Analyzing football tactics

Finding the next edge.

Design two energy-matched sessions to separate intensity from total load

Staff can match two football sessions on energy cost, varying only intensity, to expose what a single GPS total hides. In matched runs, players lost 12% strength after high-intensity work versus 10.6% after moderate running.

What a young player's first big shot can and cannot tell a scout

Luiz Henrique plays for Brazil now and became an idol at Botafogo. At six, in Petrópolis, he curled one left-footed shot into the top corner, and a youth coach invited him into a small academy on the spot.

Bernardo Silva’s center-back role and the limits of a positional experiment

Bernardo Silva described Pep Guardiola’s centre-back experiment against Arsenal as “uma loucura” — madness. Guardiola then moved the experiment to left-back, and still called the first-half version “horrible.”

World Cup will use a new five-second restart rule for throw-ins and goal kicks

A new five-second restart rule for throw-ins and goal kicks will be used at the World Cup. If the referee judges voluntary delay, a visible count starts. At zero, a delayed throw-in goes to the other team and a delayed goal kick becomes a corner. 1 2

Youth football injury prevention should teach players what early discomfort can mean

Before sprinting, pressing or small-sided games, young players need a quick way to report pain, heavy legs, poor sleep or instability; staff need rules for reducing or stopping work after that report.

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