Greece

Two different nationalities, two different ways of playing the beautiful game, two sets of strikers. And two very different looking Castrol Index heat maps. But the same result as both players have scored - Charisteas getting the first of the game, and Guiza the last. Arguably Guiza is the lazier of the two, hanging around Luca Toni-like in the middle of the box waiting for the ball to come to him, while Charisteas has taken a leaf out of van Nistelrooy’s book and has been coming deeper to collect the ball. Two different styles, same result. Which is better? In the words of a famous Geordie who’s voice we hear every summer - you decide.

Stats powere by Castrolindex.com

The Spanish second XI is obviously out to impress coach Aragones ahead of the Quarter Final, as they have nearly covered every single blade of grass. A look at the team’s heat map from the Castrol Index after 30 minutes shows that they have played in every corner of the ground, ploughed the wings and destroyed the centre of the pitch. Imagine what it would have been like with the first team. That said, they haven’t made fools of the Greeks…yet.

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With Spain already comfortably through to the next stage of the tournament, and Greece heading home after this match, there is the distinct possibility that the squad players could get a run out tonight, and the stars get to rest on the bench. One of the incoming players should be Cesc Fabregas, who in his brief periods of play so far has had a goal, an assist and has run his little heart out for his country. A quick glance at his Castrol Index heat map below for the 32 minutes he played against Sweden shows that he covered virtually every area of the pitch, particularly midfield.

One man hoping to put himself in the shop window (if selected tonight for the Greek side) is Vassilis Torosidis, the flying Olympiakos player. Already clocked as the fifth fastest man at the tournament (well, joint fourth actually with Turkey’s Nihat Kahveci at 31.11 km/h), he’ll be looking to prove himself a worthy transfer target for the European managers watching. What? The tournament’s about the football, not the deals? Someone should have a word with Big Phil….

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Proof once again that it isn’t just the eyes of Europe that are glued (well, kind of, unless it’s Greece vs. Russia, which we watched out of politeness) to the current tournament being played out in Austria and Switzerland, we bring you news and opinion this fine morning from around the world.

Du Guodong, the editor of China View, brings us news that Leo Beenhakker has refused to step down as national coach of Poland following his team’s frankly lacklustre performance at Euro 2008. His extended contract saw his job safe until 2010, but that was signed before the tournament, and rumours abound that he might be receiving a Polish equivalent of a P45 before long.

The blog of The World Game, Australian-based sports show, reports that Italian coach Donadoni is expecting the Netherlands to do the Azzurri a favour and defeat Romania tonight, allowing his side to go through. They report that Donadoni has said if he was to put himself in a Dutch player’s boots, he wouldn’t want to be asked to lose against Romania, just to prevent Italy or France going through, going as far as to say he would be ‘humiliated’.

Sulmaan Ahmad, from Goal.com, holds a different view however. He reckons that Donadoni is going to make ‘wholesale changes’ to his side tonight, which could gift the French an easy ride through to the next round. This replay of the World Cup final revolves around the result in the other game, but literally any outcome is still possible, including a penalty shootout. Sulmaan thinks the ‘bragging rights’ for this one are too big to see a dull 0-0 played out, so roll on the goalfest!

Read the small print! 2010! 10, I said!

A second half not without incident, but very lame in terms of excitement and action. A result predicted earlier by yours truly, although admittedly I hedged my bets a little bit by saying I wouldn’t know who would get the goal. Still, both results in a day, I’m on fire!

Back to the stats, and those good people at the Castrol Index have provided us with the evidence we needed to show that the Greek midfield just didn’t deliver the goods when it came to the crunch. When you compare the amount of ground they covered per man it shows that the hard yards just didn’t get put in. The 28427m covered by the 3 man Greek mid line works out at 9475.6m per man. The 64153m by the 5 men of Russia equals 12830.6! and the extra 3km each really showed when it came down to it. Look at the heat maps, and the result, and the fact that Greece are out, and tell me the tactics were right. You can’t.

OK, so these heat maps might not *quite* match up due to the formations that the twp teams are playing (Russia with one man up front, Greece with two), but even so, just look at the difference in the areas the two front lines are covering. Now, the Russians have been more successful, but you can’t fault the Greeks for trying. Really, you can’t. Despite the flak they’ll take for being negative, you can’t argue with the stats from the CPI, and they clearly show that Greece really are trying. Let’s see if it pays off in the second half.

Was that a penalty? Hmmmm, looked like a good shout to me - and with Russia making all the running so far in the first 15 minutes of this Group D clash, the familiar pattern of the Greeks sitting back and soaking up pressure seems to be happening again. A thought that is backed up by the statistics on the Castrol Index even after 15 minutes. Just take a look at the heat maps of the Russian midfield and the Greek defence. Greece are sitting way back and not pushing forward anywhere, let alone down the flanks, while Russia are covering the pitch in the midfield but mostly pushing on.