analyzed. Teams' offensive patterns during games were coded using the .... (1%) were not evaluated because they were not broadcast due to instant replay of.
Offensive playing profiles of football teams from the 1999 Women’s World Cup Finals. Xanthi Konstadinidou* and Nikolaos Tsigilis** *Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences. **University of Thessaly, Greece, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences Abstract The present study was designed to examine the offensive tactic of elite women’s football teams. The sample of the study constituted of 20 games of the four top(quarter finalists) teams of the 3rd Women’s World Cup (USA, China, Brazil, Norway). Totally, 749 offensive phases were analyzed. Teams’ offensive patterns during games were coded using the following categories: (1) team, (2) zone of scoring attempt, (3) source of scoring attempt, (4) ball possession and (5) type of passes. Correspondence analysis showed that the four teams had different offensive profile. USA’s scoring attempts were mainly executed from the central zones using combinations of small and medium passes with low possession and set plays. China’s scoring attempts were mainly performed from the central and left zone after a combination of two or three small and intermediate passes. The source of Brazil’s scoring attempts was frequently executed from the box area and the right offensive zone, using combination with small passes and individual actions. The source of Norway’s final scoring attempts was mainly crosses and opponents mistake, executed from the box area. In addition, Norway frequently used small possession with long balls beginning from the defend area directed to the opponents’ box area. Key words: football or soccer, women, offensive playing tactics, video analysis, correspondence analysis
1 Introduction Women's football is a sport that has developed rapidly in the last decade. Its introduction in the Olympic games in 1996 and the subsequent success of the 3rd Women’s World Cup in the USA in 1999, verified the notion of Blater (1995) that women's football is the sport with the biggest momentum for the next century. Selection and application of the appropriate offensive tactic can determine the outcome of a football game (Luhtanen et al., 2001; James et al., 2002). Therefore the study of offensive tactics is of great importance in football. International competitions
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such as the European Championship, the World Cup, and the Olympic Tournament present an excellent opportunity to study the effective ways of playing the game, since in these major events developments and new trends in the game are presented. For example, Luhtanen et al. (2001) compared two recent men’s football tournaments, the European Championships of 1996 and 2000. Their results showed that whereas in the 1996 European Championships team work in defence could predict success in the tournament, in the 2000 European Championships it was offensive team work that predicted success in the tournament. Traditionally, assessment of the team performance has been restricted to simple observation of the game followed by subjective conclusions. Although video analysis (video recording and subsequent viewing of a match) is a valuable tool in football, mainly for the evaluation of the technique and tactics (Luhtanen, 1988), subjectivity still remains an unresolved issue (Pollard and Reep, 1997). However, application of the appropriate statistical techniques has established video analysis as a scientific instrument (Olsen and Larsen, 1997) for recording and analyzing components of performance (e.g., passes, shots) of a football game (Franks, 1988). Although there is much information on the technical aspects of the sport (Capranica et al., 2001), the scarcity of information on the tactical aspects is surprising. The lack of scientific data for the offensive tactic is more prominent for women’s football. Among the few studies, that provide some data on women’s offensive tactic are those of Miyamura et al., (1997) and Olsen and Larsen (1997). Miyamura et al. (1997), compared the time the ball was “in play” and “off play” of high-level female and male teams. Their results showed, that in men’s matches the ball was “in play” significantly more time than in women’s. They also presented data regarding specific parameters of the offensive game of the national women’s teams of USA and Norway. With respect to the amount of passes preceding the final action of women’s teams, USA had 75% scoring attempts without ball circulation, 17.9% after low circulation and only 7.1% using more than four passes. On the other hand, Norway had 71.6% scoring attempts without ball circulation, 23.9% after low circulation and only 4.8% using more than four passes. These percentages were significantly lower compared to men for the high circulation. That was probably due to the low technique of the women’s players. In a four-year prospective study, Olsen and Larsen (1997) analyzed the offensive game, both men’s and women’s, for the Norwegian national football teams. Their results showed that, Norwegian offensive tactic is characterized by long passes from the defence area where attacks get started. Descriptive data for women’s football games (e.g., numbers of shots, set plays) for the two previous Women’s World Cup, China ‘91 and Norway ' 95 and the last Olympic games can be found in the web pages of FIFA (FIFA Women's World Cup, 1995, 1999; FIFA Olympic Football Tournaments, 2000). The aim of the present study was to examine the profile of offensive tactics of the four top teams in the 1999 Women’s World Cup. Such a study could provide valuable data for the investigation of the development of offensive play of women’s football and can be used as reference in future research on the upcoming major football events (e.g., Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Women’s World Cup in China 2003). It was hypothesized that the top four teams in the Women’s World Cup would have different offensive profiles.
