He’s having the tournament of his life, and Yuri Zhirkov needs to stamp his authority on the game against Spain tonight in order to establish Russia’s dominance. Zhirkov is so far 4^th in the ‘ground covered’ standings (over 47km), has clocked the fastest time of anyone at 31.3km/h and has the most touches per match of any player at an average of 95. Patrolling the left wing with almost military precision, Zhirkov might want to maintain a position slightly closer to the box against Spain, who were mighty on the counter when they destroyed the Russians in their group game. A look at his Castrol Index heat map shows that spending too much of his time nearer the half way line could be costly.

Whoever is the victor in tonight’s game, we’re guaranteed a tremendous number of shots on goal as the two teams top the charts in terms of numbers (if not necessarily accuracy). Racking up an impressive 134 shots between them so far, there are bound to be bagsful tonight as both teams strive to find the back of the net and progress to the final on Sunday.

Hopefully tonight will hold another game like the first semi, which can only be described as a thrills and spills roller coaster ride. I’m gunning for Spain to win 3-1 (I have them in a sweepstake, so I’m naturally biased).

Jack reckons the Russians will triumph 2-1, with Cameron Diaz netting a brace.

Stats provided by Castrolindex.com