Power Charts following the momentum of eight World Cup teams.
USA | Mexico | England | Brazil | Germany | Italy | Argentina | South Korea
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  Switzerland |
vs. |   Korea Republic |
| Switzerland booked their entry into the round of sixteen with a comfortable 2-0 win over South Korea. DVR rating one diamond. Full game summary report to follow. Read More > |
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Alexander Frei #9 Switzerland | ||
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| Game Honors Full Report > | |||
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  France |
vs. | Korea Republic |
| South Korea rallied to draw with France 1-1 on late goal by Ji Sung Park. DVR rating 2 diamonds. Full game summary report to follow. Read More > |
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Florent Malouda #7 France | ||
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| Game Honors Full Report > | |||
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Second-half sub Jung Hawn Ahn sparked South Korea to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over an underrated Togo. Game report to follow. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PowerStats creator Carl Hammond was the featured guest on Active Radio's The Sports You Do Show with Mike Reilly. He took questions about PowerStats and how it can provide a reference and a history of soccer matches and players for diehard and casual fans alike.
Click here to listen to an .mp3 archive of the show.
A lot of World Cup fans--especially those stateside--think Group E with the US, Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana might be the toughest group. The conventional wisdom goes that if the US can actually get out of the first round they might have a very good shot to advance deep into the 2006 World Cup.
But there is an argument to be made for Group C which boasts two title contenders in Argentina and the Netherlands and upstarts Ivory Coast and Serbia-Montenegro. Let's not forget that the lattter was ranked AHEAD of Spain in the European qualifier and that Ivory Coast manhandled Cameroon--which might just be the best team in Africa.
But tell us what YOU THINK is the gnarliest group in the World Cup!
(A fascinating interview with Carl Hammond--the creator of Powerstats. This ground-breaking statistical approach to soccer can be found all the way up to the Cup right here at the Active World Cup Special Section.)
What exactly are Powerstats?
Powerstats is a statistical system that calculates a power ratings within a given soccer game. It also produces a power chart that shows the momentum of each team in the game and when goals are scored.
How are Powerstats different from other statistical approaches to soccer?
The primary difference is that it is simple, easy to understand, and is reflective of a player’s and team’s performance. The true merit of the system is the power chart. There are other systems that calculate player ratings but none of them are as transparent as Powerstats. Our system is quite easy to calculate in your head as the game evolves.
What inspired you to come up with Powerstats?
I developed an emotional interest in teams and players but couldn’t get any continuing information on what was going onif I had missed the game. You may have a result of 1-0 but you don’t necessarily know what happened. And that’s what motivated me.
The real value of power stats is if you aren’t able to see the game and you want to see how an individual player or team fared. The reason for this is that in soccer there aren’t many meaningful stats—simply because the game doesn’t demand them. Soccer has a continuous flow and has no large stoppages in time. Powerstats can help bridge the gap.
What were some of the challenges facing you in your quest for the perfect Powerstats model?
Coming up with a set of stats that had relevance and meaning. When I started out I kept track of every kick on the field during a game. It took such a long time to compile and didn’t provide very relevant data. We refined it and it now has an underlying logic that makes the stats meaningful.
Did you use any other stat models from other sports as reference?
Strictly trial and error. It’s been in the works for about 15 years.
According to your Powerstats ranking which is the best team in the world cup field?
There’s no question it’s Brazil--and that’s fairly unanimous. The only thing Brazil has to overcome is that they’ve never won when they’re the favorites. And they’ve won it five times so it’ll be very interesting.
How does the US rank?
The US is in a fascinating group. They could win the group or they could come in dead last. It’s going to be an exiting group to watch. All four teams can beat the other four teams. With the US and Ghana—the games will be pretty wide open and a lot of free flowing soccer.
What has been the reaction from the soccer world to power stats?
It’s been very positive. What we want to do is use the world cup to determine if there’s a world wide interest for this kind of statistical analysis of soccer. This system has been published in the San Diego Union Tribune for two years running and we’d love to expand it to the larger world of soccer enthusiasts.
Yakin 
