Double World Cup winner and Castrol ambassador since 2009, Cafu, believes that this year’s tournament in his home nation will be the most exciting, and highest-goal scoring ever.
Speaking on the eve of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, Cafu the Castrol ambassador and record-breaking right-back said, “A lot of people were disappointed with the football on display in 2010. What should have been a real celebration of the game with all of the world’s best players together in Africa for the first time was typified by defensive play and lacklustre performances, resulting in the lowest goals per game ratio since 1990.”
But Cafu believes that fans should not worry about a repeat performance as he is certain that the host’s flair will rub off on the visitors. “Everyone loves watching attacking play, and there is no shortage of stars in the quality forward units that Argentina, Holland, Uruguay and Belgium have. As the world comes to Brazil, I believe that our beautiful, fast-paced, Samba style will inspire others to showcase their own attacking skills, giving us some thrilling and adventurous action to enjoy.”
Cafu was speaking at his Sao Paulo home, where he hosted an exclusive screening of Castrol’s Footkhana. The film stars the two-time FIFA World Cup™ winner alongside fellow Castrol ambassador and international star Neymar Jr, who joins up with a team of world champion freestyle footballers to take on global rally icon Ken Block. Released earlier this year, the film has become an online sensation with over 15 million views across the world to date, and is the most shared World Cup ad of all the tournament’s sponsors. In the hit film, which can be seen at Castrol.com/footkhana, Castrol continues its proud history of fuelling pioneers as Block and Neymar Jr push the boundaries of performance and attempt ground-breaking new skills that have never been seen before.
As an official sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, the widely respected Castrol Index also makes a return, utilising Castrol’s expertise in using pioneering technology and data analysis with the creation of a system to evaluate and rate player performance.
Previously used at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 and 2013 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, the Castrol Index uses the latest FIFA tracking technology to capture data on each player, which will then be analysed by a team of Castrol Performance Analysts. 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. The team of Castrol Performance Analysts crunch all the data to award each player a Castrol Index score out of 10 – the stronger the player’s performance, the higher their score.
Last year, Brazil’s Frederico Chaves Guedes, better known by his nickname, Fred, topped the Castrol Index while back in 2010 it was Spain’s Sergio Ramos who came out on top. The FIFA World Cup™ Castrol Index will be published at FIFA.com/castrolindex after each round of matches with the first publication on 18th June.
A. S. Ramchander, VP Global Marketing at Castrol, said: “We are really proud to be official sponsors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and as the spiritual home of football, Brazil is the ultimate backdrop for the festival of football we are about to witness. We can’t wait to see Castrol ambassador Neymar Jr, one of the major stars of the national team, put his extraordinary skills in action as he takes to the global stage. It’s also great to be working with the legendary Cafu – the most capped Brazilian player of all time – and to hear his prediction for an attacking goal-filled tournament.”
