Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.The goals have flown in at the 2026 World Cup, with corners contributing to a significant number of them.There have been 35 goals within five seconds of a corner being taken. That is 22 more than teams managed in Qatar in 2022 and nine more than in the 2018 tournament in Russia — with the caveat that 36 more games have already been played in the United States, Canada and Mexico.That increase, unlike in the Premier League in 2025-26, is not primarily due to inswinging corners causing a rugby-style scrum in the six-yard box.Teams have regularly used short and outswinging corners, too, as the graphic below shows.Here The Athletic looks at some of the numbers and tactics behind the corners at the World Cup ahead of the semi-finals.France leads all teams for short corners with 19.Their opening goal in the 3-0 round-of-32 win over Sweden was a good example of their creativity from this route to goal. As Ousmane Dembele prepares to take a short corner, Kylian Mbappe first looks at the player responsible for tracking him, Alexander Isak.Isak initially follows Mbappe’s run towards the ball but stops due to France’s activity behind him. The Real Madrid striker uses referee Danny Makkelie as a screen to get away from Isak and onto Daniel Svensson’s blind side.Dembele passes into that gap, with Mbappe now faced up against Viktor Gyokeres, a player better known for his work in the other box.Mbappe dribbles past him with ease and scores.France’s semi-final opponent, Spain, have also gone short at times (they are third in the list with 10), but the preference has been for flat-ish deliveries into crowded six-yard boxes.From the left, Alex Baena has sent in corners that have maintained a straight or even outswinging trajectory despite logic suggesting they should swing in. In the example below against Austria, Rodri initially points into a crowded six-yard box as Baena prepares to take the corner.All the Spain players move towards goal and Austria follow suit, but Baena arrows a straight pass that Mikel Oyarzabal, the only player to step backwards, heads wide.Canada are just behind France on 17 short corners. In their opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jesse Marsch’s side repeatedly played the ball short but kept several players in the box to draw the Bosnian defence out and find an open man.In the example below, Stephen Eustaquio plays it short, with Canada set up to attack the six-yard box with two runners.When he gets it back, Canada have a player free at the front post, two at the edge of the area (if they can work it quickly) and four attackers against three Bosnia defenders in the box.Eustaquio chooses to cross into a central area and Bosnia clear the ball, but the idea — to draw opponents out and create an overload in one area — was sound.Bosnia interestingly scored from a corner against Canada, using a strategy that became increasingly common as the group stage went on: attacking the near post.This is how they are set up ahead of the corner, with Canada using two zonal markers at the near post and Bosnia packing the six-yard box.Sead Kolasinac races forward to the gap between the zonal defenders to flick the ball on and the ensuing chaos sees Jovo Lukic head past Maxime Crepeau from point-blank range.Multiple teams have utilised the dash to the near-post to create opportunities.Gonzalo Plata’s decisive goal for Ecuador against Germany came from a similar approach. Kevin Rodriguez eases past Jamal Musiala to flick the ball into the corridor of uncertainty between Manuel Neuer and Jonathan Tah, who had already had a miscommunication earlier in the game. Plata gets into that area and diverts the ball past Neuer to seal Ecuador’s place in the last 32.Morocco’s go-ahead goal against Haiti also came from this route.Centre-back Chadi Riad flicks the outswinging corner across goal, with his team-mates’ runs dragging Haiti’s defence forward. That gives Soufiane Rahimi the time and space to take a touch and score via a deflection.Jan Paul van Hecke’s strike in the Netherlands’ 3-1 win over Tunisia saw him score directly from the near-post flick on after racing forward from the six-yard box.