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2 Methods 2.1 Sample The sample of the study constituted the 20 games of the top four teams of the 3rd Women’s World Cup (USA, China, Brazil, Norway), which took place in the USA from June 19, to July 10, 1999. A total of 749 offensive phases were analyzed. Eight phases (1%) were not evaluated because they were not broadcast due to instant replay of previous plays. 2.2 Instrument of measurement A video recorder JVC HR-1700E was used to record broadcast transmission of the 3rd Women’s World Cup football games from American networks ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. The discrete parameters of the offensive tactics were coded and registered for each phase in a protocol and then were analyzed with the statistical program SPSS version 10.0. Research was limited in the offensive game in the attack 1/3rd of the field (40 x 70m) and only in those attacks that were completed with scoring attempt or were stopped precisely before a scoring attempt. Intra-observer reliability based on four randomly selected games was excellent, yielding a value of 0.98. 2.3 Determination of parameters of offensive game
4
2 3
5
6
7
Fig. 1. Zones of the soccer field
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1
Teams’ offensive patterns during game were coded into the following categories: (1) team: USA, China, Norway, Brazil, (2) zone of scoring attempt (Fig. 1): box area, left offensive zone (15 x 40m), right offensive zone (15 x 40m), central offensive zone (20 x 40), remain 2/3 of the field, (3) source of scoring attempt: combinations, individual action, cross, opponents’ personal mistake, set plays, (4) ball possession: without possession (when a scoring attempt was done by no passes or just one pass), low possession (when the possession included 2-3 passes), medium possession (when the possession included 4-5 passes), and high possession (when the possession included more than 6 passes), and (5) type of passes: short passes (when the ball was moved with short passes in one zone before the scoring attempt), intermediate passes (when the ball was moved with intermediate passes in next ground zone before the scoring attempt) long passes, (when the ball was moved with long passes - change of game) and mixed passes (when two or more different types of passes were used in possession). 2.4 Statistical analysis Correspondence analysis was employed to examine the profile of women’s offensive pattern in the 1999 World Cup. To simplify the presentation of the results four correspondence analyses were carried out. Correspondence analysis is a statistical method for analyzing contingency tables and multivariate categorical data. The objective of this descriptive method is to obtain a graphical representation of the rows and columns of the original data in terms of as few dimensions as possible. This visualization can be then used to reveal the structure and patterns inherent in the data. Detailed presentation of the correspondence analysis procedures can be found in textbooks (Benzecri, 1992; Greenacre, 1984) and review articles (Hoffman and Franke, 1986; Kiosseoglou, 1992). Table 1. Percentages of the offensive patterns across the four elite teams
Source of scoring attempt 1. Combination 2. Individual attempt 3. Cross 4. Set plays 5. Opponents mistake Zone of scoring attempt 1. Box 2. Central 3. Left offensive 4. Right offensive 5. Midfield Possession before scoring attempt 1. Without possession 2. Low possession 3. Medium possession 4. High possession
Brazil
China
Norway
USA
31.1 19.9 11.9 26.5 10.6
37.0 19.4 10.9 18.8 13.9
23.4 11.7 27.0 16.7 21.2
32.8 13.6 12.1 31.3 10.2
47.7 25.8 8.6 17.2 0.7
51.8 31.3 10.8 4.8 1.3
64.4 23.4 4.1 6.3 1.8
58.1 22.7 9.1 9.6 0.5
52.0 37.3 6.7 4.0
49.4 35.5 10.8 4.3
50.2 42.0 7.8 0.0
58.6 26.3 10.1 5.0
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Type of pass before scoring attempt 1. Without pass 2. Small pass 3. Medium pass 4. Long ball 5. Mix pass
26.0 29.3 30.0 9.3 5.4
24.7 27.7 28.3 14.5 4.8
23.3 20.5 25.1 27.4 3.7
19.7 25.3 31.8 19.2 4.0
3 Results 3.1 Source of scoring attempt Table 1 shows the source of the scoring attempt for the four top football teams at the 3rd Word Cup in 1999. Chi-square analysis revealed an association between the source of scoring attempt and the team (χ2 = 57.67, P < .001). Based on correspondence analysis a two-dimensional solution was found. The first dimension explained 81.5% of the total variance, while the second dimension accounted for 15.9%. Figure 2 clearly shows that Norway has a different pattern from the other teams. Specifically, the source of Norway’s scoring attempt is mainly crosses and mistakes of the opponents. In contrast, USA’s scoring attempt related with set plays, China’s with combination plays and Brazil’s with individual action of the players.
