Opinion Sport

WATCH: Let’s hail the real heroes

Sizwe Mbebe|Published

Midfield boss: Sibongiseni Mthethwa, right.Picture credit: Ryan Wilkisky

In the data-driven modern game of football, there are metrics and checkboxes that are considered when selecting the best-performing players.

Coaches have a monitor that they use to measure player movements and activities on the pitch.

For as long as I have been actively following football, the attacking players were the most celebrated.

For good reason too, they score and create most of the goals, and goals win matches.

Technology has allowed football access to deeper information about actions on the pitch.

Most recently, Stellenbosch’s midfield boss Sibongiseni Mthethwa was going to be awarded the Man of the Match award after an outstanding shift in the first leg of the MTN8 semifinals against Orlando Pirates at Athlone Stadium.

It looked like the match was going to be a 1-1 draw. Nobody had arguments about the selection of Mthethwa as the game’s best performer.

The decision was however changed when Pirates’ silky midfielder Patrick Maswanganyi provided the assist, his second of the match, that led to the winning goal.

This got me thinking that it might be time to consider what measures are used to track Man-of-the-Match performances.

If an attacker is rewarded for an assist and goal, don’t forget the odd shukela and tsamaya; tackles, interceptions and perhaps now even goalkeeper’s passes.

Attackers make up 20 percent to 30 percent of the team’s players, they’re best positioned to be in goal-scoring and goal-creating positions.

It’s not fair then that goals and assists are used as the main performance measure.

It’s similar to the “how many trophies has your club won” statements fans make nowadays.

If it were up to these modern social media experts, only clubs that win trophies are worth supporting and playing for.

Defenders and goalkeepers are affecting games a lot more nowadays.

A direct assist from a goalkeeper should be worth something significant, especially if the match ends up with a low scoreline.

It’s no wonder we see the same faces when the world 11s, there aren’t real measurements to track defenders.

Don’t be surprised to see a guy like Sergio Ramos still appearing on the shortlist for example.

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