Sprint Data In The Round Of 16

The first elimination round of this World Cup has been really entertaining with some major upsets, incredible matches and a lot of penalty kicks. Here is a look at the players who sprinted with the most frequency and highest top speed from this round of play.

The above graph shows some notable performers in terms of frequency of sprints and top speed. There is no significant correlation between the two metrics. The FIFA source data can be slightly arbitrary for these measures as there is no concise definition of what speed triggers a “sprint”.

Fastest Players

One game’s top speed doesn’t necessarily portray the pace that a player is capable of. Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland is a good example of this. He is widely recognized as a pacey player but against Sweden’s wall of defenders, he wasn’t able to build up to one of his fastest sprints.

Jesse Lingard

England’s Lingard was among the most active and fastest players in this round. His energy and teamwork allowed England to withstand Colombia’s second half push. He completed 60 sprints to lead England in the match and also led the team with a 33.52 km/h top speed.

Thomas Meunier

Belgium’s wing-back, Thomas Meunier, was the most active player of the round of 16. Meunier completed an impressive 65 sprints in Belgium’s incredible comeback victory over Japan. Meunier also reached an impressive top speed of 32.18 km/h.

What Can You Do With Sprint Data?

Analyzing sprint data can be tricky. Are you sprinting to recover because you were caught out of position or were you sprinting to take advantage of a scoring opportunity? When looking back on your own sprint data, recorded from your T-Goal sensor, you will want to look for trends. Are you sprinting more in matches that your team wins? In matches when you have received more rest beforehand? Is your highest speed always being achieved in the first half of a match? These types of questions can alert you to areas that you can improve in your fitness and preparation for a match.

T-Goal can help you to track important in-game data — like top speed and number of sprints — so that you can improve as a player. Learn more about T-Goal.

All data via www.fifa.com