The below is taken from the Voetbal International guide for the upcoming World Cup. It does not conclusively show players are good or bad, and of course things as the draw/route have an effect, but - if anything - players are not good or bad in everything they do. It's peculiar they didn't print the 'chances created' or 'clear-cut chances' thing since some domestic players rank well in there. Both absentees Italy and Netherlands are among the five best performing teams in the World Cup during the past 50 years, and 3rd and 8th in the all-time table. --------- Miroslav Klose is not only the all-time topscorer (16 goals, 5 in the KO stages) but also the player with the most fouls in history. Zmuda, Amoros, Cafu and Matthaus are the others in the top five. Wim Rijsbergen has the most in a single tournament. He's closely rivaled by another representative of a newcomer challenging the established cartel: Manuel Amoros. Diego Maradona - who else - attempted and completed the most dribbles since 1966. It delivered him 8 goals and 8 assists (7 and 7 excluding 'banned' 1994). For European players Arjen Robben has this honor (6 goals and 6 assists), the only European above the 100 barrier. The best in a single World Cup game (counted backwards to a 90 minutes rate) is Jay-Jay Okocha, closely followed by Jairzinho and Johan Cruijff. Okocha has also the 2nd highest success percentage within a World Cup tournament (minimum 20 dribbles), behind Balakov in the same tournament of 1994. Other notable dribblers (depending on how it's framed, many of the earlier mentioned rank high in multiple perspectives) are Tigana, Vazquez, Joaquin, Clodoaldo, Donadoni, Letchkov, Beckenbauer, Rivellino, Messi, Kempes, Alexis Sanchez and Grabowski. Maradona won more free kicks than anyone else (Jairzinho, Ortega, Hagi and Baggio also masters in this), but also lost the ball more often than anyone else (fouls not included in the number). Maldini, Dunga, Cafu and Overath also lost many balls in a legit manner. At a single World Cup the winger Causio stands out (in 1978) followed by Maradona in 1990 and 1986. Eusebio launched the most shots at a single World Cup. He's followed by Riva, Deyna, Kempes and Romario. Eusebio has also the most shots on target at a single World Cup. He's followed by Romario, Deyna, Gerd Muller and Ronaldo. Finally, Eusebio vacates the whole podium for 'most shots in a single game' and two of the three places for 'most shots on target in a single game' (Maradona against Hungary in 1982 is the other one). Across all tournaments Ronaldo has the most shots (followed by Riva and Beckenbauer) and the most shots on target. No player made more passes and more passes in a single tournament as Carlos Dunga. He also vacates three of the top five places for 'within a single match'. The highest pass accuracy (minimum 500 passes) is registered by Popescu, very narrowly ahead of Busquets (Xavi, Alemao and Bossis the rest). For a single match (min 50 passes) Breitner (in 1974), Demichelis, Popescu, Scholes, Riquelme and Gilberto Silva are the guys to look at. Oddly, the lowest pass accuracy since 1966 (min 500 passes) was by Gheorghe Hagi. Schneider, Kuijt, Cueto and Hierro are the others in the top 5. Hagi in 1994 has also the 2nd lowest pass accuracy in a single tournament (min 250 passes, excluding goalkeepers) behind... Diego Maradona in 1990. Despite not playing in 1966 and 1970, Dino Zoff is the goalkeeper with the most saves. He's 5 saves ahead of Zubizarreta. Tim Howard had the most in a single game, against Belgium in 2014. 'Saves' by outfield players: Maradona holds the record with 7 (this excludes the ones against England and USSR). There he is again: Carlos Dunga. No player made more tackles than him at a single tournament and no player did more since 1966. Matthaus, Maldini ("if I tackle I make a mistake"), Vogts and Zmuda complete the top 5. Dunga had even the most in a single match; Gattuso has the same number but did it over 120 minutes (against France in 2006). Cafu has attempted the most crosses since 1966. Vercauteren, Lato, Maradona and Roberto Carlos are the others in the top 5. ------------------- Feel free to add things (from other guides?) or give feedback and/or questions. The guide has some excellent stuff and trivia.
