World Cup Final Network Analysis

July 15th, 2006 | by: Daryl |

Some clever people at FAS.research took a break from business network analysis to put together this graphical representation of the World Cup final.

The image “shows the passes from every player to those three team-mates he passes to most frequently.” The size of a players “node” indicates how often he was involved, the strength of the arc indicates how often the pass was made.

Looking at this representation, you can see how often France used their full-backs, why Simone Perrotta was substituted, and how much of Italy’s play went through Andrea Pirlo.

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nicko

this is pretty cool, one should not that the french wing backs were involved as an attacking force whereas the italian ones weren’t. Also its clear why Henry found it hard to get the ball when only Zizou was passing to him and often he was just giving the ball back…
roger

it would also have been interesting to see, for both sides, which players intercepted the ball from the opposing team and who messed up his passes by giving it to the opposition.
Dave Hamilton

So how come Barthez is “bigger” than Buffon? Does that mean his teammates kicked the ball back to him to set another attack in motion, or was he just shot on more? Geez, I hope Barthez retires. If Coupet had been in there, we might have had another champion. Did Barthez even lay a glove on anything/

Dave hamildav@yahoo.com
Max

Pretty cool. As many of us italians noted, Totti has been totally useless in this as in most other matches.
skillz

I agree, the worst is when Totti sticks his thumb in his mouth like a baby after he scores a goal.
russ

Italy by far the better, more intelligent team. Had more players involved in goal opportunities.How many goals did France score in total? Too much reliance on Henry/Zidane.Both out of the game when most needed…the better,smarter team won !
ventura resident

@ Russ Yaaaaaaaaaaawn. Wake up.
Joseph from Malta

slillz, maybe you need some am=nalysis skills….

Totti just had a baby, & dedicated the goal to him; similar to when Bebeto of Brazil scored vs. the USA during the USA94 World Cup.

Bebeto in that case mimicked a cradling motion, to celebreate his then newborn.

Live & learn, skillz!
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skillz

Thats fine, its just funny how he has the same reaction when he dives… Cries like a baby.
nicko

oh skillz don’t you lean? he was tributing his dive to his child just like his goal. Actually just be glad he didn’t do the actor thing and tribute it to his mother – nobody wanted to witness Totti simulate that!
http://poland.worldcupblog.org Os Davis

This is amazing, the closest thing imaginable to a proper box score in football. A chart like this should be included in every post-game match analysis. Has FIFA heard about this?
Adam Rupolo

Yeah I like this, it’s pretty kool. Although the arrows are pretty hard to follow :-P