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World Cup: Holland-Uruguay Passing Stats

By Hawerchuk
Getty Images

The passing stats from Holland's perspective show a team that dominated the Uruguayans when the game was on the line:

Mins Pass F Wgtd Pass A Wgtd % Pass % Wtd
Tied 48.8 516 100 234 47 69 68
Up 1 29.5 177 39 284 59 38 40
Up 2 18.5 311 71 350 65 47 52

Holland is better than Uruguay, but not so much better that they could afford to not back off when they had the lead - Uruguay controlled possession when they were trailing by 1.

It's instructive to look at each team's performance while tied and compare it to how they did in previous games. First, Holland:

Hol Mins Pass F Wgtd Pass A Wgtd % Pass % Wtd
vs Uru 48.8 516 100 234 47 69 68
Prev. 194 508 95 289 56 64 63

The Dutch were reasonably dominant so far, but reached a new level against the Uruguayans. If they face Germany, I think they'll be substantially underrated. As for Uruguay, they stunk up the joint:

Uru Mins Pass F Wgtd Pass A Wgtd % Pass % Wtd
vs Hol 48.8 234 47 516 100 31 32
Prev. 300.3 222 49 340 76 39 39

Uruguay had not favored ball possession thus far, but this represents a new low. Controlling just 32% of passing and territory is simply not going to win you very many games.