Last summer’s European Championships demonstrated something unsophisticated about modern international soccer. Europe’s most prolific soccer nations faced off every few days with an abundance of world-class talent on display. Yet the end product often felt somewhat underwhelming. Games involving many of the tournament’s favorites felt cluttered, disorganized and rigid compared to the highest quality of matches played in the Champions League.
Match winners frequently relied on an oppositional lapse in concentration, error or fatigue, rather than their quality to proceed through the tournament. England, for example, colorlessly trudged their way to the final despite arguably failing to produce a performance resembling their star-studded, experienced squad until the semi-final. Similar critiques exist for France, Portugal and Germany, each of whom limped out in the quarter or semi-finals without providing much inspiration.
Teams were often selected arbitrarily rather than with a consistent, understood system in mind. England tested Trent Alexander-Arnold, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden in unfamiliar roles. They desperately attempted to squeeze all their stars into a starting line-up. In doing so, England failed to select a fit left-back to start the tournament.
Premier League clubs such as Brighton, Brentford and Liverpool have demonstrated the effectiveness of data-driven transfer approaches. They have built balanced squads that outperform their available resources. At an international level, it was astonishing to witness so many nations select a squad without a clear intention.
It isn’t necessary to field 11 world-class players
Club teams that win leagues, progress deeply into continental tournaments or vastly outperform their expectations rarely have a world-class player in each position. After all, Bayern Munich reached last season’s Champions League semi-final with Eric Dier as their starting center-back and Borussia Dortmund made it to…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/the-data-divide-why-arent-national-teams-using-it-as-much/
Author : Euan Walsh
Publish date : 2024-10-16 19:56:36
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