It’s not how much of the ball you have, it’s how well you work with it a great footballing philosopher (possibly) once said – and tonight’s eye-opening clash between Portugal and Germany has proven such an adage. Look how Portugal grafted, ploughing forward, blasting in shot after shot from range – but it’s not the numbers that count eh? 

OK – so they may have had 22 shots to Germany’s 11 - 5 more corners than their tri-scoring opponents, but as our half-time post suggested. Germany have just been that much more clinical! Even the late surge couldn’t snare that victory! Now I was tempted to just show the statistics from the game, but far more exciting is the (in my eyes) at least – courtesy of the CPI, here’s a heat map of the most influential player of the tournament thus far.

Yup, you can’t get away from him – Michael Ballack - step forward, and run the hell around the whole pitch whilst dominating the midfield all night. Congratulations sir! Oh, and for a full report of tonight’s game, have a look at 101greatgoals.com.