luckadjusted
World Cup Final · 2026

Matchday 2 · World Cup 2018 · June 24, 2018

Japan 2–2 Senegal: who deserved to win?

Japan and Senegal drew 2–2. Replayed with the way both teams played, Japan win 2 of 10, Senegal 6, and 2 end level. Senegal made the better chances: 1.9 expected goals to 1.0.

Full time

TeamGoalsxG
Japan 2 0.98
Senegal 2 1.88

June 24, 2018 · Ekaterinburg Arena · Referee: Gianluca Rocchi

Luck index +23 Japan about even for the draw

Each team’s own shots from this match, resampled into new matches 4,000 times, each a goal at its expected-goals chance: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Japan win 2, 2 end level, Senegal win 6.

  1. 1 JPN 1 SEN 0
  2. 2 JPN 3 SEN 1
  3. 3 JPN 1 SEN 1
  4. 4 JPN 0 SEN 0
  5. 5 JPN 0 SEN 4
  6. 6 JPN 0 SEN 3
  7. 7 JPN 1 SEN 3
  8. 8 JPN 0 SEN 2
  9. 9 JPN 0 SEN 1
  10. 10 JPN 1 SEN 2

The narrowest view of luck

The same match, with only the coin flips re-rolled: every shot kept where and how it was taken, its outcome redrawn at its chance (75% of finishing counts as luck), own goals at the league’s rate.

There is no betting line for this match, and no forecast from before kickoff: matches of past seasons are replayed, not forecast.

How 4,000 replays of the 90 minutes ended

Japan win 16%, 22% end level, Senegal win 63%. The line is what actually happened: Draw.

Show as a table
After 90 minutes in the replaysShare of replays
Japan by 3+1.1%
Japan by 24.0%
Japan by 110.8%
Draw21.5%
Senegal by 124.9%
Senegal by 218.8%
Senegal by 3+19.1%

Where the luck was

FinishingShotsGoalsExpected goalsAbove expected
Japan720.98+1.02
Senegal1521.88+0.12

Own goals aren’t shots, so they’re counted on their own. A side above expected finished better than its chances, or met a goalkeeper on a bad day; 75% of the gap counts as luck (why that share).

The big chances, and every goal

MinuteChancexG
10'Sadio Mané scored from a shot0.57
33'Takashi Inui scored from a shot0.04
70'M'Baye Babacar Niang didn’t score from a shot0.41
70'Moussa Wagué scored from a shot0.08
77'Keisuke Honda scored from a shot0.49

When it happened

Japan’s chance of winning

Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

Our in-game win probability: the score and the minutes left, with goals for the rest of the match at the league’s rates. A draw counts half, as in the replays. Shaded above the middle while Japan was ahead in it, below while Senegal was.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability for
1 10' Sadio Mané scored from a shotFinishing · 57% chance +10% SEN
2 33' Takashi Inui scored from a shotFinishing · 4% chance +27% JPN
3 48' Yūya Ōsako didn’t score from a shotFinishing · 26% chance +8% SEN
4 70' M'Baye Babacar Niang didn’t score from a shotFinishing · 41% chance +16% JPN
5 70' Moussa Wagué scored from a shotFinishing · 8% chance +36% SEN
6 77' Keisuke Honda scored from a shotFinishing · 49% chance +22% JPN
7 83' Cheikh N'Doye didn’t score from a shotFinishing · 13% chance +6% JPN
8 93' Mame Biram Diouf didn’t score from a shotFinishing · 8% chance +4% JPN

Adjust the assumptions

Think finishing is more skill than we do? Change how much of it counts as luck and the coin-flip replay of the 90 minutes reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Japan 17% · draw 25% · Senegal 58%

Final margin
even
Luck in goals
0.7 for Japan
Luck-adjusted margin
Senegal by 0.7
Replay with same day's form
Japan 16% · draw 22% · Senegal 63% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts
Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this match and in every replay: a goal becomes a save, a chance goes in.

About these numbers

Expected goals per shot from StatsBomb’s open data; the replays, the in-game win probability and the luck shares are our own models, fitted and tested on every shot of four full league seasons and four tournaments, these matches included (methodology and validation).

All matchday 2 matches, 2018 · Japan · Senegal

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