2014 World Cup: Teams that relied the most on one player to create chances
How important is one player in a team game like football? How important are such players in big tournaments like World Cups?
In a study conducted by The New York Times, it was found that most of the nations who made the knockout stages depended solely on one player.
It was found that of the teams that relied on a single player to be involved in at least one of four of his team’s chances, eight of them qualified from the group stages and five teams even reached the quarter-final.
Teams that buck the trend, however, are Brazil and Germany – who will go head to head in the semi-final. Neymar, Oscar and Hulk were instrumental for Brazil while Muller, Ozil and Kroos helped Germany get this far.
Argentina and Netherlands – the other semi-final clash – relied heavily on Arjen Robben and Lionel Messi respectively.
Of all the 32 teams, the team that relied the most on one player was Iran (Ashkan Dejagah – 35%).
|
ROUND REACHED |
COUNTRY | PLAYER |
PLAYER INVOLVEMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEMI FINALS | Brazil | Neymar Jr. | 23% |
| Germany | Thomas Muller | 21% | |
| Argentina | Lionel Messi | 25% | |
| Netherlands | Arjen Robben | 27% | |
| QUARTER FINALS | Colombia | James Rodriguez | 30% |
| Costa Rica | Christian Bolaños | 28% | |
| France | Karim Benzema | 27% | |
| Belgium | Kevin De Bruyne | 17% | |
| ROUND OF 16 | Mexico | Hector Herrera | 23% |
| Chile | Alexis Sanchez | 27% | |
| Greece | Georgios Samaras | 19% | |
| Uruguay | Edinson Cavani | 16% | |
| Switzerland | Xherdan Shaqiri | 31% | |
| Nigeria | Emmanuel Emenike | 22% | |
| USA | Clint Dempsey | 30% | |
| Algeria | Sofiane Feghouli | 18% |