Day Nine: 19/6/2010

Cameroon lose again as Australia scrape a draw

First, some information on the ages of all the card receivers in World Cup matches:

There have been 103 cards given out so far in this World Cup. The oldest player to get a card is 34-year-old Australian Craig MOORE, who isn't signed up for any team - in fact he is one of only three players in this World Cup who has no national league team [Fifa.com]. He has got two yellow cards in two separate matches, so he misses Australia's final game against Ghana.
The youngest player is Nigeria's Lukman HARUNA, aged just 19. Haruna plays for Monaco, in France.
The median age for a card receiver is 25, with LQ 23, and UQ 29 (in case there are any statistics geeks out there). The mean age is 26 years.
More stats on cards tomorrow!


Now, there were three more football matches today. Japan played well against the Netherlands, but a goal for Wesley SNEIDJER (pronounced 'Snider') gave the Netherlands three points.

Next, Ghana played previous losers Australia, who are in only their third World Cup, having previously qualified in 2006 and 1974. In 2006, Australia qualified for the final 16, but can they do the same this time? They only have a single point, but Germany's bad game yesterday means they could still qualify - Ghana is top of the group with only four points. Ghana's GYAN scored his second goal of the World Cup, and again from a penalty, making him equal second in the adidas Golden Boot competition. However, getting his goals in two separate games gives him an edge over Uruguay's Forlan.

Finally, Cameroon played Denmark. They took the lead early on, but Denmark came back to win 2-1. This is the first time Denmark have ever made a comeback from losing to win a group stages game in the World Cup!

I'm so glad FIFA is around to compare statistics with. Otherwise I would be making terrible mistakes! Actually, some of the card averages for the past few days may have been wrong. However, here's the actual results:

Goals per game: Mean - 1.88, Median - 2, Mode - 1,2, Range - 5
Cards per game: Mean - 3.96, Median - 4, Mode - 3,5, Range - 8

Four birthdays tomorrow. I'll probably edit them in tomorrow when FIFA updates their website, because I lost all the birthday boy details.

Day Eight: 18/6/2010

Disappointment all around, except in America

Well, there's been some pathetic football played today. Like France yesterday, Germany and England were not in form. The USA also started off slowly before fighting back to a fantastic 2-2 draw. In the words of @billybragg: "USA continue their winning streak with a brilliant 2-2 victory over Slovenia".

Let's start with the promised goal stats. So far in the tournament, 43 goals have been scored.
3 were from penalties, 2 were own goals, 10 were from set pieces (although Fifa hasn't classified one of Greece's, which was from a corner, so that means 11).

The Germany-Serbia match was definitely the roughest game so far, with nine yellow cards - two of which went to Miroslav KLOSE, who had scored against Australia. Serbia managed to score, and despite giving away a penalty, Lukas PODOLSKI was unable to score. Usually a fantastic team, this is the first match Germany have lost in the group stages since 1986, in a match against Denmark. For Serbia, it's their first win in a World Cup since beating the USA in 1998.
So let's look at our card-happy referee, Spaniard Alberto UNDIANO. Nine cards isn't particularly large for him; he also gave 10 yellow cards in the semi-final of the UEFA U21 Championship in 2006. Just look at his record. He has an average of 7 cards per game, and his Wikipedia page was updated within seconds of the match ending.

Next up was a much better game. America played Slovenia to a 2-2 draw. Serbia were two goals ahead in the first half, but fantastic play from the USA brought them level again in the second. The USA now have eighteen World Cup group matches in a row without a clean sheet, which is not a good record for number one goalkeeper Tim Howard. It's not just Tim Howard, though. The last time they did so was back in 1950, 60 years ago, when they had a 1-0 victory over England.
Interestingly, if Slovenia had won, they would have been the first team to guarantee qualification to the group stages. Now, that honour will go somewhere else. Slovenia are ranked 25 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola world rankings, while the USA are 14. The lowest-ranked team in the Cup are automatic-qualifiers South Africa at 85, while New Zealand just above them are the 78th best team in the world.

Ranked 8th in the world, England should have done better tonight against Algeria. They stumbled all over the pitch, and Fabio CAPELLO was having a very bad birthday. To be fair, so was Algerian BELHADJ, but as a top seeded team, England should have done better. But it seems Argentina are the only top team doing well so far.

Goals per game: Mean - 1.87, Median - 2, Mode – 1,2, Range - 5
Cards per game: Mean – 3.97, Median – 4, Mode – 3, Range - 8

Birthday: Tomorrow, 19th June, is the birthday of Brazilian KLEBERSON. Being a footballer for Brazil means he has enough to celebrate about, and his team aren't playing. Happy 31st birthday!

Day Seven: 17/6/2010

Lots of numbers and surprises!

There are loads of different exciting statistics about today that I've picked up from Fifa and listening to the BBC and ITV. Here are today's top stats:

• Hernandez scores the 2,100th goal in World Cup history! There have only been 18 World Cups, so that's an average (mean) of 117 goals per tournament.
  
• Higuain scores the first hat-trick in a World Cup since 2002, and becomes the top scorer in the 2010 World Cup. Uruguay's Diego Forlan only held onto that title for one day, when he scored twice yesterday.
  
