How can data prove the World Cup semi-finals’ dirtiest players?
Football can be a ‘dirty’ sport, whether it’s crunching tackles, fights between players or even diving to the floor in an attempt to win a foul like you have been hit by a bulldozer.
Using data sourced from Flashscore, and with the World Cup’s semi-finals approaching this week, the competition’s remaining four teams in France, Argentina, Morocco and Croatia’s most carded players could be identified, leaving us with an idea who could be the most likely to face the referee’s wrath this week.
Researching every player from all four side’s 26-men squads, a top 10 was created based on some key factors. The table, pictured above, is ranked using an index score, which is found by adding together a player’s yellow cards this season in their domestic league, with red cards (which are worth two yellows) and dividing by the number of games they have played.
As displayed, the World Cup semi-final’s ‘dirtiest’ player is Morocco’s Selim Amallah, who ironically is yet to be booked in five appearances so far in the World Cup in Qatar.
Amallah has received four yellows and one red in nine league games for Standard Liege in Belgium, leaving him with the highest index score of 66.6.
The designed infographic attached below visualises the key findings of the data research, including a result of the ‘dirtiest’ nation remaining, Lionel Messi’s Argentina. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spot are all occupied by Argentinian defenders, who will line up to take on Croatia on Tuesday evening at 7pm.
