2014 World Cup: Teams that relied the most on one player to create chances

Neymar was crucial for Brazil to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, but how much will he really be missed?

How important is one player in a team game like football? How important are such players in big tournaments like World Cups?

In a study conducted by The New York Times, it was found that most of the nations who made the knockout stages depended solely on one player.

It was found that of the teams that relied on a single player to be involved in at least one of four of his team’s chances, eight of them qualified from the group stages and five teams even reached the quarter-final.

Teams that buck the trend, however, are Brazil and Germany – who will go head to head in the semi-final. Neymar, Oscar and Hulk were instrumental for Brazil while Muller, Ozil and Kroos helped Germany get this far.

Argentina and Netherlands – the other semi-final clash – relied heavily on Arjen Robben and Lionel Messi respectively.

Of all the 32 teams, the team that relied the most on one player was Iran (Ashkan Dejagah – 35%).

HOW MUCH TEAMS HAVE RELIED ON ONE PLAYER

ROUND REACHED	COUNTRY	PLAYER	PLAYER INVOLVEMENT
SEMI FINALS	Brazil	Neymar Jr.	23%
	Germany	Thomas Muller	21%
	Argentina	Lionel Messi	25%
	Netherlands	Arjen Robben	27%
QUARTER FINALS	Colombia	James Rodriguez	30%
	Costa Rica	Christian Bolaños	28%
	France	Karim Benzema	27%
	Belgium	Kevin De Bruyne	17%
ROUND OF 16	Mexico	Hector Herrera	23%
	Chile	Alexis Sanchez	27%
	Greece	Georgios Samaras	19%
	Uruguay	Edinson Cavani	16%
	Switzerland	Xherdan Shaqiri	31%
	Nigeria	Emmanuel Emenike	22%
	USA	Clint Dempsey	30%
	Algeria	Sofiane Feghouli	18%