• Greece wins their first ever World Cup finals game, and it's the first time they've scored in a finals too! According to Fifa, they took 404 minutes of World Cup gameplay to score their first goal.
  
• Less happily, South Korean PARK Chu Young scores the second own goal of the tournament.
  
• Sani KAITA of Nigeria receives the third straight red card of the tournament after a stupid kick at a Greek player. Nigeria had been ahead, but went on to lose 2-1.
  
• Mexican BLANCO scores the third penalty goal of the tournament, and helps to damage France's chances of qualifying. France now have to defeat South Africa - and Mexico's game against Uruguay cannot end in a draw - for them to qualify.
  
• The total distance run so far in the World Cup by all players is 4,144,261 metres, or 207,213 metres on average per game. In total that is 103.4 times around the Equator!
  
• Nigeria is the only team in the World Cup to take all its members from leagues outside the country. In other words, no Nigerian team members usually play in Nigeria.

It's the end of the first week of the world cup. In total, 20 games have been played. 38 goals have been scored in those games, and a shocking 75 cards shown to players, with six sendings-off.

The English league had provided the most scorers (8, if you include Mexican Javier HERNANDEZ who is transferring to Manchester United), but only players from La Liga in Spain – Uruguay's Diego FORLAN and Argentina's Gonzalo HIGUAIN, have scored more than one goal so far.

Tomorrow, Algeria's Nadir BELHADJ will be 28 years old, and playing against England. Well, I don't want to wish him an unhappy birthday, but I am English...

The scariest thing about this World Cup is that for the first time, several players are younger than me. That's a statistic that makes you realise you're growing up. Here are some less-scary stats:

Goals per game: Mean – 1.9, Median – 2, Mode – 2, Range – 5
Cards per game: Mean – 3.75, Median – 3.5, Mode – 3, Range – 6

Day Six: 16/6/2010

Disappointment for South Africa

Here's some time news for goals:

Latest goal: 95 (90+5') minutes – Alvaro PEREIRA (Uruguay) against South Africa
Earliest goal: 4 minutes – Stephen GERRARD (England) against USA
Mean time to score: 53 minutes
Median Time: 53.5 minutes (same as mean)
Lower Quartile: 36.5 minutes
Upper Quartile: 79 minutes

In other words: Most goals are scored towards the end of the first half, but during most of the second half.


Onto the day's news. Chile unsurprisingly beat Honduras 1-0 after a first-half goal. Their scorer was Jean BEAUSEJOUR, in minute 34 (so a fast goal according to the stats). He's 26 years old, and plays for a Mexican team called America. For a striker, he's a rubbish goalscorer, having only taken 2 goals in 28 international matches. There were three yellow cards, and two of those also went to Chile. So far, only three teams have managed to avoid getting any cards – both Korean teams and Spain.

Talking of Spain, they played well against Switzerland, but were shocked when their weaker opponents scored against them. Spain were unable to return the favour, so Swiss player Gelson FERNANDES who scored is probably especially jubilant. Spain avoided any yellow cards, but Switzerland picked up four, including one for their goalkeeper Diego BENAGLIO, breaking the goalkeepers' run of good behaviour this tournament.

But it was South African goalie Itumeleng KHUNE who really ruined the goalies' profiles as he gained a straight red card for his conduct in their game against Uruguay. Finally we had a player who scored two goals, as well-known Diego FORLAN scored in the 23rd minute, and then with a penalty in the 80th minute. This makes him the current top scorer in the 2010 World Cup.

Goals per game: Mean – 1.647, Median – 2, Mode – 1,2, Range - 4
Cards per game: Mean – 3.47, Median – 3, Mode – 3, Range – 6

Tomorrow, we see France take on Mexico (and hopefully play better) as a David-and-Goliath battle takes place in the form of Argentina on South Korea. Data to come on the country the goalscorers play in.

PS: Each day of the weak I'm going to release different data. Monday: Cards and goals of the different positions. Tuesday: Ages of goalscorers. Wednesday: Times of goals in matches. Thursday: Countries that goalscorers usually play in. Friday: How many own goals/penalties/other goals. Saturday: Ages of card receivers. Sunday: Card statistics (yellows/two yellows/reds).

Day Five: 15/6/2010

North Korea battle well against Brazil!

Some info on the ages of goalscorers:

Oldest scorer: 33 years, 7 months, 26 days – JI Yun Nam (North Korea) against Brazil
Youngest scorer: 20 years, 9 months, 0 days – Thomas MUELLER (Germany) against Australia
Mean age: 27.5
Mode age: 29 (5 players)
Range: 13

Interestingly, nobody has scored more than one goal yet. Let's hope that changes soon! Tomorrow: info on the times the goals were scored during the game.

So today we had New Zealand verses Slovakia (two teams lucky that there's only one good team in their group – Italy – so they have a chance of going through). This game resulted in a draw, and New Zealand defender Winston REID made the best use of injury time to score a goal in the 93rd minute. Reid is the second-youngest goalscorer, aged 21. Between him and the next-youngest is a gap of about three years. Slovakia's Robert VITTEK, who plays his football in Turkey, had scored in the 50th minute. He's 28 – which fits the goalscorer profile better!

