Cybereagles

I've been wearing my Egypt avatar with pride

are you sure it is People Destroying People and not Politicians Destroying People

Despite people saying Africa places too much into moral victories and porous displays please keep in mind...

The two teams that gave Germany the most difficulty thus far in this tournament have been Ghana and Algeria.

I've been wearing my Egypt avatar with pride

are you sure it is People Destroying People and not Politicians Destroying People

People that dismiss any positives out of Africa with the 'moral victory' put-down are too blinkered to see how they can use simple observations like this point you've made as a foundation on which to build something bigger and better.

For me, this world cup has brought the realisation that there are three little things making big differences in outcomes between two teams that are otherwise really much closer in ability than we tend to think.

1. The Individual genius - the Messi, the Neymar, Suarez or the Rodriguez can be the one major difference between a football Superpower and a so-called 'minnow'. Take them out of the equation, no difference.

2. The Ref. I don't think they are overtly biased, but I do think they are prone to give the benefit of the doubt to the more established soccer powers as against the minnows. These are very subtle refereeing calls, almost insignificant on a call-by-call basis, but they do all add up eventually and constitute an 'institutional' bias towards lesser football powers. All of the four semifinalists could easily have been home by now if little calls had not gone their way.

3. Self-belief. The soccer powers almost always believe they can overcome no matter how much pressure they find themselves put under by the lesser teams. It is what has helped them through. That self belief comes from years of dominance and almost an arrogance. No truly great player does not have an arrogance about him. Its a mind set, and teams also display it. Again, Argentina (over Iran), Germany (over Ghana), Brazil (over Chile & Colombia) and The Netherlands (over Puerto Rico) have all had that little extra self belief that made the marginal difference over their opponents.


But the cynics will simply throw up 'moral victory' jibes as if they are contributing something of substance to the debate.

People that dismiss any positives out of Africa with the 'moral victory' put-down are too blinkered to see how they can use simple observations like this point you've made as a foundation on which to build something bigger and better.

For me, this world cup has brought the realisation that there are three little things making big differences in outcomes between two teams that are otherwise really much closer in ability than we tend to think.

1. The Individual genius - the Messi, the Neymar, Suarez or the Rodriguez can be the one major difference between a football Superpower and a so-called 'minnow'. Take them out of the equation, no difference.

2. The Ref. I don't think they are overtly biased, but I do think they are prone to give the benefit of the doubt to the more established soccer powers as against the minnows. These are very subtle refereeing calls, almost insignificant on a call-by-call basis, but they do all add up eventually and constitute an 'institutional' bias towards lesser football powers. All of the four semifinalists could easily have been home by now if little calls had not gone their way.

3. Self-belief. The soccer powers almost always believe they can overcome no matter how much pressure they find themselves put under by the lesser teams. It is what has helped them through. That self belief comes from years of dominance and almost an arrogance. No truly great player does not have an arrogance about him. Its a mind set, and teams also display it. Again, Argentina (over Iran), Germany (over Ghana), Brazil (over Chile & Colombia) and The Netherlands (over Puerto Rico) have all had that little extra self belief that made the marginal difference over their opponents.


But the cynics will simply throw up 'moral victory' jibes as if they are contributing something of substance to the debate.

This World Cup was a watershed moment. This World Cup could easily have been won by Chile, Colombia, or Costa Rica teams which were all well organized and well coached. Expect the traditional teams to lose dominance in future World Cups as teams now see the FIFA senior world cup edition as no different than the U-23 WYC where even Saudi Arabia has made the finals.

African teams need to get mentally stronger. Ghana should be cursing themselves for losing their heads after the 2-1 defeat to the USA and the draw to Germany. Had they beaten Portugal they could easily be playing in a semi-final instead of watching it at home. Nigeria also lacked attacking finesse and an on-field leader to carry them over the hump in the winnable semi-final against France. Otherwise, Nigeria had the players to challenge for the Cup.

