Dead ball opportunities have generated a majority of the goals through the first round of the tournament. Of the 42 goals scored through the opening matches, 19 of them have been either from the penalty spot, from a corner kick, or from direct and indirect free kicks. This percentage of goals scored from dead ball opportunities, meaning the ball is not moving when the play is started like on a penalty kick, blows away standard league percentages from around the world. Teams will spend hours rehearsing set piece opportunities in the hopes of being able to score it once, and that amount of practice and dedication in comparison to how much you can practice opportunities from the run of play with the same amount of consistency, is the reason set pieces can be so effective. Now the reason for it this year is that a lot of nations are playing very defensive and not venturing out to attack as much, so they try to make the most of their set piece opportunities to make up for it.

1. Free Kicks

In the 87th minute, Spain is ahead of Portugal, 3-2, when veteran Spenish Defender, Pique, commits an unnecessary foul on Portugal's Captain, Christiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo, sitting one goal away from a hat trick, steps up to take the free kick. Ronaldo has stepped up to a free kick from that position many times and sent it into the stands, but this time he strikes it perfectly and leaves spanish netminder, David de Gea, flat footed and speechless.

As I mentioned in my previous article, Aleksander Kolarov is a dead ball specialist, and he proved it again on the world's biggest stage, with a beautiful curling free kick over the Costa Rican wall and into the back of the net. This proved to be crucial as it was the game winner for Serbia.

Another direct free kick goals came from Darwin Quintero, who sneaks the ball under the Japanese wall to tie the game for Colombia.

2. Corner Kicks

Enough about free kicks, which are a low percentage chance, how about something more even? A corner kick is the most even play in soccer. It does not require a big, tall guy to score on corners, as timing and positioning are the biggest factors.

Brazil was holding a narrow lead over the Swiss, who were having trouble getting their offense going. But Steven Zuber, who is 5'11, so by no means a main target in the box, creates enough separation and equalizes for Switzerland. Was it a foul? possible, it really just depends who you are rooting for and as such, I am choosing to stay neutral in the situation.

Another prime example of how corners can be scored by a team without them having to be a great team comes in the Colombia-Japan game. The two nations were knotted nearing end of a game which seemed to be heading for a 1-1 draw, but Osako gets just enough of the ball to redirect it toward the far post and in, to give his Japanese side the upset win.

But a lot of corners come from carefully diagrammed and methodically executed plays. One such gave England a late win over Tunisia, as Maguire nods it perfect to Harry Kane, who does not miss from that close.

3. Indirect Free Kicks

Indirect free kicks are free kicks where there is not much of a clear shot on goal from the where the ball is placed, so they pass the ball into the box in hopes of getting a header or a deflection and putting it in the back of the net.

Here, Uruguayan defender, Jose Maria Giminez, rises above the Egyptian defense to grab the three points and spare the blushes of the team's attackers.

The other goal from an indirect free kick so far has been from Poland's Grzegorz Krychowiak, who headed a ball home from a beautiful delivery.

4. Penalties

Many times, penalties just sort of happen - it does not even require quality players or good build up or passing to earn a penalty.

A prime example of this is Tunisia's equalizer vs England. Tunisia could not get much generated but caught a lucky break when central defender, Kyle Walker's arm catches a Tunisian player in the face and the referee points to the spot, rightfully so.

To conclude, Alexi Lalas breaks down the increased role of set pieces at the World Cup this year.