Just three countries had fewer shots on target per game than the Socceroos, according to FIFA.

Australia managed just 2.7 strikes on goal in each of their three games, just ahead of Serbia on 2.3, Egypt on 1.7 and Iran on 1.3.

By comparison, eventual World Champions France averaged 4.3 throughout the tournament, while Brazil peppered the goalmouth 7.6 times a game, Belgium 5.7, runners-up Croatia 4.0 times and even England mustered a 3.9 average.

The Roos had no shots at all from outside the penalty area, unlike Croatia which had 54 on average per goal, Brazil 40 and Belgium 39, while France had 9.5.

The Socceroos took 17.5 shots for every goal they scored - and had to rely on two penalties for both strikes they did score. By contrast, France had just six shots per goal.

They also struggled to get past the backline to break into the opposition box, bypassing just 26 defenders a match, well below the tournament average of 33 per game.

The 29 penalty area entries was also below the 32/game average (but the same as France's), as was the 53 final third breakthroughs versus 58 on average and just behind France's 56.

But while Australia's flaccid attack was no surprise, the rest of Australia's stats were more intriguing.

Mat Ryan topped the goalkeeping stats for distribution with more successful passes than any other keeper per game (39 versus French keepers' 26/game), and nailed them evenly across short, medium and long passes.

He had an average pass accuracy of 89%, way more than the tournament average of 68%, and his 40 passes dwarfed the tournament average of just 28.

And while the Aussies struggled to get past defenders at the business end of the pitch, they were running rings rounds opponents elsewhere on the pitch.

They managed to slip past opponents 291 times a game – the seventh best in the tournament – versus the average of 264, and covered a huge amount of ground per game.

In total, they ran 110,187m compared to the average of just 104,662, which was the fourth highest of the tournament, behind Serbia, Germany (both of which also struggled to score) and Russia. France were fifth lowest, with just 100,953m, just ahead of Argentina on 99,880.

The Socceroos were among the fastest at the tournament, covering 8,323m at speeds above 20kmh, second only to Morocco, and well above the average 7,554m. France, Spain and Portugal were among the lowest on this metric, with all of them coming in the lowest seven at 7,096m or less.

In the top end sprints, Australia again dominated, covering 2,377m at speeds above 25kmh against an average of 2,026m, bettered only by Morocco and Senegal. France were mid table at 2,007m.

Back in attack, Australia sent in the sixth highest number of crosses per game at 25, while France had just 14, but ineffective Germany topped the charts with a staggering 46, well ahead of second-placed Brazil's 29.

Overall, Australia's World Cup was summed up by one FIFA observation: "Australia remained short of ideas."