 per cent of their goals from down that flank.
Second opponents Uruguay await in Sao Paulo on 19 June and have star power up-front in Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Edinson Cavani, but 33 per cent of their goals came from set pieces.
So the Three Lions will have to be on guard, having conceded 50 per cent of their goals in Group H from set pieces.
But England could reap rewards by attacking centrally, with the South Americans losing 64 per cent of their goals from central areas.
Uruguay also only recovered six per cent of their points from losing positions, so England should be confident of holding on if they get in front.
Costa Rica, whom England play last in Belo Horizonte on 24 June, are fast starters having scored 22 per cent of their goals in the opening 15 minutes of matches.
However, England did not let in a single goal during the opening 15 minutes of their games during qualifying.
The Central Americans will also prove a handful in the air, scoring 33 per cent of goals from headers and conceding only eight per cent that way.
They also stay focused late into matches, conceding only eight per cent in the last 15 minutes.
England's opponents also have a clear idea of where the weaknesses lie in Hodgson's side. The Three Lions conceded 50 per cent of their goals down their own left flank, letting in none down their right.
MatchStory has collected a unique dataset of every single one of the 993 goals scored and conceded by the 32 World Cup finalists across the 352 qualifying matches they played in. This data has been used to build up an assessment of their relative strengths, weaknesses and playing style to power a range of analyses.
