Euro 2024 Network Diagram - Now the group stage community views

I described the group stage diagram as looking like a peacock (https://fulltimesportsfan.wordpress.com/2024/06/15/euro-2024-network-diagram-only-a-day-late/), and I'm amazed how many of the peacock tail survived. Well done Georgia and Romania in particular. 

My prediction for who would go out was Albania, Slovenia, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine and Scotland, then Slovakia and Hungary, with Poland or Austria in place of one of Romania, Slovakia or Ukraine. I was right for 5/8, which I could as going okay. I also hadn't expected Belgium to turn the Group of Cuddly into the Group of Sickos.

 

The network graphs for the last 16 look like this:  The central core are still there (mostly, really wasn't expecting Croatia to go out), with four teams trailing out to the right. Labelled, it looks like this: Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Georgia being so far away from the main core highlights how much of a surprise their going through to the last 16 is. 

Because of the odd weighting, identifying the central team is less valuable than usual. Italy are the national team closest to the centre, and Juventus are the club team closest to the centre. 

The club teams with the most players left in are Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain with 12, then Manchester City with 11, then Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona 10.

The community view looks like this:    Now each team is it's own community. 

Predictions, as requested by L. 

Spain vs Georgia - diagram says Spain 

Germany vs Denmark - no clear winner on the diagram 

Portugal vs Slovenia - diagram says Portugal 

France vs Belgium - diagram says France 

Romania vs Netherlands - diagram says Netherlands 

Austria vs Turkey - no clear winner on the diagram (I will be crossing my fingers and avoiding the match) 

England vs Slovakia - diagram says England 

Switzerland vs Italy - no clear winner on the diagram 

That central core is tightly packed, which is what's led to that uncertainty.

Euro 2024 Network Diagram - Now the group stage community views

Because I was trying to race the start of the Euros with my diagrams, I didn't add the community view.

They're below and are quite busy.    There are 20 communities for 24 teams. 

Belgium and Denmark share a community because both teams have players that play for Anderlecht. France and Portugal share a community because of their Paris Saint Germain players.  

Then there's Albania and Croatia, and despite almost being on opposite sides of the diagram, Austria and Hungary are one group.

Euro 2024 Network Diagram - Only a day late

(Stuff, still happening. Everything, still late.) 

So after OMG! 12 years of doing this, I know what shape I am expecting from this sort of thing. 

I am expecting a central tight core, surrounded by others (like the diagram below).  

Now sometimes, the cluster is shifted and tighter at one point rather than the centre, like at the Women's World Cup 2023 (https://fulltimesportsfan.wordpress.com/2023/07/22/womens-world-cup-2023-group-stage-network-diagrams/), but what I didn't expect is what this one looks like. 

I've made a simplified description below because having 24 teams with 26* players each makes the diagram really busy. (* Except France and Belgium, because ... actually does anyone know why?)  

So there's one cluster, and the other, less connected, teams splay out like a peacock's tail.

This is what the real one looks like:    The same diagram, but now labelled, which only makes it busier.  

It does make identifying the central team less worthwhile than usual. 

That team are Italy. 

Turkey are a lot closer to the cluster centre than I expected. 

One of Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid are the club team closest to the centre. 

The clubs with the most representatives are Inter Milan and Manchester City with 13. The come Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain with 12, the Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig with 11. 

Interestingly, a lot of Barcelona and Real Madrid players are not playing for Spain and we've definitely moved on from the days where Spanish players played for either one or the other. 

I am not even getting into the whole thing about 3 different club teams all being Red Bull teams (not least because I have a whole post about it here - https://fulltimesportsfan.wordpress.com/2023/03/29/in-which-we-know-that-uefa-wont-do-anything-about-dual-ownership-but-a-girl-can-dream/). 

Prediction: From the diagram, I think the 8 teams that will be eliminated will be Albania, Slovenia, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine and Scotland, then Slovakia and Hungary. 

You'll note that includes none of the group D teams, supporting the theory that it really is a group of Death!!! I suspect one of Poland and Austria will be out instead of Ukraine. Group E more like the group of cuddly if you're Belgium.

Saints Ahoy - Visualisations from game 7 and the season to date

(Sorry for the break, RL happened with a vengeance) 

The most important thing about Easter weekend was that the forces of Good (Saints) beat the forces of Evil (Wigan) in the Good Friday game, somewhat against the run of form. 

In the sort of derby where it was 2-0 at half time, 3 people went off for Head Injury Assessments and there was somehow only 1 yellow card 

https://www.saintsrlfc.com/2024/03/29/saints-defeat-wigan-on-good-friday/ https://twitter.com/SuperLeague/status/1773756078875959601 - Tommy, Tommy Mak 

Those are the important rugby points ;) 

There is still no obvious pattern to when Saints score Percival and Lomax, the kickers, are still the people with the highest number of point-scoring moments, as expected. Tommy Makinson is still doing his thing (Tommy Tommy Mak!) But there's also no pattern to when they score. Only 3 players have been present for all point-scoring moments, Whitley, Welsby and Lomax. In the matrix, the cluster of always theres has moved into the middle, possibly because there's so few of them. There are now 19 people in the present when Saints score network graph, a central 15, plus Mbye, Lees, Knowles and Walmsley stuck out from them. Moving over to when Saints concede. Our three ever presents are here as well but Bennison is there as well, which is unexpected. Not sure if he's just been unfortunate to be on the pitch when Saints are short-handed, or if I need to start shouting about defensive practise. The network diagram for when Saints concede now has 13 players. ~~~~ 

Given the sad news - Rugby league legend Burrow dies aged 41 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/articles/c2qqwvwzp5zo) - if you like these posts and have a few quid to spare, there's a couple of funds that could do with donations: 

Motor Neurone Disease Association - https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/robburrow 

Rob Burrow fund - https://www.gofundme.com/f/leeds-players-association-supporting-rob-burrow Leeds Hospital Charity - https://www.leedshospitalscharity.org.uk/donate/mnd-centre-appeal