World Cup 2026: 5 things we learned about England's round of 32 tie from simple questions
It’s matchday! We thought we’d have some fun…
We’ve hooked up Cleriq’s intuitive insight engine to matchday data from all the group games at this year’s World Cup so that we could channel our inner Brad-Pitt-in-Moneyball.
All the visualisations you see below were built automatically by Cleriq from plain English questions we asked it.
So what can we learn about what England has in store when they face DR Congo later?
How deep do DR Congo play?
Well the good news for neutrals is that DR Congo don’t sit as deep as you might think. When we asked “which teams defended the deepest?” DR Congo didn’t even make the top 10 (Cape Verde, perhaps unsurprisingly, topped the list).
A one-man team?
DR Congo also appears to rely on the goalscoring prowess of Yoane Wissa. When we asked Cleriq about teams that lean heavily on one player for goals, it showed that no other team in the competition has seen a higher proportion of their goals scored by a single forward - Wissa is as important to DR Congo as Messi is to Argentina. Perhaps if England can isolate him, they can nullify the threat?
A weakness on the right?
The goals they have conceded so far seem to have come from the left flank. Asking Cleriq “where have the assists for the goals DR Congo have conceded come from?” it showed a potential weakness on the right side of their defence.
Rashford or Gordon?
That prompts an interesting question for England: who should start on the left wing? Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford have both staked their claim, but when we asked Cleriq to compare each player’s position it showed us that Rashford got into the more advanced positions on the wing, with Gordon more likely to cut inside or pass sideways before he got to the edge of the box.
England's creative engine
Also revealing from an England perspective is the expected return of Declan Rice. When we asked Cleriq for England’s most creative players, the Arsenal man came out on top, ahead of both Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka.
Enjoy the match this evening if you’re watching. But if you’re more interested in sales completion rates than pass completion rates, feel free to get in touch about what insights Cleriq might be able to find in your data.
Owen spent a decade leading digital teams in the membership sector after starting out in journalism. He writes about widening access to good-quality insight — and runs further than he should.
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