Group of Sleep

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Group of Sleep is a sobriquet, first coined at the 1986 World Cup, that is usually applied to the least interesting grouping of teams in the early, "group stage" of an international football tournament.

Typically, a Group of Sleep will see most matches end 0-0, 1-0 or 1-1.

A good example of this would be "Group F" of the 1990 World Cup. The results in the group between England, Republic of Ireland, Egypt and the Netherlands were all 0-0, 1-0 or 1-1; in six matches there were five draws and just seven goals.

In the 2006 World Cup no group was a typical group of sleep, however teams in Group B only scored 10 goals between them (with Trinidad and Tobago scoring no goals). Group G was the second most goal-dry with 11 goals.