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FIFA
has made available on its website all sorts of downloadable data about
the 2010 world cup. Among these, we found the number of passes
between players of all the teams present at the world cup cumulated
over the games they've played.
Who passes more in one team? What is the
passing pattern of a given team? Can we predict a winning team based on
its passing pattern?
The data
can provide some answers. All we
have to do
is display them on a directed
graph with the nodes of the
graph representing the players and the
arrows representing the passes. To get a nice picture, we
can adjust the size and color of the arrows according to the
number of passes between players. With the same data, we can also
calculate mathematical quantities related to graphs, such as
the centrality
of a node (player) or the center nodes
(players).
We have done this for England
up to
their last
match against Germany,
as well as for Holland
and Spain,
the finalists of the tournament.
Click on the teams on the left to see the full results and analysis.
Can you predict with these graphs who will win between Holland and Spain?
The obvious - and not entirely scientific - prediction for us is: Spain
to win!
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