07-01-2014, 01:36 AM
Some figures are particularly surprising. Which team committed the most fouls in the group stage? Honduras, right? Wrong. Holland, free-flowing, slick-attacking, butter-wouldn’t-melt Holland, were the dirtiest team in the group stages in terms of fouls committed with 68. Honduras, in contrast, committed only 46
Lies, damned lies and World Cup 2014 group-stage statistics | John Ashdown | Football | The Guardian
Italy and Spain are right at the top of the tables for possession (61.4% and 57.6%), pass success rate (85% and 82%) and total passes (2071 and 1859) yet they will watch the last 16 from home, while Algeria completed only 68% of their passes and attempted more than 800 fewer than Spain and 600 fewer than the Azzurri but still have a last-16 tie with Germany to look forward to. And perhaps most telling of all, Holland stormed through their “group of death” despite having a total of only 39.5% of the possession – only bettered (if that is the correct word) by Iran’s measly 29.7%.
Lies, damned lies and World Cup 2014 group-stage statistics | John Ashdown | Football | The Guardian
Holland are one of the tournament favourites after blitzing reigning champions Spain 5-1 and beating Chile 2-0 but they will not want to take Sunday’s last-16 match against Mexico to a shootout. The reason? Holland have won just one of their five tournament shootouts, a win percentage of 20%. Only England, with their win percentage of 14% (one win in seven), have a worse record from 12 yards. Holland’s lowest point from the spot came at the Amsterdam Arena, in their Euro 2000 semi-final against Italy. They managed to miss five penalties in the same game, including two in normal time.