Only listened to the first 10 minutes but this is a variation of the things above https://soundcloud.com/optajoes_the...hat-matters-ep-1-it-was-acceptable-in-the-90s It isn't very exciting in how it is dressed but there are interesting bit parts so far.
Excellent info Puck, and indeed some eyebrow-raising facts. Luckily you already provided a good run down of chances created yourself of course. Any info you can see on clear cut chances might be good to expand on I guess if you wanted (since you can see that some Dutch players rank well I think, unless you were meaning chances created in general). Only a couple of things aren't absolutely clear to me, and I guess others. The first one is just a quick check, regarding one name in the prolific dribblers section - is it Rafael Martin Vazquez that is being referred to? The other thing was whether Causio in 1978 tops the list for number of fouls received, or for number of times he lost the ball? (he is followed by Maradona in two instances of course, and I'm reading it as probably number of fouls received, but obviously it's indicated that Maradona had high tallies for both in the previous sentences).
I'll try to find more about this but pretty sure Cruijff etc. do rather well there (his 29 chances from open play is a tournament record; had against Bulgaria the single game record) Arjen Robben and Lionel Messi: Have created the joint most clear-cut chances (4 each) at the 2014 World Cup #ned #arg— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) July 9, 2014 (after the Brazil game for 3rd place, he was #1 if I'm not mistaken) 22 - Which player created the most chances at the 1998 World Cup? Bleu. https://t.co/5mtdjWC6QL #worldsvinest— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 9, 2014 For the European Championship: 30 - Only Deco (33) & Bergkamp (31) have created more scoring chances from open play in Euro finals history than Zinedine Zidane. Birthday.— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 23, 2012 (also saw once something for the 'clear cut chances' across all 1990s tournaments, in total and on average, but can't find it back now) So maybe a bit surprising Voetbal International didn't print this. Robben as first European among dribblers is a bit surprising. In 2006 he was in the 'Group of Death'. In 2010 he only played 17 minutes in the group stage (against Cameroon). In 2014 again placed in the 'Group of Death' (just as in 2004, 2008, 2012, remember - this stinks big time). Yes. Causio in 1978 tops the list for balls lost.
To clarify this: he's high for dribble success within a single game. He attempted 11 against Yugoslavia (round of 16) in 1990 with a 90.9% completion. That places him 2nd behind Tigana in that category (against Austria in 1982, 12 attempts, 91.7% success). N.B. Clodoaldo might feel odd perhaps, but he was near perfect on his own half. 21 attempts in 1970 at 81.0% completion is the 3rd best within a single World Cup (behind Balakov and Okocha, minimum of 20 dribbles). (it's often said the 'Italy dribble' was uncommon for him, or an oddity, but this would debunk it a bit. 21 attempts within 524 minutes = 3.60 per 90 minutes) edit: 81% as a nominally defensive player at a single World Cup is 'near perfect' next to his colleagues in history ('near perfect' as in what is 'humanly' possible), but ofc still a 1 in 5 fail rate and potentially risky to do.
Yeah, I watched Yugoslavia vs Spain 1990 not long ago, and it was certainly noticeable that Martin Vazquez was going past players with the ball quite often. And I'd noticed Tigana being progressive/expressive and generally active vs Austria, but it's certainly interesting to know nobody had better dribble success in a World Cup game (since 1966 anyway).
Okay, I listened to the rest of it and there are some nice things in it. The thing on the France 1998 team also led some stats and maps crunchers to the conclusion they were the best team to win of the last 50 years. https://www.vi.nl/pro/analyse/frankrijk-1998-misschien-wel-de-beste-wereldkampioen-ooit Of course France was host back then and that is an advantage edit: @PDG1978 might like the part on Gascoigne in 1990 and also the sum ups on player involvements at the end of the podcast.