For the victorious Spanish team, the 2010 FIFA

World Cup in South Africa was a memorable one

for many reasons.

It was the first time Spain had ever won the tournament,

the first time a European nation had ever won a World Cup

outside of Europe and they were the first team to win a

World Cup after suffering a defeat in their opening game.

In doing so they became only the third nation in the history

of the game to hold the title of European and World

Champions at the same time.

Having analysed every game from the 2006 World Cup,

Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup, Prozone can offer a

unique insight into the style of play that had made the

current Spanish team so formidable.

SPAIN SPAIN SPAIN SPAIN –––– PASS PASS PASS PASS MASTERSMASTERSMASTERSMASTERS

Analysis of Euro 2008 showed Spain as the ‘pass masters’ of the

tournament and analysis of their performance at the 2010 World

Cup shows they continue to dominate play with the same ‘tika-taka’

style of football, commonly associated with FC Barcelona under

manager Pep Guardiola.

This domination of passing and possession can be seen in the

graphic below. The deep red circle that is seen in the centre circle of

Spain’s graphic (and missing from the other semi-finalists) indicates

that this domination is born out of consistent control of this key area

of the pitch.

Heat Maps: Passing Heat Maps: Passing Heat Maps: Passing Heat Maps: Passing –––– Semi Semi Semi Semi----finalistsfinalistsfinalistsfinalists

Heat Maps: Passing Heat Maps: Passing Heat Maps: Passing Heat Maps: Passing –––– Leading midfielders Leading midfielders Leading midfielders Leading midfielders

When you compare Spain’s passing graphic, and that of other

leading central midfielders with that of Spanish playmaker Xavi

Hernandez, you get an idea of the important role he plays for the

team and the part he plays in their continued dominance of the

centre of the pitch.

CONSISTENCYCONSISTENCYCONSISTENCYCONSISTENCY

The graph below shows that Spain consistently had the highest

average number of passes throughout both the 2006 and 2010

World Cup tournaments. In fact, their 2010 average of 527 passes per

game is almost 200 greater than the tournament average of 343.

And when you compare this to their nearest rivals (the semi and

quarter finalists) Spain’s average is still significantly higher.

As well as this higher number of passes, Spain’s average success rate

is the highest in the tournament at 89%. When you ally Spain’s

superior passing with the fact that they were also above the

tournament, quarter-finalist and semi-finalist averages for attacking

entries with the fact that they also had the highest average number

of crosses and penalty area entries, and it should come as little

surprise that they won the tournament.

ANALYSIS OF SPAINS ATTACKING PLAYANALYSIS OF SPAINS ATTACKING PLAYANALYSIS OF SPAINS ATTACKING PLAYANALYSIS OF SPAINS ATTACKING PLAY

What is perhaps surprising is that given their dominance of

possession and passing and the number of attacking opportunities

they created, the Spanish team only averaged 1.14 goals a game

throughout the tournament which is only marginally higher than the

tournament average and well below the semi-finalist average of 1.6

goals a game. Their solid defence (conceding just 2 goals in the

entire tournament), meant Spain’s low conversion rate was enough

to see them through each match. This is even more remarkable

when you take into account that they created more opportunities

and averaged an above tournament and semi-finalist average of 15.7

shots a game. The reason for the comparative lack of goals was their

well below average shooting accuracy of 45%, which was 5% less

than the tournament average and 12% below the other semi-finalists.

Prozone provided a professional analysis service to a number in

National Teams and analysed all 64 games during the 2010 FIFA

World Cup In South Africa. This article will examine our findings and

offer insights into every goal scored in the tournament. We’ll also

take a look at the performance of the tournament’s leading

goalscorers.

GOALS SCOREDGOALS SCOREDGOALS SCOREDGOALS SCORED

Of the 145 goals that were scored at the 2010 World Cup, 104 (71.7%)

were scored from open play and 41 (28.3%) coming from set pieces

(excluding penalties shootouts). As would be expected the highest

percentage of goals were scored with the right foot, while left footed

(23%) and headed goals (19%) were significantly less common.

ASSISTSASSISTSASSISTSASSISTS

When analysing the goal assists in this summer’s tournament one of

the key findings was that almost a quarter (22.8%) of the goals

scored came as a direct result of an open play cross. When you

compare this to the figures seen for the 2009/10 season in the

Premier League (19.4%) and Championship (15.8%), the importance

of wing play and crossing within the tournament is clear.

GOLDEN BOOTGOLDEN BOOTGOLDEN BOOTGOLDEN BOOT

This summer’s tournament saw David Villa, Diego Forlan, Thomas

Muller and Wesly Sneijder all score five goals. However, It was

Thomas Muller who received the Golden Boot because of the three

assists that went with his goals. The graph below shows both the

total number of shots and the number of shots on target and

therefore gives a deeper insight into the accuracy of the

tournament’s four leading scorers. As you’ll see Muller had far less

shots and less shots on target than any of the other leading scorers.

This would suggest a higher degree of accuracy and a higher

conversion rate of shots to goals. As can be seen in the graph below,

which shows the total number of shots per player and the conversion

rate.

These results concur with the decision to award Thomas Muller the

Golden Boot as he had the best conversion rate of the four top

scorers. Although he had the fewest shots, almost 40% of his

attempts resulted in a goal. This is nearly double his nearest rival,

Wesley Sneijder, who had a conversion rate of 20.8%.

INTERESTING FACTINTERESTING FACTINTERESTING FACTINTERESTING FACT!

While The Golden Ball Winner, Diego Forlan, became the first player

in World Cup history to score three goals in one tournament from

outside the penalty area, leading goalscorer and young player of the

tournament, Thomas Muller, scored all of his five goals from inside

the penalty area!