Ugly numbers say maybe Pim Verbeek was right about Grella
* Tom Smithies
* From: News Limited newspapers
* June 17, 2010 3:04PM
AS Pim Verbeek ponders the team he puts out to beat Ghana on Saturday night, these are the stark figures that illustrate what a challenge the Australian side faces and how obliterated it was against Germany.
FIFA's official World Cup statistics, prepared by Castrol Football, lay bare the poverty of the Socceroos' performance in the 4-0 loss to Germany.
And in one individual case they show why Pim Verbeek's decision to hook Vince Grella at halftime was an act of mercy for a player light years from his best.
The figures reveal that Germany has the highest rate of shots on target of any team at the World Cup – and Australia one of the worst – confirming the sense of a clinical execution at the hands of one of the tournament favourites.
Germany had 16 shots in Sunday's game, 10 of them on target, compared with Australia managing just two on target from 10 shots.
But the Germans' superiority is shown time and again across the blizzard of numbers – Australia gave away 19 fouls but Germany only seven, and the Europeans' passing completion rate at almost 77% is the fourth highest of the tournament – unlike Australia, sitting at 13th in the list with 72.45%.
The sense of the Socceroos chasing their shadows is confirmed in the fact that though Australia ran further collectively than Germany – 113,489m compared with 112,073m – 35.9% of that was with the ball and 45.4% without (the balance coming with the ball out of play).
Germany's figure is almost the exact reverse: 45.4% moving with the ball and 36.7% without.
There is little silver lining in Ghana's figures either, with Saturday's must-win encounter getting ever closer – three shots on target out of 16 in total; 15 fouls suffered and only eight given away; and a pass completion rate a fracton higher than Australia's 72.8%.
The one area the African side does suffer is in distance covered – at 97,692m in total, 14% less than Australia. That breaks down as 38% with the ball and 45% without, very similar to the Socceroos.
On an individual level, the figures for the "pivot" of each side, through whom the ball goes as the teams build their attacks, are deeply revealing.
For Australia Vince Grella only made it to halftime, explained by figures of just 16 passes made, and only 12 of them completed.
Compare that with 73 passes made by Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger over a full 90 minutes, 57 of which made their target; and 58 passes made over 90 minutes by Ghana's holding midfielder Anthony Annan, with a remarkable rate of 51 completed.
No wonder Verbeek pulled Grella off, and is considering whether he starts against Ghana.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/world-cup-2010/ugly-numbers-say-maybe-pim-verbeek-was-right-about-grella/story-fn4k63ls-1225880953764