Czech Republic

But sometimes emotion takes over, and despite being bored in large periods of that match, I’m going to dedicate this post (for what it’s worth) to Slaven Bilic and Croatia – a team who lit up this tournament in patches, and who deserve to be remembered fondly! 

Were the Turks lucky? Did the referee allow extra time to go on too long – I’m not sure, but they should take great credit in that victory, their threadbare side hanging on before snatching that magnificent late equaliser. Rustu, despite his error in conceding that goal, made up for it with a great penalty save, and the whole side working their socks off. 

But come on now – he’s been our favourite manager throughout the tournament, he plays in a top (ish) Croatia rock band – and well… Slaven is glorious! (as is his mother-in-law so we hear) We will miss you sir, and your excellent side who have worked hard – and show how they put England out so easily.

Go and have a look at the full stats over on the CPI - And long live Turkey - who have performed well above themselves.

My dad was watching his first game of Euro 2008, not enjoying it very much - and 15 minutes later he was dancing about the streets with a Bodhran drum! That was quite the most spectacular finish I’ve ever seen of an international match. The Czechs seemingly through with 3o minutes to go, but 3 Turkish goals, a Peter Cech howler and sending off later - and Turkey have made it through to meet Croatia in the next round.

I’m not sure that any heat map or statistics I can put on a screen can go any way to describing the vibrancy and intensity of the action of those last 45 minutes, so let’s instead have a look at Nihat Kahveci’s heat-map, provided by the CPI, and take a look at the Turkish 2 goal hero’s possession during the match. Up and down the flanks, and roving about the whole Czech half, one can see how he was the man there to score the goals! Betshopboy picked out Nihat as a player to watch, and how right he was….

If you haven’t watched tonights game, make sure to watch the highlights (trust me) - and here’s hoping that tomorrows action is as incredible! This is Jack for euro2008statistic.com signing off with a big football related smile on my face. Viva Euro 2008!

ITV have described him as “not so much over the hill, as already on his way down the other side” - and “ancient” to name but a few harsh insults, but by hell they’ve been proved wrong - Jan Koller has been everywhere! Scoring a towering header from a big Czech cross, and being pretty much instrumental in every forward move Czech Republic have been involved in - just take a look at his heat map, from the Castrol Performance Index, and you’ll see what I mean.

Also - as my co-blogger Tom has just pointed out, take a look at that big red spot on the heat-map. Koller is a proper centre forward!

The big man has been incendiary, as he was in the build up to the tournament! Whether he’ll last the whole 90 minutes we’ll have to wait and see - but with Baros on the bench he may not have too….

Having ploughed a furrow (probably quite literally given the state of the pitch in the torrential rain) up and down the left flank and receiving very little attention -apart from the BBC’s Mark Bright who was virtually screaming at the Turkey side to pass him the ball – Arda Turan eventually got his just desserts by bagging himself the winner against Switzerland. His Castrol Index heat map shows that he was heavily involved in everything in and around the left corner of the penalty area, and it was no surprise that this is where he scored his – albeit fortunately deflected – winner.

Turkey’s manager Fatih Terim might want to instil in his players the need to get the match won in normal time, with good reason. The Czechs (in their many guises, well, as Czechoslovakia) haven’t lost a penalty shoot out in the Euros in all three attempts. If tonight’s game finishes level, then penalties in the group stage are looming, and that prospect should fill the Turks with dread. See below for details.

Jack thinks the Czech Republic will complete a 2-0 demolition.

Tom reckons this one is destined for a shoot out, and going on past performance the Czech Republic will go through.

These stats powered by the bods at http://castrolindex.com

A quick look at the stats after an hour of the Austria vs Poland game shows that the fastes and most industrious players on the pitch are all defence-minded players. Does this show, then that noth attacks are sharing the work, or just that the defenders are turning on the pace and covering the distance to keep this one at 0-1? Aufhauser at 28.51km/h and 7746m covered after 60 mins takes both plaudits for the co-hosts, whilst Jop was the fastest Pole before he was subbed, with Dudka, just as he was against the Germans, the hardest working with 7900m covered.

Compare the workload of the attacks, who actually *do* appear to have shared out the work load amongst themselves. Football - it’s a funny old game.

We love our stats, we do, and they’re provided by the lovely gents (and ladies) at Castrol Performance Index

Despite looking like a drunk best man at a wedding, super-coach Slaven Bilic seems to have put together some interesting tactics at the beginning of this game to try and combat the might of the Germans.

For despite the group-topping side being extraordinarily effective, skilful and pacy on the ball, our favourite man(ager) pretty much in the world has noted that the German midfield play in a very narrow – dominating the centre of the park, and has sent his wingers bolting down the flanks on more than one occasion to open up the Deutsch defence.

Just look at the heat map below, powered by the CPI, to show exactly what we mean.

Oh, and there’s a Croatian goal. One nil to the underdogs, and a great cross from the under-manned wing.

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian sums up the Portugal performance against the Czech Republic yesterday as being edged with ‘a tinge of frustration’ – referring to the lack of total dominance shown by one C. Ronaldo. It’s not enough now for him to have ‘dangerous moments’ – he should impose ‘utter devastation’. That said, the CPI stats for the young man show that he was joint fastest man on the pitch at 29.42 km/h a whole km/h faster than in the first game. His heat maps show that in his ‘ineffectual’ first game he covered a lot more of the pitch, but when he applied himself to covering one area, he scored one and arguably set up both of the other goals.

In the Telegraph, Tim Rich reports that former Croatia coach Miroslav Blazevic has been bemoaning the apparent lack of fitness in his former charges. ‘There look to be clear problems with physique,’ he said. The stats back him up, too – in their opening game, Croatia as a team covered 105,830m, an amount that Castrol Performance Index ambassador Arsene Wenger called ‘disappointing’ when asked for his thoughts on the stats from the first few games. Averaging 9620m per man, this work rate must improve if they are to go further in the competition.

Austrian coach Josef Hickersperger knows that tonight’s game is a ‘must win’ but has promised not to throw caution to the wind and play ‘Hollywood football’, according to Lewis Rutledge from Team Talk. There have been many formations tried during the tournament so far, from the basic 4-4-2, through the 4-5-1 employed by the Czechs, to a successful (so far) Portuguese 4-2-3-1. Hickersperger isn’t going to play ‘two strikers and four attacking midfielders behind them’ in pursuit of a much needed victory. The stats don’t show clearly yet which is the most effective formation, but you can be sure a 4-0-6 isn’t the way forward.

veyDer over at OleOle has posted some thoughts before the Austria vs. Poland game this evening, and it seems he’s happy with what he sees. Comparing the speed and distance charts from the two teams’ first matches, he has noted that the Polish run faster and further in every position, even the goalkeepers!