,7 ,6
Set play
,5
USA
,4 ,3
Cross
,2 D I M E N S I O n 2
Norway
,1 Brazil
,0 -,1
Personal action
Mistake
-,2 -,3 -,4
Combination
-,5
China
source of S.T.
-,6 -,7
team
-,6
-,4
-,2
-,0
,2
,4
,6
,8
1,0
Dimension 1
Figure 2. Results of correspondence analysis regarding the association between the source of scoring attempt (S.T.) and the four top women’s football teams
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3.2 Zone of scoring attempt Chi-square analysis showed that the zone of the scoring attempt was dependent on the team (χ2 = 33.11, P < .001). Figure 3 represents the results of the two-dimensional correspondence analysis regarding the zone of the scoring attempt. The first dimension explained 61.6% of the total inertia, while the second 31.9%. Norway attempted to score from inside the box and the midfield (zone 3 and 7), Brazil mainly from the right offensive zone and China from the central zone outside the box and the left offensive zone.
1,0
7
,5
Norway 3
2 USA
Dimension 2
0,0
Brazil
5
6 -,5
1
China
zone of S.T.
4 team
-1,0 -1,5
-1,0
-,5
0,0
,5
1,0
1,5
Dimension 1
Figure 3. Results of correspondence analysis regarding the association between the zone of scoring attempt (S.T.) and the four top women’s football teams
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,6 USA 0-1 pass Norway 4-5 pass
,4
Dimension 2
,1
Brazil2-3 pass China
-,1 -,4
possession before ST -,6 -,9
6> pass
team
-2,0
-1,5
-1,0
-,5
0,0
,5
1,0
Dimension 1
Figure 4. Results of correspondence analysis regarding the association between the possession before scoring attempt (S.T.) and the four top women’s football teams 3.3 Ball possession before a scoring attempt The percentages of the different types of ball circulation before a scoring attempt of the four top football teams are shown in table 1. Chi-square analysis revealed that the ball circulation before a scoring attempt was dependent of the team (χ2 = 21.8, P < .05). In the third correspondence analysis a one-dimensional solution was found, which accounted for the 83.3% of the total variance. Norway frequently used 2-3 passes (low possession) before a scoring attempt. USA seemed to make the scoring attempt after one pass or directly after winning possession of the ball. Brazil and China did not contribute to the first dimension inertia. 3.4 Type of pass before a scoring attempt Chi-square analysis showed the presence of an association between the type of passes before a scoring attempt and the team (χ2 = 25.12, P < .05). In the fourth correspondence analysis (fig. 5) only the one-dimension was found significant in explaining the 90% of the total variance. This dimension separated Norway from the other teams. Norway tended to use long passes before a scoring attempt, while USA made a scoring attempt after one pass or directly after winning possession of the ball. Brazil and China again did not contribute to the first dimension inertia.
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Dimension 2
,5 ,4 ,3 ,2 ,1 0,0 -,1 -,2 -,3 -,4
USA Medium pass
Long balls Norway
Brazil Small Chinapass
type of passes mixed passes
-1,0
-,8
-,6
-,4
-,2
-,0
,2
,4
,6
team ,8
1,0
Dimension 1
Figure 5. Results of correspondence analysis regarding the association between the type of pass before scoring attempt (S.T.) and the four top women’s football teams.
