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The host nation for the 2022 World Cup will be Qatar, a desert country where temperatures in June and July can reach 50 °C. I find it hard to even imagine that level of heat, let alone play football in it! The extreme temperatures are of obvious concern. So, alternative measures are being considered to ensure games at this tournament are not played at extremely high temperatures. These include playing in the winter or more likely building climate controlled stadiums. At present it looks as though 5 brand new climate controlled stadiums will be built. The primary concern is the detrimental affect of extreme heat on human performance. To a lesser extent, temperature is also likely to effect the physical properties of the ball, changing the speed a player can kick it. This blog will explain the effect of temperature on soccer ball dynamics.
Artist's impression of the Lusail Iconic Stadium
Well, it’s all over. And what an amazing day it was. It was exhausting trying to work out who was staying up and what the scenarios were. Here is what happened drawn as a polar time plot of the 5 teams that were in danger of relegation.
Figure 1. 1st Half of Survival Sunday: polar chart of the league table . Teams are identified by their colours with 19th place at the inside and 15th place at the outside. The numbers on the outside indicate minutes and the dotted line shows the relegation zone. (Tip - follow individual teams around the circle to see how they fared during the half.)
Survival Sunday is almost upon us and my earlier post on the number of scenarios appears to have stirred up feelings – see The Premier League: predicting who will go down (and the strange case of scenario no. 55). To recap, there are 5 teams separated by only one point who could all get relegated to the Championship. I calculated that there are 81 possible scenarios based on a simple win, draw or lose. I then worked out the percentage of the scenarios in which the teams went down (see Figure 1 below) such that overall the chances of relegation are Rovers 11%, Wolves 24%, Birmingham 48%, Blackpool 58%, and Wigan 67%.
The main criticism of this approach was that it didn’t take into account goal difference or the number of goals scored. In particular, it was easy to point out that Wigan, say, could significantly improve their chances by scoring a couple of goals at demoralised Stoke. So I decided to have a look at potential scores in the games on Sunday to answer the basic question:
What does my team have to do to escape relegation?
Figure 1. The chances of relegation based upon the number of scenarios out of 81 in which the team goes down.
As a Blackburn Rovers season ticket holder I can’t believe that it’s come down to the last game of the season. By 5.45pm on Sunday 22nd May 2011, two of five teams currently separated by only a single point will have been relegated from the Premier league (Table 1). Comments from mates like “you’ll be safe” or “you’re too good to go down” don”t help when it comes down to a single game that can make or break your season. So what are the chances of Blackburn – or indeed any of the bottom teams – joining West Ham by going down on Sunday?
- Table1. The Premier League Table 2010/11.
We have known for quite some time here at Sheffield Hallam University the value of using sport to teach science. Sport is ideal for grabbing people’s attention and getting them interested in science, engineering and technology. We often do public lectures which are always packed out by people interested in sport who also want to know more about the science. We explain complex scientific problems and the hard bit is usually trying to stop the questions at the end. If you’re thinking about using sport to teach science (especially as the Olympics approaches) then here are some resources that might float your boat.
Enjoy!
Sports Lab: our very own interactive exhibit in Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum on the science behind the medals.
Sony and the All England Lawn Tennis Club have signed a deal to allow TV viewers to watch Wimbledon in 3D. Along with their partners SuperVision Media, Sony will use their special filming techniques to capture and broadcast live in 3D. Read the rest of this entry »
Ok, I admit it – I’m a stats nerd. I love nothing better than perusing the league tables in the back pages of the Sunday papers, so imagine my delight when Prozone offered me the chance to analyse their data from the 48 games of the Group Stages of the 2010 World Cup.
In a previous article in the New Scientist prior to the start of the World Cup (Haake and Choppin (2010), June 5, 35-37) and on this site (“Does altitude affect football tactics“) we suggested that altitude might have an effect on tactics, and in particular on shots from inside and outside the box. The only data available at that time however was for the 8 World Cup qualifying games for Mexico – including those at Mexico City at 2,200 m.
The results showed that the number of shots from outside the box increased with altitude at the expense of those from inside the box. The question is, has the same happened at the World Cup?
Come on FIFA – get a grip! A clear refereeing mistake like the one that denied the goal by Lampard (see the video if you missed it) must surely give the ruling body of international football the courage to implement video technology. Poor rules lead to poor decisions and in the case of goal line technology FIFA have simply got it wrong.
Figure 1. Lampard's goal against Germany clearly crosses the line.
It seems that everyone has something to say about the Jabulani. As the official ball for the 2010 World Cup, it has a lot to live up to, but seems to be attracting more criticism than jubilation.
It is now a World Cup tradition that the new ball should be roundly slated before the tournament begins but the bad press for the Jabulani failed to cease once the matches got underway. This was no doubt assisted by a slew of lacklustre performances as players and coaches looked for something to blame. But with the ball being described as ‘horrible‘, ‘supernatural’ and even ‘impossible‘, might there may be a little more at work than mere sour grapes?
.jpg "The Adidas Jabulani Ball")
- The Jabulani ball hasn’t been well received
On 4th December 2009 the new ball for the World Cup in South Africa was unveiled. The product of years of research and development, the ‘Jabulani‘ was the most highly engineered football the world had ever seen. Prior to the launch adidas had even gone to the extent of testing the ball in the Bundesliga, to highlight any potential problems. Yet despite extensive laboratory and field testing the ball has faced heavy criticism from a number of the world’s top players, such as Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar and Italian striker Giampaolo Pazzini. England goalkeeper David James has even been quoted as describing the ball as ‘dreadful’ and ‘horrible’.
So, what has gone wrong, why is the most advanced football to date still facing criticsm from the top players?
It might be possible to partly answer to this question by delving into the history of World Cup footballs.
wiredchop
leonfoster
theclownshoes
David Curtis
stevehaake
drdavidjames
hdriscoll
joemcafield
engsportguest
sheffieldbullet
