A version of this article was first published on June 21.There is a simple barometer to judge the quality of a major international tournament.More goals typically means more entertainment, and this summer’s World Cup has already treated us to an unprecedented volume of them.We are not even out of the group stage, and the total tally of 177 goals scored is already the highest it has been in the 96-year history of the tournament.The expanded 48-team iteration will have a large impact on this inflated figure, with 60 games already played — more than 15 full editions of the tournament historically. Still, a return of 2.95 goals per game is also the highest rate observed since 1970.There is still plenty of football to be played, so it is worth digging deeper into why this World Cup has been so quick out of the blocks.Goals are the currency of football, but are we getting an inflated return on our investment? To answer this, we turn to our old friend — expected goals.For those who are yet to be acquainted, this metric measures the quality of each chance before a player shoots, accounting for many contextual factors, including the angle and distance of the shot, or the body part that was used to shoot.