Czech Republic

Promising much, but delivering not a whole lot, this match is a story of spurned chances. Both teams have had free kicks in promising positions, both wasted over the goal.

Stats-wise, it couldn’t be more fascinating. Sionko and Fernandes continually trading places at the top of the distance charts, and Plasil from the Czech Republic showing a handy turn of pace, clocking an impressive 24.32km/h. You won’t see that on Hackney Marshes tomorrow morning, and I’ll put my mortgage on that.

As far as possession goes, it’s still being edged by the Czech side, but they are being outshot by the Swiss, who are predictably being caught offside more regularly as they push forward.

There has to be a goal in this somewhere! The CPI might hold some clues as to where…

As Alexander Frei hobbles off wiping the tears from his eyes, the half comes to an end.

The CPI stats show that the Czechs actually had 53% of the ball, but were out shot by the Swiss 5 to 4. The Czechs definitely had their dirty boots on, conceding twice as many free kicks than the neutral, peace-loving Swiss. 12-6 in that aspect of the game.

The Czech defence has been worked hard, covering 18993m between them, fully 1461m more than their Swiss counterparts. Team heat maps make for interesting viewing, with it being clearly shown that the Swiss are having more luck down the right flank.

Fernandes has been overtaken by his midfield rival in the ground-covering stakes, with Sionko now having run 5819m, 107m more than the Czech.

For those with interests in corners, the Czechs are edging this stat 3-2, which belies the Swiss attacking prowess.

More to come during the 2nd half, but in the meantime, head over to the Castrol Index for in-running stats.

This is anything but the staid and boring opening to the tournament that many would have expected! After 20 minutes, possession is fairly even, witht he Swiss just edging it.

Busiest man on the field after 15 minutes is Switzerland’s Fernandes, having covered just shy of 2km already. The fastest man is the Czech Jankulovski, who has been clocked at 23.67 km/h according to the CPI. Pretty nifty that.

The Czechs are edging the corner count, free kicks are evenly spread.

The Swiss have definitely had the best of the chances, with Frei going through on Cech, only for the big keeper to spread himself well at the striker’s feet.

Roll on the rest of the game.

We’re here at last, and as millions across the country wind down for another easy Friday afternoon at the grindstone – myself and Tom are slaving away preparing for what we plan to be some hugely comprehensive coverage of the big tournament.

We’ve made our predictions (Italy and Holland), we’ve placed our bets and watched every football video we have been able to get our hands on since ‘Gazza’s Glory’ – God knows we’ve even been listening to Collpased Lung’s Eat my Goal, New Order’s World in Motion and Diamond Lights by Hoddle and Waddle in a loop –

So finally, we’re ready to go…

And here – to begin, are some statistical (powered by those champs at castrolindex.com) insights into tomorrow’s games… Starting with Switzerland vs. Czech Republic.

Now despite their home advantage, it seems that the bookies are pretty much split between the two nations – which to me is a surprise. Short of any real attacking flair – prime threat Alexander Frei rarely ventures wide to fetch the ball, instead preferring to wait in the middle for the perfect delivery – as this heat-map, captured in the 4-0 friendly reverse against Germany shows – it is vital for Swiss goalscoring that he gets some seriously good service.

Coupled with that, and in the same match – it seems that the notoriously ponderous Phillipe Senderos was the quickest player on the pitch. A worrying indictment for any defence having to cope with the pace of Milan Baros… A striker who statistically slipped into the top 10 of strikers during the qualifying campaign (quite by mistake we imagine?).

However – one might also be surprised to learn that Philippe Senderos and Ludovic Magnin made the top 20 defenders in qualifying, although the Czechs had Pospech, Jankulovski and Rozenhal in the same ‘shake-up’. Indeed, those Eastern Europeans ha players in the relative Top 20’s, with the Swiss only 6.

So get your money on the Czech – mate!

Jack predicts 2-0 to Czech Republic, whilst Tom predicts 2-1 to the same side.

Well – here’s a bit of glamorous fun for everyone who is descended from, associated with, or ever been to Europe – as the ‘Who Ate All the Pies’ website is running a ‘Miss Euro 2008’ – and pitching competitors against each other day by day. A feature we applaud, and will no doubt be checking back on to see our favourite gal to the final.

