Tie Breakers for World Cup Group Stage

As South Africa desperately looks to score enough goals to advance in the World Cup, here’s a look at the tie-breakers used by FIFA for Group stage play. Courtesy the CS Monitor:

Two teams advance out of every four-team group. The first and most obvious decider is points (three points for a win, one for a draw).

* If two teams are tied on points, the first tiebreaker is goal difference – how many goals a team has scored minus how many it has conceded. The thinking is that this is the best measure of which team is better over the three games.

* If that is inconclusive, the second tiebreaker is goals scored. This rewards the team that is more offensive.

* If the teams are still tied on these measures, the next tiebreaker is who won the head-to-head matchup.

* If they’re still tied, World Cup officials flip a coin, literally

Here’s a link to the current Group Standings.

-WKW