4 Discussion This is a study to provide information on the offensive patterns of elite women’s football teams in a major sporting event, namely the 3rd World Cup. Unfortunately the lack of relevant data prevented the comparison of the present results with prior studies. The main finding of the present study is that the four elite teams have different offensive profiles. The USA national team’s (World Champion in the 3rd World Cup) offensive profile shows that scoring attempts are mainly performed from the central zones using combination of small and medium passes with low possession and set plays. This style of offensive game is in accordance with the FIFA results for the 2nd (FIFA Women’s World Cup-Norway ’95) and 3rd World Cups (FIFA Women’s World Cup-USA’99) as well as the Olympic tournament of Atlanta 96 (Gregg, 1997). The large percentage of set plays for the USA team may reflect its ability to penetrate into opponents’ critical defensive areas. Analysis of China’s (the runner up of the 3rd World Cup) offensive profile indicates that scoring attempts are mainly performed from the central and left zone. The scoring attempts were conducted after a combination of two or three short and intermediate passes. The frequent use of the left zone may be attributed to player Sun Wen, who mainly used that area in her play. It should be noted that Sun Wen was voted as the most valuable player of the 3rd World Cup. China outperformed the other teams in combinations before scoring attempts. It is evident that China has strong cohesion and a high quality possession game. Similar results are presented in the technical analysis of FIFA (FIFA Women’s World Cup-
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USA’99), which reported that Chinese players improved their skills in comparison to the previous World Cup and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Game. In the 3rd World Cup Brazil finished third. This is a remarkable improvement with respect to the two previous World Cups, in which they were ranked in 9th place. The sources of Brazil’s scoring attempts were mainly performed from the box area and the right offensive zone, using a combination of short passes and individual actions. Figure 2 clearly shows that Brazil’s offensive style is characterized by individual actions in relation to the other teams. This pattern may reflect the high level of individual skill of the players, which has previously been characterized as similar to men’s Brazilian team (Luhtanen et al., 1997). Norway, the 2nd Word Cup winner in 1995 and the gold medallist in the 2000 Olympics Games, has a totally different offensive pattern than the other teams. More specifically, the source of Norway’s final scoring attempts was mainly crosses and opponents mistake, executed from the box area. Norway frequently used low possession with long passes originating from the defense area directed to the opponents’ box area. The current results are comparable to Olsen and Larsen (1997) and provide additional support for the unique style of offensive play that Norway’s women’s football teams use. This kind of offensive style requires the tall and strong forward players that the Norway team had at 2nd World Cup and Sydney 2000 Olympics Games, but was lacking at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics Games and the 3rd Word Cup (FIFA Women's World Cup, 1999).
5 Conclusions In conclusion, the results of the current research showed that the four teams had different offensive profile in the 3rd World Cup in respect to the four examined parameters. As far as it concerns the USA and China teams, the present findings is in accordance with those presented by Miyamura et al. (1997) after analyzing China’ 91 1st Word Cup. In regard to Norway, the current results are comparable to Olsen and Larsen (1997) and provide additional support for the unique style of offensive play that Norway women football teams use. Women’s football is a new sport with lack of research in analyzing tactics. Future research in the tactic of the teams at the upcoming events such as 4th World Cup 2003 and Athens 2004 Olympics Games, can provide useful insight in the offensive style of the high level women’s football teams. In conclusion, the results of the current research showed that the four teams had different offensive profiles in the 3rd World Cup with respect to the four examined parameters. Norway’s offensive style is the most different from the other three teams, using long passes and crosses. The rest of the top women football teams had similarities in the offensive pattern. More specifically USA attacks from the central area use set plays, China mainly performed from the central and left zone and Brazil’s attack from the box area and the right offensive zone with more individual actions. The results agree with previous studies of women’s football. There is also agreement with studies of the corresponding men’s national teams.
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Miyamura, S., Susuma, S. and Hisauki K. (1997). A tιme analysis of men’s and women’s soccer. In Science and Footbal III (edited by T. Reilly, J. Bangsbo and M. Hughes), pp. 251-257. London: E&F. N. Spoon. Olsen E., and Larsen, O. (1997). Use of match analysis by coach. In Science and Football III (edited by T. Reilly, J. Bangsbo and M. Hughes), pp. 209-220. London: E&F. N. Spoon. Pollard, R. and Reep, C. (1997). Measuring effectiveness of playing strategies at soccer. The Statistician, 46, 541-550.
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