Haruna, not Enyeama, is Eagles’ top performer at World Cup

By Ifeanyi Ibeh

Vincent Enyeama wowed the global football audience, as well as millions of Nigerian football fans, with his all-yellow football apparel along with his numerous saves throughout Nigeria’s unsuccessful run at the World Cup.

To the average football fan, the Israel based goalkeeper was Nigeria’s best player at the World Cup so it may come as a shock to them that someone else other than Enyeama was actually the country’s best performer in South Africa, according to the Castrol Performance Index, CPI, which FIFA is using to rate players in this tournament.

While Enyeama earned a credible 7.11 rating on the CPI, Lukman Haruna, the previously unheralded midfielder grabbed 7.81 points to rank as the country’s top performer.

In third place is one player a cross-section of Nigerian football fans have blamed for the Super Eagles’ loss to Greece, Sani Kaita who finished with a modest 6.26 rating followed by Taye Taiwo and the combative Dickson Etuhu, who covered more distance than any other Nigerian player at the World Cup - slightly over 29 kilometres.

Other players like Chidi Odiah, Chinedu Obasi and Danny Shittu also earned ratings from the CPI but there was no data available for the legendary Nwankwo Kanu, despite playing 57 minutes in the 2-2 draw against Korea Republic, as well as Yusuf Ayila and the five unused players - John Utaka, Dele Adeleye, Brown Ideye, Austin Ejide and Dele Aiyenugba.


What is the Castrol Index?

The Castrol Performance Index is a ranking system sponsored by Castrol. The system uses mathematical formulas which evaluate various player performance in terms of how individual actions either assist or prevent goals.

The system takes into account the strength of the opposition and the time in a game the player’s actions occurred.

Developed in conjunction with Arsenal manager and Castrol global ambassador Arsène Wenger, every pass, tackle and move on the field is measured and assessed to see if it has a positive or negative impact on a team’s ability to score or concede a goal. As such, the Castrol Index is the definitive system to objectively analyse and rank player performances throughout the 2010 World Cup.