Finally I found some brilliant visualizations in this collection by a Parsons MFA grad (warning: very graphic-intensive site!). Here is an example (created by FAS.research) which analyzed the ball movement in the World Cup final between Italy and France:



It is immediately clear which were the key players in the match. If you saw the match, check your memory of what happened against what was plotted here.

Notice that every player was placed in his side of the pitch. The chart did not use any data on where passes occurred, only who passed the ball to whom. Such distortion is unavoidable in multi-dimensional charts, as the designer must choose some dimensions to display while hiding others.