After almost a month to remember, the America Cup and the Euro reach their culmination. Saturday, Brazil and Argentina will define the South American champion and a day later England and Italy will clash for the European crown. Two temples of world football, such as the Maracana and Wembley, will be the scenarios of two consequent endings, between four true colossi.
If something has characterized the simultaneous dispute of the two most important continental championships, has been the comparison. Inevitable, yes, but also unfair because the frames have been very different. While in these lands the pandemic is still in very complex moments, on the other side of the Atlantic the situation is much better, which allowed maintaining the planned venues, the number of participants and, above all, ensuring the presence of the public. None of that could be done here and the competition suffered.
However and beyond all inconvenience, the two best footballers of the month are in the Copa América. And no one in their right mind could argue with it. Lionel Messi and Neymar have been the absolute figures of both continental jousts. In South America, personal arrests and individual talent have prevailed. Meanwhile, in Europe the ensembles and collective works stood out. Any voracious spectator will agree with this, it is not necessary to delve too deeply the look.
Anyway yeah it’s good explain with data and statistics the reasons for the huge difference that Messi and Neymar made. They are very lonely at the top and the numbers are a concrete way of describing how great that loneliness is. They are the absolute leaders in all attacking categories and they have even stood out in defensive areas, such was their extraordinary performance in these six games.
The Argentine is the scorer of the Cup, with 4 points. If he scores at least one in the final, he will catch up with the surprising Patrik Schick and the not-so-surprising Cristiano Ronaldo, the Euro’s gunners with 5. Ney, meanwhile, has only two touchdowns, his only unremarkable number. However, the Brazilian ten is the absolute leader of both tournaments in the category “expected goals”, the data that measures the probability that a shot ends in a goal. He has 5.45 against 4.75 from CR7 and 3.02 from Messi, who is in ninth place.
In addition to defining, in recent years Messi has become the best assistant in the world. And he made it clearer than ever in this Cup. With 5 assists, the Rosario is the player who gave the most passes to goal, followed by the Swiss Steven Zuber, who finished with 4. Neymar shares the third place with the Danish Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, the English Luke Shaw and the Spanish Dani Olmo, with 3. In “expected assists” (it measures the quality of a pass that ends in a shot), the South Americans are the first two.
Counting assists is not the only way to measure the number of risky plays created by a player. In fact, it is not the fairest way to do it, since it only counts the passes that end in a goal. Therefore, it is necessary to count the “goal chances” generated and Messi and Neymar are also the first two in this statistical section, with 19 and 17 each. Kevin De Bruyne, with 13, is the best in the Euro.
The area in which the Copa América has made the most difference to the Euro is that of dribbling. And it has a double meaning: historical and current. Europeans play more and more direct football, pass and possession but less transfer. Still these days they are nourished by South American footballers to win heads-up and unbalance from skill. The reasons for this will be better analyzed at another time. Now is the time to highlight Messi and Neymar. The Argentine leads, with 30 dribbles completed against 25 of the Brazilian. Raheem Sterling, fifth overall behind Luis Díaz and Christian Cueva, is the best European, with 18. An ocean away.
Brazil and Argentina have proven to be two good teams but they depend on a high percentage of their stars. They create, define and push their peers. Messi and Neymar are among the 7 players with the most passes in the final third of the playing field, which speaks to his constant influence on the game. They are ubiquitous. The Spanish Pedri is first in this area, with 177, while Messi adds 115 and Ney 108. While, They are among the top three in “filtered passes” and it is Paul Pogba who sneaks between them on the podium.
The numbers are overwhelming, but they are nothing more than an empirical way of describing what is seen with the naked eye, without the need for an excel spreadsheet or pencil and paper. Even Messi and Neymar have a large percentage of duels won and ball recoveries. They are total footballers. They are the two best in the world.
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