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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?
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
wiredchop
leonfoster
theclownshoes
David Curtis
stevehaake
drdavidjames
hdriscoll
joemcafield
engsportguest
sheffieldbullet
