European Championships 2008: All-rounder Sneijder leads

Flair players, precision passers, irrepressible tacklers and supersonic wingers – all of them feature in the Castrol Performance Index top 20 midfielders bound for the UEFA Euro 2008TM finals.

More than any other area of a team the midfield plays host to the largest variety of player shapes, sizes, strengths and techniques. And following the recent round of friendly games a much larger number of clubs and countries are also represented in the CPI list.

Going into the February 6th matches the Czech Republic had four players in the top 20, enough to construct an entire midfield. However, following a 2-0 home defeat to Poland only Jaroslav Plasil and Tomas Rosicky (who has lost the top spot to Dutchman Wesley Sneijder) remain on the list.

The CPI rewards players for important attacking contributions as well as valuable defensive actions and Sneijder is an excellent example of how a more complete midfielder is often a better man to have in the team than a specialist defensive or attacking player.

Before the latest friendlies, Sneijder had the highest attacking score in the top 20, but the lowest defensive ranking. The aggregate of the two left him in fourth place. The 23-year-old's contribution in the 3-0 friendly victory over Croatia actually lowered his attacking score but a better defensive performance more than made up for it and moved him to the top of the CPI.

It's a similar story for Portugal's Maniche, who has climbed eight places. Despite his team loosing 3-1 to Italy the 30-year-old, who has just signed a loan deal with Inter Milan, put in a defensive performance good enough to push him up to eighth in the rankings.

For more news on the European Football Championship 2008 please visit http://www.castrolindex.com

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This release was published on openPR.