KPOM!!! Yes o. That belief is surely growing. I just can't understand why Cote D'Ivoire, of all the African teams, didn't have it.

Excellent point. I just wish I had recorded that Ghana game.

People that dismiss any positives out of Africa with the 'moral victory' put-down are too blinkered to see how they can use simple observations like this point you've made as a foundation on which to build something bigger and better.

For me, this world cup has brought the realisation that there are three little things making big differences in outcomes between two teams that are otherwise really much closer in ability than we tend to think.

1. The Individual genius - the Messi, the Neymar, Suarez or the Rodriguez can be the one major difference between a football Superpower and a so-called 'minnow'. Take them out of the equation, no difference.

2. The Ref. I don't think they are overtly biased, but I do think they are prone to give the benefit of the doubt to the more established soccer powers as against the minnows. These are very subtle refereeing calls, almost insignificant on a call-by-call basis, but they do all add up eventually and constitute an 'institutional' bias towards lesser football powers. All of the four semifinalists could easily have been home by now if little calls had not gone their way.

3. Self-belief. The soccer powers almost always believe they can overcome no matter how much pressure they find themselves put under by the lesser teams. It is what has helped them through. That self belief comes from years of dominance and almost an arrogance. No truly great player does not have an arrogance about him. Its a mind set, and teams also display it. Again, Argentina (over Iran), Germany (over Ghana), Brazil (over Chile & Colombia) and The Netherlands (over Puerto Rico) have all had that little extra self belief that made the marginal difference over their opponents.


But the cynics will simply throw up 'moral victory' jibes as if they are contributing something of substance to the debate.

Doc, excellent points.

One day we will go to a WC with a singular focus and little or no off field distractions...

We can't organize elections, we can't organize the league, we can't maintain our roads, we can't maintain our airports, we can't enforce law and order, we can't provide security for our citizens, we can't organize sports programs, and Nigeria is going to miraculously organize ourselves to win the World Cup ? The same World Cup that pretty much every European and South American Country is trying to win?
At some point, we have to try and be a tad bit realistic...

If you read an interview by Oliver Berhoff on espn soccernet, you'll undertand why Germany does well. This what Berhoff said.
1) They have developed a mobile app for their national team that allows them to analyze the games of their opponents.
2) The app allows them to analyze every game Germany has played and give each player immediate feed back on their performance following a game. This way, a player can review the positives asn negatives of their game immediately following a game and individually.
3) A player can request and be given an analysis of the way a player he is going to mark typically plays. For example, he says Boateng requested an analysis of Benzema's moves in the last third of the field before the game against France. With their app, they can give him video streams and likely actions he'd take on the field.
4) Their application showed them that the French tended to crowd the midfield but leave gaping holes before the defence. They exploited this.

So, why did they struggle against Ghana and Algeria and even Cameroon in a friendly? MY suspicion is that they did not have enough matches on these teams for the application to help them analyze and predict likely behavior during the game.

It seems to me the Germans are using technology to take them to another level. Other teams will follow suit and very quickly.

If you read an interview by Oliver Berhoff on espn soccernet, you'll undertand why Germany does well. This what Berhoff said.
1) They have developed a mobile app for their national team that allows them to analyze the games of their opponents.
2) The app allows them to analyze every game Germany has played and give each player immediate feed back on their performance following a game. This way, a player can review the positives asn negatives of their game immediately following a game and individually.
3) A player can request and be given an analysis of the way a player he is going to mark typically plays. For example, he says Boateng requested an analysis of Benzema's moves in the last third of the field before the game against France. With their app, they can give him video streams and likely actions he'd take on the field.
4) Their application showed them that the French tended to crowd the midfield but leave gaping holes before the defence. They exploited this.

So, why did they struggle against Ghana and Algeria and even Cameroon in a friendly? MY suspicion is that they did not have enough matches on these teams for the application to help them analyze and predict likely behavior during the game.

It seems to me the Germans are using technology to take them to another level. Other teams will follow suit and very quickly.

