Ranking the 10 national teams that scored the most goals in 2021
International football is being played at its most furious and most serious right now. The World Cup begins in another twelve months and teams from every continent are giving their best to earn their representation in Qatar.
Fans have their fair share of complaints from international football because it's not as scintillating or as fast-paced as club football usually is.
But the players give their everything to wear the colors of their respective countries and make them proud. The passion is evidently visible when players take to the field and with the qualifying stages entering the crunch phase there was no shortage of drama.
Football is incomplete without goals and since this year was packed with the Euro Championship, Copa America and World Cup Qualifiers among other competitions, we saw plenty of them. So it's only fair to see which teams around the world have been scoring for fun and who we must watch out for.
On that note, here are the 10 international teams that have scored the most goals in the calendar year of 2021 at the time of publishing:
#10 Belgium - 39 goals
Roberto Martinez and co. sealed their spot in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with a 3-1 victory over Estonia. The heartache from Euro 2020 will be fresh for Belgium, who were expected to go deep into the competition but bowed out in the quarter-finals.
In the 2018 World Cup, the Red Devils finished third, their personal best in the history of the tournament. They will be aiming to enter the finals in Qatar this time as the top ranked team in FIFA rankings. This year they have participated in the Euro, the Nations League and the World Cup qualifiers.
In is last 19 Belgium appearances, Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in 24 goals! 🔥
He makes football seem so easy! 🤩 https://t.co/M1Qznao0st
Belgium's wait for a major honor continues after they spilled their chances of making the finals in the UEFA Nations League, losing 3-2 to France. They even lost the match for third-place to Italy by a scoreline of 2-1. Despite that, it is Belgium who make it to this list of top 10 scoring sides and not France or Italy.
Belgium have scored 39 goals in the total this calendar year and have played 17 matches.
#9 Panama - 40 goals
The CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers are halfway through the fixtures and Panama would be happy to sit fourth right now. The team earned their first qualification to the World Cup last time around in Russia. A straight second qualification would help the morale of the country by a great margin.
They have contested this year's Gold Cup and the World Cup qualifiers. Having played 19 games the team has managed to wrack up an impressive 40 goals. It's a squad that relies heavily on their experienced players to score goals.
The Panama ball boy did everything in his power to get his country to the World Cup ?😂😂😂 Football is Awesome! https://t.co/XYUkEq2M52
Cecilio Waterman, Gabriel Torres and Rolando Blackburn are all above the age of 30 and frequent goal-getters for their national side. Panama finished third in their Gold Cup group stage and will be aware that they cannot take World Cup qualification lightly from this stage.
Their final fixture of the calendar year was against Costa Rica, which they won by a narrow margin of 2-1. However, a two-goal return from 27 shots taken would worry coach Thomas Tarin. They're sitting in the playoff spot right now and will try to edge past Mexico to make it to the automatic qualification position.
#8 Algeria - 40 goals
The only team from Africa to make it to this list and that by scoring at an exceptional rate of 40 goals from 11 games in 2021. Algeria are playing some seriously entertaining football and are unbeaten in their CAF World Cup qualifying group.
They are running riot having scored 25 goals in just six of their Group A games. There are some renowned names in their camp who play for top European sides like Riyad Mahrez, Said Benrahma, Islam Slimani and Ismael Bennacer. Algeria drew against Burkina Faso to ensure they made it to the 10-team playoffs, which will be played in March.
🇩🇿 Algeria extended its unbeaten run to 33 games, the 4th longest streak in the history of international football! Algeria has not lost a match since October 2018, over 3 years ago.
Longest ever unbeaten streaks:
🇮🇹 Italy 37
🇧🇷 Brazil 35
🇪🇸 Spain 35
🇩🇿 Algeria 33 https://t.co/1pnxVzuAsG
The African team are on a dream run with a total of 33 games unbeaten in all competitions, including friendlies. Mahrez and Slimani are their top scorers this calendar year with eight and nine goals respectively. Their impressive streak also makes them one of the favorites for the Africa Cup of Nations starting in January.