European Football Championship 2008: Germany’s Numbers Add Up

Football is constantly changing, but there’s one thing that stays the same – German teams are efficient, well organised and entirely focused on victory. Demand a dollar every time a commentator says “Teutonic efficiency” about a German side, and you'll soon have enough cash to join the race to be the next US President.

It may be a cliché as old as The Miracle of Bern, but how much truth does it hold in the modern day? We’ve taken a look at the Castrol Performance Index so that we can see just how stereotypical Germany's performances have been in the run up to UEFA Euro 2008 TM.

One look at Germany’s Euro 2008 qualifying record is enough to show that Germanic footballing efficiency is alive and kicking inch-perfect passes. On October 13th last year Germany became the first team to qualify for the finals with a 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland, having gone unbeaten in all nine of their qualifying games up to that point.

This 810 minutes of undefeated football included relentless 13-0 and 4-1 victories over San Marino and Slovakia. In contrast, Germany’s fellow top tier nations were at the same time struggling to beat similarly supposed weaker foes. France, for example, suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Scotland, while Italy could only muster a 1-1 draw against visitors Lithuania.

According to data amassed by Castrol Index, Group D – despite the presence of perennial Euro whipping boys San Marino – was the second toughest to qualify from, making Germany’s rapid qualification all the more impressive.

Lucas' arts

If a truly German footballing performance is typified by efficiency, then Bayern Munich striker Lucas Podolski should be the country's new poster boy. The 22-year-old finished qualifying as the fourth-highest scorer, despite spending less time on the pitch than any other player in the top 10. Podolski’s eight goals in 660 minutes gave him an average strike rate of one goal every 82 and a half minutes – more than one per game.

This impressive strike rate gives him a Castrol Performance Index rating as the 21st best player during qualifying, and the seventh best striker. As such, he is Germany's highest-ranked player. Behind Podolski, goalkeeper Jens Lehman and midfield prodigy Bastian Schweinsteiger are the only other two German players to make it into the Castrol Index overall top 50 during qualifying.

Fellow qualifiers France and Croatia both had just one player in the top 50, in fifth and 12th places respectively. In contrast, Norway had two players in the top 20, and four in the top 50, yet still failed to qualify. Similarly, England fell into their own stereotype of underperformers, putting four players in the top 50 and Shaun Wright-Phillips at number 51, but failing to make the finals.

The stats suggest that Germany is not a team with several outstanding stars, but a group of players who can play at the same individual standard as a number of their rivals. The dominance of Germany during the first half of their qualifying campaign, though, and their rapid ascension to the finals, shows that – as a team – they are more effective than their individual player stats suggest they should be.

That's the problem with clichés, you can try to avoid them, but at the end of the day, when all's said and done, clichés only become clichés if they work.

For more news on the European Football Championship 2008 please visit http://www.castrolindex.com

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This release was published on openPR.