Next up was the Ivory Coast, playing Portugal. You'd think Portugal would win, but like many other supposedly-good teams this tournament, they failed to impress, only getting a 0-0 draw with the African side. There were three yellow cards in this game, including one for Christiano RONALDO, who's well known for his diving – and his winking!

Finally, the North Koreans won the hearts of the world as they played against Brazil. Brazil will always be one of the best teams, having never failed to qualify for a world cup, and won it five times as well, most recently in 1998. They scored two goals and gained a yellow card in a clean game, but North Korea managed to hold back Brazil for the entirety of the first half, and Korean defender JI Yun-Nam, the oldest scorer in the World Cup so far, got a last minute goal to show just how good their team are. I may not approve of the country's government, but I care for the players. I was especially moved by JONG Tae-Se's passion.

Goals per game: Mean- 1.571, Median – 1.5, Mode – 1,2, Range - 4
Cards per game: Mean – 3.643, Median – 3, Mode – 2,3,6, Range – 6

Games seem to be getting cleaner, and the goals more interesting. Tomorrow is the sixth day of the tournament. Group H round off the first matches, and South Africa play Uruguay in their second games.

Day Four: 14/6/2010

Lots of shocks and good football

Before I begin the day's statistics, here is some info on goals and cards:

Position	Goals	Cards
Goalkeeper	0	0
Defender	5 (and one own goal)	13 (one sent off)
Midfielder	8	18 (one sent off)
Striker	5	8 (two sent off)

So the strikers have been slacking off so far in the goalscoring department, but far too violent in their gameplay. However, assuming a 4-4-2 system, the goalies have done well in the card department. Midfielders have more than their fair share.

You'll notice that we've had our first own goal in the tournament. This was an unfortunate result of Danish defender Daniel AGGER being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ball struck his back and went sailing into the goal. Expensive Liverpool player Agger is 25 years old; by expensive, I mean that Liverpool paid more for him than any other defender on their team.
The Netherlands' first real goal was from another Liverpool player, Dirk KUYT. Dirk is just shy of his 30th birthday, and is unusual in that he doesn't clash with the orange shirts his team wears!

The second game of the day was also a shock. In a fairly clean game with only one yellow card apiece, Japan's HONDA Keisuke scored against an unlucky Cameroon on the day after his 24th birthday. Even Cameroon's best-known player Samuel ETO'O was unable to score. 29 year old Eto'o has scored 42 goals in 93 international games, which is just under one every two games. Hopefully this means he won't disappoint in Cameroon's next game.

Finally, Italy played Paraguay. Again, the teams shared a yellow apiece to go with their 1-1 draw. Daniele DE ROSSI scored for Italy after going into the second half a goal down thanks to a lucky shot from Paraguay's Antolin ALCARAZ.

Goals per game: Mean – 1.545, Median – 1, Mode – 1, Range – 4
Cards per game: Mean – 4, Median – 4, Mode – 2,6, Range – 6

Day Three: 13/6/2010

Germany liven things up

Finally, a team that lives up to expectations! Germany totally thrashed their weak Australian opponents. We also had our second sending-off of the tournament, with Algerian substitute Abdelkader GHEZZAL receiving two yellow cards.

In the first match, Slovenia scraped a 1-0 win against Algeria to go top of Group C thanks to the England-USA draw yesterday. Their goalscorer Robert KOREN deservedly got man-of-the match (I voted for him - you can vote for the man of the match if you watch the commentary at fifa's website). He's the team captain at 29 years of age, and plays for West Bromwich Albion – a good, solid West Midlands team. This is his fifth international goal.
The sent-off Algerian Ghezzal is younger, at 25 years old, and plays in Italy. He's had 20 international caps so far. He was actually born in France, like several other Algeria squad members. In total there were five yellow cards given out in the game.

The second match was Serbia against Ghana. The African side just scraped a win, with goalscorer Asamoah GYAN scoring from a penalty received after one of the Serbian players handballed in the penalty area. Surprisingly the first forward to score in the tournament, he has 20 international goals to his 24 years, and plays in France.
Serbian send-off Aleksandar LUKOVIC hasn't scored any international goals, which isn't surprising as he's a defender, and he's 27 years old. There were six yellows in the game, four of which were received by Serbia.

Finally, there was Germany's brilliant match against Australia that brought some life to the tournament. We also had our first straight red card of the tournament, going to Australia. All four of the German goals were scored by different players, including single-named substitute CACAU, who replaced goalscorer Miroslav KLOSE. Unfortunately, Cacau was also one of two Germans to receive a yellow card, so it was a mixed game for him – all 22 minutes he was on the pitch! (Australia got three yellow cards to go with Tim CAHILL's red)

Goals per game: Mean – 1.625, Median – 2, Mode – 1,2, Range - 4
Cards per game: Mean – 4.625, Median – 5.5, Mode – 6, Range - 6

A rough tournament with few goals so far. Let's hope it improves tomorrow!