World Cup 2010
The Castrol Performance analysis suggests that we are in for a fantastic World Cup quater final game between Brazil and Holland, with the South Americans posing most threat from their attacking defenders and the Europeans relying on pacey counter attacking football.
So far in the World Cup 2010 finals, Brazil’s defenders have been attacking more than those of any other side, with full-back Maicon making more touches in the opposition half than any other defender.
Indeed, the Internazionale defender has made an impressive 59% of his touches in the opponent’s half. Joining Maicon in the top five in this ranking is team-mate and fellow full-back Michel Bastos while Spain’s Gerard Pique (69) is the only centre-half in the tournament to make more touches in the opposition half than Brazil’s captain Lucio (65).
Maicon has also created nine goal-scoring chances so far, a tournament-high for a defender and with he and fellow centre-half Juan both scoring in the tournament already, the Dutch midfielders and indeed forwards will need to do their fair share of tracking back if they are to make it to the last four.
On the other hand Holland have been the most dangerous counter-attacking side in the 2010 FIFA World Cup so far, netting a joint-high two goals from fast breaks while also firing in a tournament-high seven shots following fast breaks.
While it is a far cry from the total football demonstrated by the Dutch in the seventies this ability to turn defence into attack led to goals against Cameroon, courtesy of substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s second-half strike and Arjen Robben’s superb strike against Slovakia.
Robben’s goal came after a Slovakia attack was nullified by the Dutch defence before playmaker Wesley Sneijder played a superb long ball to the Bayern winger who cut inside before firing home past Ján Mucha in the Slovakian goal.
With the likes of Maicon, Lucio and Bastos all enjoying regular excursions forward, counter-attacking play may well be the Netherlands’ best hope of success against the South American giants.
The table below compares the two playmakers in midfield, Kaka and Sneijder showing their contribution to their relative teams so far in the competition.
Data supplied by Castrol Performance.
Kaka v Sneijder
| Player | Kaka | Sneijder |
| Team | Brazil | Netherlands |
| Appearances | 3 | 4 |
| Starts | 3 | 4 |
| Minutes On Pitch | 247 | 352 |
| Goal Attempts | ||
| Goals | 0 | 2 |
| Shots On Target | 2 | 4 |
| Shots Off Target | 2 | 4 |
| Shooting Accuracy | 50% | 50% |
| Chance Conversion | 0% | 25% |
| Passing | ||
| Touches per game | 55 | 65.8 |
| Goal Assists | 3 | 1 |
| Chances created | 4 | 7 |
| Pass Completion % | 78% | 82% |
| Discipline | ||
| Fouls conceded | 5 | 8 |
| Fouls won | 8 | 7 |
| Offside | 0 | 2 |
| Yellow Cards | 1 | 0 |
| Red Cards | 1 | 0 |
1 comment so far
1 Galvin Green // Jul 12, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I think that that game was very exciting and Brazil were very unlucky to lose there lead and go out, they played very well but Holland matched them in every way possible. Brazil were one of the contenders to win the tournament along with Spain, Argentina and Germany but they did not see the likes of Holland coming through. Kaka didn’t have the best World Cup but he did play well, this wasn’t recognised because other unknown players suck as Ozil, Vittek, Mueller and Higuain had superb games but Sneijder was amazing, one of the best passers of the ball along with Xavi and also a great goal scorer. Xavi couldnt match him in this way as Xavi had no more than 5 shots but Sneijder had near on 20 and has scored more goals than him aswell. Xavi has scored none.