Three soccer World Cups were analysed with the aim of identifying the match statistics which best discriminated between winning, drawing and losing teams. The analysis was based on 177 matches played during the three most recent World Cup tournaments: Korea/Japan 2002 (59), Germany 2006 (59) and South Africa 2010 (59). Two categories of variables were studied: 1) those related to attacking play: goals scored, total shots, shots on target, shots off target, ball possession, number of off-sides committed, fouls received and corners; and 2) those related to defence: total shots received, shots on target received, shots off target received, off-sides received, fouls committed, corners against, yellow cards and red cards. Discriminant analysis of these matches revealed the following: (a) the variables related to attacking play that best differentiated between winning, drawing and losing teams were total shots, shots on target and ball possession; and (b) the most discriminating variables related to defence were total shots received and shots on target received. These results suggest that winning, drawing and losing national teams may be discriminated from one another on the basis of variables such as ball possession and the effectiveness of their attacking play. This information may be of benefit to both coaches and players, adding to their knowledge about soccer performance indicators and helping to guide the training process.
The aim of this study was to identify specific performance indicators that discriminate the top clubs from the others based on significantly different pitch action performance in the Spanish Soccer League. All 380 games corresponding to the 2008-2009 season have been analyzed. The studied variables were divided into three groups related to goals scored (goals for, goals against, total shots, shots on goal, shooting accuracy, shots for a goal), offense (assists, crosses, offsides committed, fouls received, corners, ball possession) and defense (crosses against, offsides received, fouls committed, corners against, yellow cards, red cards). Data were analyzed performing a one-way ANOVA. Significant differences across sections of the league table were found for the following pitch actions: goals for, total shots, shots on goal, shots for a goal, assists and ball possession. The main findings of this study suggest that top teams had a higher average of goals for, total shots and shots on goal than middle and bottom teams (p<0.05). Bottom teams needed a higher number of shots for scoring a goal than the other groups of teams (p<0.05). Middle teams showed a lower value in assists and ball possession than top teams (p<0.05). In conclusion, this paper presents values that can be used as normative data to design and evaluate practices and competitions for peak performance soccer teams in a collective way.
The purpose of this study was to examine the consistency of performance in successive matches for international soccer teams from Europe which qualified for the quarter final stage of EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The eight teams that reached the quarter final stage and beyond were the sample teams for this time series analysis. The autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions were used to analyze the consistency of play and its association with the result of match in sixteen performance indicators of each team. The results of autocorrelation function showed that based on the number of consistent performance indicators, Spain and Italy demonstrated more consistency in successive matches in relation to other teams. This appears intuitive given that Spain played Italy in the final. However, it is arguable that other teams played at a higher performance levels at various parts of the competition, as opposed to performing consistently throughout the tournament. The results of the cross-correlation analysis showed that in relation to goal-related indicators, these had higher associations with the match results of Spain and France. In relation to the offensive-related indicators, France, England, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic and Spain showed a positive correlation with the match result. In relation to the defensive-related indicators, France, England, Greece and Portugal showed a positive correlation with match results. In conclusion, in an international soccer tournament, the successful teams displayed a greater degree of performance consistency across all indicators in comparison to their competitors who occasionally would show higher levels of performance in individual games, yet not consistently across the overall tournament. The authors therefore conclude that performance consistency is more significant in international tournament soccer, versus occasionally excelling in some metrics and indicators in particular games.
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