Want to find out more about Castrol's world class lubricants?
Choose your local country site here:
CASTROL INDEX ANALYSIS
CASTROL INDEX ANALYSIS RSS Feed
November 11 2009
Play-off hopefuls climb the Castrol Index
While Wayne Rooney finished the 2010 FIFA World CupTM European Qualifiers at the top of the Castrol Index, a number of players involved in the upcoming play-offs made significant moves up the rankings.
Despite missing England’s last game against Belarus, in-form striker Wayne Rooney kept his place at the top of the Castrol Index (9.77) and therefore finishes the 2010 FIFA World CupTM qualifying campaign as the top man.
The Manchester United star was directly involved in a competition-high 14 goals in the qualifiers, netting nine of those himself and providing an additional five assists. The former Everton man also mustered a joint-league-high 34 shots in the competition, and will no doubt be one of the Three Lions’ main men in South Africa.
Keeping his place on the podium beside Rooney is Cyprus’ all-time top scorer Michalis Konstantinou (Castrol Index 9.65), who also proved to be his nation’s top scorer in the competition, with four goals and an impressive 84% shooting accuracy rate to his name.
Completing the top three is Swiss striker Alexander Frei who moves up two spots after finishing the campaign with a haul of five goals and six assists, a total goal involvement which equates to 61% of Switzerland’s total tally.
While Rooney and Frei have already booked their places in South Africa, three players involved in the play-offs have made impressive jumps up the Castrol Index. Within the Top 20, Bosnia-Herzegovina striker Edin Dzeko (Castrol Index 9.50) makes the biggest leap, moving up 15 places to fifth spot. The VfL Wolfsburg hitman bagged his ninth goal of the competition in Bosnia Herzegovina’s final match of Group 5 against Spain, a haul bettered by only one other player.
In the play-offs, Dzeko and his Bosnia-Herzegovina side will face Portugal and central to their hopes of qualification will be winger Simao (Castrol Index 9.11). The Atletico Madrid attacker was a star performer in his country’s final game of the 2010 FIFA World CupTM qualifiers against Malta, scoring one and setting up another, form which helps him jump a massive 183 places to 19th place in the rankings. Considering the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo from the play-offs due to injury, much will be expected of the former Barcelona wideman.
The top-scorer in the 2010 FIFA World CupTM qualifying campaign, Theofanis Gekas (Castrol Index 9.50), also makes an impressive leap, moving up to joint-fifth place, alongside Dzeko, after a jump of 69 places. The striker took his total for the competition to a superb ten goals with a first-half strike for Greece against Luxembourg, with all 10 of those goals coming from close-range. Central to his success in front of goal was his clinical edge, with the fox-in-the-box converting an excellent 40% of his chances.
The Manchester United star was directly involved in a competition-high 14 goals in the qualifiers, netting nine of those himself and providing an additional five assists. The former Everton man also mustered a joint-league-high 34 shots in the competition, and will no doubt be one of the Three Lions’ main men in South Africa.
Keeping his place on the podium beside Rooney is Cyprus’ all-time top scorer Michalis Konstantinou (Castrol Index 9.65), who also proved to be his nation’s top scorer in the competition, with four goals and an impressive 84% shooting accuracy rate to his name.
Completing the top three is Swiss striker Alexander Frei who moves up two spots after finishing the campaign with a haul of five goals and six assists, a total goal involvement which equates to 61% of Switzerland’s total tally.
While Rooney and Frei have already booked their places in South Africa, three players involved in the play-offs have made impressive jumps up the Castrol Index. Within the Top 20, Bosnia-Herzegovina striker Edin Dzeko (Castrol Index 9.50) makes the biggest leap, moving up 15 places to fifth spot. The VfL Wolfsburg hitman bagged his ninth goal of the competition in Bosnia Herzegovina’s final match of Group 5 against Spain, a haul bettered by only one other player.
In the play-offs, Dzeko and his Bosnia-Herzegovina side will face Portugal and central to their hopes of qualification will be winger Simao (Castrol Index 9.11). The Atletico Madrid attacker was a star performer in his country’s final game of the 2010 FIFA World CupTM qualifiers against Malta, scoring one and setting up another, form which helps him jump a massive 183 places to 19th place in the rankings. Considering the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo from the play-offs due to injury, much will be expected of the former Barcelona wideman.
The top-scorer in the 2010 FIFA World CupTM qualifying campaign, Theofanis Gekas (Castrol Index 9.50), also makes an impressive leap, moving up to joint-fifth place, alongside Dzeko, after a jump of 69 places. The striker took his total for the competition to a superb ten goals with a first-half strike for Greece against Luxembourg, with all 10 of those goals coming from close-range. Central to his success in front of goal was his clinical edge, with the fox-in-the-box converting an excellent 40% of his chances.
| Rank | Player | Team | Castrol Index | Movement |
| 1 | Wayne Rooney | England | 9.77 | = |
| 2 | Michalis Konstantinou | Cyprus | 9.65 | = |
| 3 | Alexander Frei | Germany | 9.54 | ↑ 2 |
| 4 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 9.54 | ↓ 1 |
| 5 | Edin Dzeko | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 9.5 | ↑ 15 |
| = | Theofanis Gekas | Greece | 9.5 | ↑ 69 |
| 7 | Thierry Henry | France | 9.49 | ↑ 3 |
| 8 | Nikola Zigic | Serbia | 9.48 | ↑ 10 |
| 9 | Lukas Podolski | Germany | 9.38 | ↑ 8 |
| 10 | Olof Mellberg | Sweden | 9.35 | ↑ 25 |
| 11 | Jonatan Johansson | Finland | 9.34 | ↑ 8 |
| 12 | Andreas Isaksson | Sweden | 9.33 | ↑ 88 |
| 13 | Daniel Majstorovic | Sweden | 9.32 | ↓ 6 |
| 14 | Richard Dunne | Republic of Ireland | 9.27 | = |
| = | Frank Lampard | England | 9.27 | ↑ 2 |
| 16 | Ebi Smolarek | Poland | 9.25 | ↓ 8 |
| 17 | Andre Ooijer | Netherlands | 9.2 | ↑ 6 |
| 18 | Bastian Schweinsteiger | Germany | 9.18 | ↓ 14 |
| 19 | Simão | Portugal | 9.11 | ↑ 183 |
| 20 | Kim Källström | Sweden | 9.1 | ↓ 5 |
WHAT IS THE CASTROL INDEX?
