June 2008

Would Xavi Hernandez please step forward! With several stunning performances where he helped the new European champions absolutely boss the midfield, it is with delight we can confirm that the Barcelona-based hero has been voted player of the tournament. Congratulations sir – and although he may not be the obvious choice, we at euro2008statistics.com, as well as the Spanish football blog, think that Xavi is a fine choice.

According to those folks over at the CPI, Xavi was “one of the key men in the winning side, offering a consistently creative presence during the campaign” – and just look at these stats to prove it.

Most importantly, Xavi’s influence grew as the tournament progressed and it was he who broke the deadlock in the semi-final against Russia. He then created Fernando Torres’ winning goal in the final to end the long Spanish international trophy drought. Incredible work….

It’s been 34 years since they last won anything of note, but tonight let the world sing Viva Espana! Because Spain are champions of Europe, and oh how they deserved it. Dominating this game like they have so many others during the tournament – what better way to celebrate Aragones’ 70th birthday than with such an assured performance. It’s testament to quality football winning out over a team who ust, quite frankly, were not good enough!

There aren’t any stats to really exemplify how much Spain dominated the previously un-dominat-able (it’s a word!) Germans. They didn’t run as far, they didn’t have more of the ball, they weren’t caught offside the most (a sure sign of an attacking team). And yet they triumphed quite beautifully. Pass and move. Score one and win. Game over. Now sit back and bask in the Iberian glory.

Let’s ignore for a minute Fernando Torres’ new Clark Kent hairstyle, and the fact that (as Mrs. Tom so helpfully pointed out ‘These two sides haven’t got those funny numbers on their backs’), Germany are being shown exactly how to play football in this Euro 2008 final. Pass and move, the quintessential tactic that defines the game is very much front and centre in Spain’s game, with the German defence struggling to cope with the diagonal play of the speedy Spanish.

The story of the half shows exactly 50:50 possession, but the telling stat is the shot tally. Spain have fired off 6 shots to Germany’s 2. TWO. In 45 minutes. As Ray Stubbs so eloquently put it just now on the BBC ‘Spain will reaaly kick themselves if they don’t win it from here.’

Stats from Castrolindex.com

It’s the big one alright, the one we’ve all been waiting for, the one that the previous 30 games have all been about. It’s the game when the great and the good of World football and politics (well, Platini and Angela Merkel anyway) are bound to be in the stands. Predicted by Castrol way back in May, the Spain/Germany final is the match that most neutrals would have thought would be the ultimate game. Unless they were Italian. Or French. Or Dutch.

According to the Edmonton Sun, though, Germany’s talismanic captain and most hard-working player throughout the whole tournament might not be available due to a mystery calf injury. They quote coach Joachim Loew as saying ‘We don’t know how he got injured’, but here at Euro2008statistics, we’d say it has something to do with the massive distances he has been covering every game.

The Castrol Index boys have pulled out some fascinating stats in the lead up to this clash, including the fact that Schweinsteiger’s two goals since coming back from his suspension have both been from Podolski crosses played from virtually the exact same blade of grass.

They also highlight the fact that the finalists didn’t get there by fluke, scoring 11 (Spain) and 10 (Germany) goals. There is a difference in how they got them, though, with Spain taking 83 shots on goal (at a conversion rate of 13.25%) and the German side netting theirs from 53 shots – at a higher rate of success (18.52%). So while Spain go for a shoot on sight approach, the Germans seem more clinical as to when they choose to pull the trigger.

So let’s see what tonight brings. Hopefully it won’t be a cagey 0-0 and Spain’s more balls-out attacking approach will force the Germans to play a more open game. What price penalties, then?

It’s all about Cesc today, with bloggers falling over each other to come up with the most sickeningly sycophantic headline – the favourite being ‘The Joy of Cesc’. Oh those witty, witty sub-editors. In proper blogging, 4thegame provide a look at what happened in the match, and whilst they do pay homage to old Fabber - saying he ‘dictated the game’ - they don’t go overboard extolling Cesc’s virtues with fancy wordplay. See? It’s easy to say someone’s good without drooling.

Possibly one excuse for the Russian team not turning up last night was the promise of ‘socialite’ (whatever one of those is, I want to be one!) Pyotr Listerman to provide the team two girls each for every goal they scored as reported by John Williams from Buzzin Football. With minds probably in the gutter, there was no way they were going to make a decent fist of taking Spain apart, and they were split wide open by a thrusting Iberian team. It’s common knowledge that pimpin’ ain’t easy (especially when you look like a sweaty 14-year old boy like Arshavin), so with such a lacklustre display Russia saved old Pyotr a tough task.

Nick from the Russian page of the World Cup Blog site reckons the team can hold their heads up high and be proud of what they achieved. He mentions that the ‘midfield and attacking line did not hold up’ as well the defence did, and he says that without Iganashevich and V. Beresutski Spain could have had a whole lot more joy in front of goal.

…and to round things off, some photos like the one below of last night’s game from Who Ate All The Pies.

Well you can’t argue with 7 goals in 2 games, and once again the Spanish showed their class in clinically dispatching a side who knew their footballing beans… But were no match for Aragones and his lads, who may well go into Sunday’s finals as slight favourites against the Germans.

We shall see - but in the mean time, just take a look at the Castrol Index statistics from tonight, and make up your own mind who deserved to win.

Oh – how this blog’s been unbiased since the start, and but for a brief dalliance extolling the virtues of the Netherlands, and a slightly more extended stint claiming that Slaven Bilic was the greatest man to walk the earth since our ancestors crawled from the sea, dragging their underbellies across baking prehistoric sands – we have remained impartial.

All that, however, is about to change as Jack, at least, throws his not inconsiderable weight behind the Russians… Considered tournament also-rans from the very beginning of the show, they have continually confounded expectations – and with Palyuchenko and Arshavin on fine form, this could just be the upset of the tournament thus far.

It’s all looking fairly even thus far on the CPI – so keep an eye on the stats, and Russia….Indulge me!

The scene in the Porterhouse, Covent Garden