Germany Used Big Data to Score Big Win over Brazil
- By Matt Holden
- Jul 11, 2014
Many will point to the absence of Brazil’s best player, Neymar, as well as Thiago Silva for their crushing 7-1 defeat to Germany, but German assistant coach Hansi Flick claims that that the result was a long time coming thanks to Big Data.
The coach said that the team’s managers combined years of research about the Brazilian team compiled by students at Cologne’s Sports University in an attempt to gain an advantage over the home team. No European team has won any of the previous six World Cups held in Latin America, but Germany surely looks like the favorite now after their demolition of Brazil.
Flick mentioned that they used the data to evaluate each individual Brazilian player to look at the following traits:
- Their favorite moves;
- How they deal with high pressure scenarios;
- How they reach when fouled; and
- How each player sprints toward the ball.
Soccer has long been considered a sport too fluid for proper analytics that have been used for baseball, but the German team is proving that Big Data may be the key to their success.
This is a great example of how Big Data can actually be used to create success. How can security integrators take this example and use Big Data to enhance their success?
(Image credit: ANDRE DURAO / Shutterstock.com)
About the Author
Matt Holden is an Associate Content Editor for 1105 Media, Inc. He received his MFA and BA in journalism from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He currently writes and edits for Occupational Health & Safety magazine, and Security Today.