Midfielder as the prominent participant in the building attack: A network analysis of national teams in FIFA World Cup 2014

Comparison of network processes between successful and unsuccessful offensive sequences in elite soccer

“…On the other hand, offensive units with less passes would lead to a shorter time for the opponent team to organize the defence and would increase the chance of success. When referring to the centrality measures, central midfielders showed a higher value of %ODC both in successful and unsuccessful offenses, which supports the results of Clemente et al [9]. This finding indicates that this tactical position plays an important role in the construction of offensive processes [9].…”

“…When referring to the centrality measures, central midfielders showed a higher value of %ODC both in successful and unsuccessful offenses, which supports the results of Clemente et al [9]. This finding indicates that this tactical position plays an important role in the construction of offensive processes [9]. In addition, forwards presented the highest values of %IDC in successful and unsuccessful offensive units.…”

“…One prior study also showed a higher demand on forwards in the defence-offense transition, suggesting that this playing position denoted the second most recruited player in this moment of the game [12]. These observations contradict the results obtained by Clemente et al [9], who found the lowest value of %IDC (excluding goalkeepers) in forwards. However, Clemente et al [9] analysed all situations that started with a successful pass to a teammate and that ended in the loss of ball possession.…”

“…In this context, midfielders were the most prominent players during the offensive process in soccer [8,9]. However, few studies analysed the specific network properties of critical moments (e.g., before goals or shots on goal) [11].…”

“…It indicates how teammates interact during the game (e.g., successful and unsuccessful offensive attempts) [7] and characterizes the individual and general properties of their interaction with the use of a digraph. Studies that applied SNA assessed differences between team playing styles [6,8], identified the most eminent player in the team [9], presented the total number of connections in a game [6,10], and investigated the influence of the obtained variables with team's whole performance (e.g., winning or losing, passing to the next round or being eliminated) [4]. However, one limitation of these studies is the poor description of how players behaved in specific moments of the game (e.g., fast-breaks) to create a scoring opportunity, that is, inadequate determination of what actions players per-formed that resulted in a goal.…”