SAP has such an application that indeed is monitoring games and analyzing them, using several models, and database of past games, statistics, and player profiles. They are currently only letting the German NT use it, but will sell it commercially after the WC. They even market it as a big data application.

This goes back to the dimension of program management. A good NT program uses everything at its disposal. Everything. In fact, I read a recent article in Businessweek how Germany revamped its football program after the 1998 WC debacle. Everything: academies, league, sports science, but especially the way to enable opportunities to identity and develop talent from a pool of 80 million people.

There is no guarantee that this will produce magical talent like Zidane, Messi, and Iniesta. But it obviously will produce the best team possible from the talent that is produced. That can be formidable.

By the way, I know I've been saying that I haven't seen a true German world class player in this WC. I might be wrong. Neur for sure, but Kroos and Hummels seem to be emerging as well. Interestingly enough, that's in the middle, a solid spine if there ever was one.

But still, at this level, the margins are thin. Let's see if it is enough to beat an Argentina that suddenly found catenaccio and a true magician in Messi. For all such investment, it's still clearly not easy to win a WC.

Cheers, Mate

SAP and Germany Make a Big Data Team at the World Cup
July 8, 2014 By Ben Hammonds 1 Comment

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The expectations of the German national team this World Cup has been immense. And it has been building ever since their great run in the European Championship in 2012, where the DFB (German Football Association) was knocked out in the semifinal by the eventual Italian runners up. The entire, soccer crazed, nation of Germany was heartbroken. The German side was chalked full of talent and their people had high hopes of winning a European Championship, but they were denied. This loss hurt, but it also started a fire in the DFB, a fire that has been ever-present in the approach to and during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The DFB wants to win this World Cup; and to ensure that the German players have every possible advantage in Brazil so what did they do? They built their own base camp. Campo Bahia is the name and it has everything that the Germans could need to fuel them to a priceless World Cup victory. The camp is state of the art with housing units for the players and staff, training pitch, fitness center and places where the players can get much needed relaxation after the rigors of World Cup play. The camp is also at an optimal location to reduce the strain of long distance travel across the great country of Brazil.
Campo Bahia is not the only innovative move the DFB has taken to try and be successful in Brazil. The German team is also taking advantage of revolutionary technological leaps of SAP, an enterprise software company founded in Weinheim, Germany and currently holds its headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. SAP is one of the largest software companies in the world and employs over 66,000 people worldwide. SAP is proudly partnering with the German national team to collaborate their technological advances to enhance player performance and boost the chances of Germany winning its 4th World Cup.
SAP is using Big Data to help the German coaching staff make smart decisions on tactics, player fitness, scouting, preparation as well as in game management. SAP has introduced a new concept called SAP Match Insights that assists players and coaches to prepare themselves for upcoming matches by dissecting key situations that may present themselves throughout the course of the match.
To get an idea on how intricate the system is SAP Ambassador and manager of the German national football teamOliver Bierhoff, said, “Imagine this: In just 10 minutes, 10 players with three balls can produce over 7 million data points.” A system this detailed has never been utilized in soccer before and its debut at the World Cup has clearly been influential, seeing Germany into the Semi-Final after escaping the Group of Death along with the United States. After the completion of the World Cup in Brazil, SAP will offer the Match Insights program to other football federations as well as club teams.
Not only is the information gathered by SAP vital for the players and coaching staff of the German national team, but it is also useful for members of the media. We have seen the advancement of handheld media’s ability to give up to the minute stats from Brazil with ESPN FC Essentials and SAP wants to further that capability and help the media deliver even more informed information for their public audiences.
The German national team is ahead of the curve in world football and SAP has been able to help them on their way to the top (and into the Semi-Finals of the World Cup). Stefan Wagner, managing director of SAP Labs in Brazil explained, “The DFB is keen to spearhead this industry transformation. With solutions provided by SAP, together we are perfectly poised for this transformation and a successful World Cup.”