Análise das Redes de Passes Ofensivas da Seleção Campeã da Copa do Mundo de Futebol 2022

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the offensive patterns of the Argentine national team during the 2022 World Cup. To achieve this, social network analysis was utilized. Two macro-level network metrics (density and clustering coefficient) and micro-level network metrics (degree centrality; betweenness centrality; degree prestige; PageRank prestige; closeness centrality; eigenvector centrality) were calculated. Seven matches of Argentina in the 2022 World Cup were analyzed. A total of 3,675 passes were recorded, resulting in an adjacency matrix for each match, which were then converted into graphical network representations. In addition to characterizing the offensive passing networks, the study seeks to investigate the influence of contextual factors during the competition and the key players who actively participate in the ball circulation within the team. It was observed that, collectively, the variable density showed a significant difference between the two halves of the game. To observe the individual contribution of each player, it was observed that individual network metrics, with the exception of vector centrality, were significantly different among players. Furthermore, it was found that players Otamendi, Fernández, and De Paul were the most active in the passing networks and were considered key players. Since the functional dynamics of football do not only imply the emergence of passing networks, statistical data, such as dribbles and ball carries, were collected from the FBref website, which provided complementary information that allowed for a more detailed analysis of the dynamics presented by the team. In this way, it was possible to observe the impact of players like Messi and Di María, who were responsible for the highest numbers of dribbles and progressive carries.