Today sees Eastern Europe’s finest in the form of Czech Republic take on Switzerland – and you can vote by following this link. I don’t know what the Castrol Performance Index would have to say on these statistics, but it would be favourable no doubt! euro2008statistics.com has picked Miss Czech Republic as today’s winner… See if you agree?

However, when scoping out this article – we were a tad worried that it may be perceived as a little sexist. So, in the interest of appealing to both genders – euro2008statistics has launched its own competition, rating football’s finest gentlemen. So, after chatting to every Swiss/Czech girl we knew (one in total), and operating our own straw poll – we’ve picked Czech stopper Petr Cech (top) and Swiss defender Valon Behrami (bottom).

Let us know your favourite, via the comment box below – and any men worried about voting on other guys and how hot they are – don’t worry now, it’s the naughties!

Here are the hunky chaps…. Who do you prefer?

9 days… That’s it! Just over a week until the showcase for international European football kicks off, and there’s clearly no better way to prepare yourself than with a free, downloadable wall chart that can be printed off, slapped on the wall – and diligently filled in until the final on the 29^th.

Who will win? Well my cheeky prediction is for a Netherlands vs. Germany final, with The Oranje coming out surprising winners – but to make up your own mind using the stats, check out castrolindex.com.

Meanwhile, come get your fill – you’re more than welcome to download our free Euro 2008 wallchart here, or by clicking on the picture below. Easily printable on A4 paper (so you can run off a load at work and no one will notice), it is complete with all the info you’ll need (date, times, venues etc) – as well as statistically the very best XI in qualifying.

Download it here… (or right click on the picture and select ’save link as’)

euro2008wallchart_uk.pdf

So Euro 2008 is just days away now (it really is!), and with everyone looking to get their pre-tournament favourites decided so they can support a winning team for once, bash the bookies and enjoy what promises to be a feast of football – those boffins at Castrol have come up with some rather interesting statistics showing the percentage likelihood of each national team, progressing to the quarter finals, semi finals, finals – and eventual winners of course!

Now we’re all pretty sure that Germany are the favourites for the tournament – after all, the punters got thoroughly behind their formidable squad (as low as 3/1 with some bookmakers), but some of Castrol’s other insights may surprise you. Blinded no doubt by Cristiano Ronaldo’s spectacular double winning season for Manchester United – Portugal are widely touted as 3^rd favourites – a confidence not backed up by the statistics, which see misfiring Portugal (who, let’s remember, finished behind Poland in their qualifying group) are given just 5% chance of snatching the tournament (the same percentage as Croatia and widely unfancied Switzerland).

Meanwhile, Romania their (quite frankly incredible) opening odds of 50/1 with some bookies, with statistics suggesting that they have more chance of tasting world-stage glory for the first time than world-champions Italy! No doubt scared off by their devastatingly tough group, The Tricolorii faithful should take solace in these statistics.

And whether or not you agree, there’s no doubt that time after time, the statistics have offered a look behind the misconceptions and vitriol of those who believe they know everything about football.

UEFA EURO 2008

Team - Progress to Quarter Final - Progress to Semi Final - Progress to Final - Win

Germany - 83% - 51% - 32% - 17%
Spain - 79% - 42% - 24% - 14%
Netherlands - 55% - 33% - 18% - 10%
Czech Republic - 63% - 36% - 20% - 10%
France - 54% - 32% - 17% - 10%
Romania - 49% - 27% - 14% - 7%
Italy - 42% - 23% - 12% - 6%
Switzerland - 51% - 25% - 12% - 5%
Portugal - 51% - 25% - 11% - 5%
Croatia - 55% - 26% - 11% - 5%
Sweden - 45% - 17% - 7% - 3%
Greece - 43% - 15% - 6% - 2%
Turkey - 34% - 14% - 6% - 2%
Poland - 37% - 14% - 5% - 2%
Russia - 33% - 10% - 3% - 1%
Austria - 26% - 9% - 3% - 1%

Of course, the biggest surprise of this table is that Austria have a 1% chance of lifting the trophy – I’d happily stake my kidneys against that eventuality – but this could make for some interesting food for thought, and we’ll see how well the percentages stack up in a little under two months time.