Records rewritten as droughts end
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FIFA.com reflects on the week in numbers, with silverware for Arsenal, Zamalek and Mexico, a historic win in Italy and an end to LA Galaxy’s travel sickness all providing eye-catching statistics.
15 unanswered goals against Potenza on Sunday saw Cittadella rewrite a couple of Coppa Italia records. The Lega Pro side’s rampant performance not only established the biggest margin of victory ever seen in the Coppa, but ranks as the competition’s highest-scoring match. Citta scored ten times in the second 45 alone, with 18-year-old Giulio Bizzotto their most prolific player with two goals in each half. Records also fell elsewhere in Italy last week, although Sampdoria were less pleased at theirs - a heaviest-ever home defeat in Europe. The 4-0 loss came at the hands of Vojvodina of Serbia, who succeeded in inflicting their hosts’ biggest continental reverse – home or away – since 1962.
11 years without a league title was the drought that came to an end for Egypt’s Zamalek on Friday. The Cairo giants were crowned without even kicking a ball after old rivals Al Ahly drew 1-1 against Smouha, leaving the reigning champions five points behind Zamalek with just a game remaining. The result ended Ahly’s hopes of claiming a ninth successive title, with the Red Devils having topped the standings in every one of the completed seasons between 2004/05 and 2013/14. Nonetheless, Ahly’s position as Egypt’s record champions remains secure. The eight-time CAF Champions League winners have, after all, claimed their domestic championship 37 times, while this latest crown was Zamalek’s 12th.
11 months and 17 matches without an away win in Major League Soccer were the sequences that LA Galaxy brought to a close on Saturday. The reigning US champions came from behind to beat Colorado Rapids 3-1 and registered their first victory on the road since triumphing over the same opponents last August. Galaxy and their hosts also helped set a new MLS record, with the 31 goals scored on Saturday a new high for a single matchday. At the moment, no-one is doing more to serve up goals – at both ends – than New York City. There have been no fewer than 21 of them in the MLS new boys’ last three matches at Yankee Stadium, with this astonishing average of seven per game established by City drawing 4-4, winning 5-3 and, most recently, losing 3-2. And while the team’s defence may need some attention, they do at least have the league’s form striker, with David Villa having struck nine times in his last seven appearances.
3 CONCACAF Gold Cup finals have now been graced by an Andres Guardado goal, establishing the Mexico star as the first player to achieve this particular feat. A brilliant volleyed opener in El Tri’s 3-1 win over Jamaica capped a superb tournament from the PSV midfielder, who scored six times in as many matches, becoming the first non-forward to net such a haul at a single Gold Cup and surpassing Costa Rica’s Walter Centeno as the highest-scoring non-forward in the competition’s history. Fellow goalscorer Oribe Peralta also made history, establishing himself as the first player to find the net in the finals of both the Gold Cup and the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament. Peralta and Guardado's goals helped Mexico lift the Gold Cup for a seventh time, strengthening their position as the tournament’s record champions, two ahead of five-time winners USA.
0 wins from 13 matches against Jose Mourinho was the run that finally came to an end for Arsene Wenger on Sunday. The Arsenal manager eventually enjoyed the upper hand on his Chelsea counterpart at the 14th time of asking as his team emerged 1-0 winners in the Community Shield at Wembley. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was Wenger’s match-winner, and his decisive goal was Arsenal's first against their London rivals in 506 minutes of action. The Gunners’ wait for a goal against a Mourinho-managed Blues team had gone on even longer, with Oxlade-Chamberlain the first of their players to manage this feat since Gilberto Silva in May of 2007. Wenger and his team are now facing up to altogether more positive statistics, with Sunday’s victory at Wembley their fifth in succession at England’s national stadium – the best run in the club’s 128-year history.