Another Footy-Boots.com Stats-Special to kick off your World Cup Weekend – this time: Which boots really ‘Go the Distance’?
We’ve been told by the brands that – in no uncertain terms – that ‘Lightness makes Greatness’; and the super-light football boots they produce are to help players put the effort in across the full 90 minutes.
So – let’s put it to the test! We’ve taken the distance covered by all the players who played in the last 16 matches, sorted them by which boots they’re wearing and worked out some averages.
Again – we’re not asking anyone to read too much into these, just some interesting stats that sometimes provide an interesting look into the boots on the pitch at the World Cup – We wouldn’t want to come off sounding like Ronaldo fanboys now, would we?
So, if you want to know which boots have put in the mileage this World Cup, Read on!
8. Puma v1.10 – Average of 37.6 km covered per player
Top Runner – Uruguay – Alvaro Pereira – 40.1km
As a speed boot, we were expecting the v1.10 to maybe chart a little bit higher than 8th place. But as it’s a boot favoured by Forwards, maybe they don’t have to cover as much ground to get their players where they need to be.
7. adidas F50 adiZero – Average of 37.8km covered per player
Top Runner – Ghana – John Pantsil – 43.5km
Favoured by just about any attacking player, the adiZero has a huge presence at this Summer’s World Cup. However, it might just be that huge presence that drags it’s average down into 7th place.
6. Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II – Average of 38.87km covered per player
Top Runner – US – Clint Dempsey – 47km
Another Speed boot bites the dust! Winger’s favourite, The Superfly II would be a sure-fire favourite to rack up some mileage on the pitch, and in the case of some players – take a bow, Clint Dempsey – they really work. However, some players with more poacher-esque qualities such as Luis Fabiano drag that average down a fair way.
5. Adidas Predator_X – Average of 39.1km covered per player
Top Runner – Paraguay – Cristian Riveros – 45.9km
The Predator_X has got leagues of fans in the World Cup as one of the greatest franchises of football boots of all time. As with the adiZero, we can guess that it’s this huge spread of players that drag it down.
4. Adidas adiPure III – Average of 39.93km covered per player
Top Runner – Germany – Bastien Schweinsteiger – 45.2km
A favourite of midfielders, the adiPure III gifts the player with with a super-soft upper with which to distribute passes. It’s probably a combination of making the ball work for you and good ol’ fashioned work ethic that put the adiPure III bang in the middle of the table.
3. Tiempo Legend III – Average of 40.46km covered per player
Top Runner – Ghana – Andre Ayew – 45.9km
Favoured from the very front of the line-up to the very back, the Tiempo Legend is a truly universal football boot! And apparently a very hard working one too! Coming in the top 3, the Tiempo Legend III seems to be worn by players who don’t mind putting in the graft across the pitch
2. Nike CTR360 Maestri – Average of 40.93km covered per player
Top Runner – US – Landon Donovan – 48.5km
Another boot with an emphasis on making the ball do the work for you – however, it seems that the sort of player that it attracts like to do just as much on and off the ball too.
1. Nike T90 Laser III – Average of 41.30km covered per player
Top Runner – US – Michael Bradley – 51.7km
Helped massively by a Gut-busting tournament from Michael Bradley, the T90 Laser III can claim to be the boot that – on average – covers the most distance on the feet of the players that wear it. Again, favoured by players from all over the pitch, it’s hard working midfielders that give this boot it’s high average distance covered!
Look at the work ethic of the Yanks!!!! Now, all we need is the skill at every position to go along with it and we will truly be a force to reckon with.
the hardest workers are not necessarily the smartest
Not an england player on the list. I guess thats there problem, work ethic. U.S on the other hand have the best work rate in the tournament. Lets go Yanks
Nike takes the top three spots here… but that doesn’t translate to goals, does it? The three adidas boots have scored 54 goals (35 alone by the AdiZero) and the five nike boots have scored 51.
i just can not believe this…some of you guys really think that the boots score the goals, not the players !
i think the jabulani,cheating and refereeing decisions have made this world cup a very bad one. i just hope this changes before euro 2012 and wc2014
I wish people wouldn’t read so much into such statistics (viva).
Put Villa in any other boot and he would still score the same goals. Equally, put Rooney in any other boot and he would still have had an awful tournament. Boots simply don’t make the man.
I completely agree SpeckledJim. these types of articles bug me
ah come mon peeps.. these articles kinda make WC more interesting from another perspective and besides we all know how some people can be soccer boots crazy =) (me included)
also it be one of the way for someone to use as a point of reference for their choice of a new pair of soccer boots? since the work rate for the boots correlates with the kind of positions these players play and thus perhaps e.g. a midfielder might have a rough clue what are the professional players are using as their choice of boots.
URUGUAY
1930-1950-2010
@SpeckledJim boots don’t make the man but the right one can be a big factor. I have the most narrow foot on the planet and if you put me in T90 Lasers I would be a laughing stalk. This statistic is dumb because all in all it is the man who wears them that matters most and shoes don’t make you screw up a Pk, or burn a defender but they are a pretty big factor.
wait so this is the average of how much they ran in how many games?
Yep – It’s the average distance that a player wearing those boots covers per game!
kyle – who can run 40kmph???????? this should be per game, not for the tournament as obviously extra time and more matches all adds to the mileage.
they run a lot, but dont help too much to the game (some player does)