Abstract
Abstract Aim: The objective of this study was to verify whether the match winners in the semifinals and finals of the FIFA World Cup 2014 were those who presented the highest frequency of pressing and intense behaviors in the recovery of ball possession. Methods: The sample was composed of 533 defensive tactical sequences performed by the four finalist teams in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The independent t-test was used to compare tactical indicators between winning and losing teams and the chi-square test (X2) was applied to assess the association between the variables. Results: In the first (X2 = 48.47; P < 0.01) and second halves of regular matches (X2 = 64.10; P < 0.01), the evaluated teams recovered the ball in the defensive zone. However, during the first and second periods of extra time, the highest frequencies of ball recovery were found in the middle defensive zone (P < 0.01). Conclusion: It is concluded that the semi-finalist and finalist teams from the 2014 FIFA World Cup sought to recover the ball in the defensive zone, and pressing opponent movements when they were losing the matches.
Highlights
In recent decades, there has been an increase in the number of studies that aim to investigate sports performance during a soccer match
There is a prevalence of investigations focused mainly on aspects related to the physical dimension of a match, to the detriment of the tactical dimension[11]
The tactical dimension refers to the set of movements carried out in the game space to correctly solve the space-time constraints imposed by the opponents[12]
Summary
There has been an increase in the number of studies that aim to investigate sports performance during a soccer match. Among the variables that can be studied, the distance covered, type of activity[1,2,3], intensity[4], comparisons between different game positions[5,6], and efficiency of actions and technical performance during a match[7,8,9,10] have gained prominence in the scientific literature, providing important information to professionals involved in this context. When observing investigations related to the tactical dimension in the literature, it can be noted that the majority of studies have concentrated their efforts on the analysis of the offensive phase of the match[9,14,15,16,17,18]. Knowledge related to the defensive phase should not be neglected, as collective effectiveness requires the coordinated implementation of defensive tactical indicators[19,20]
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