1 versus 1 in football after 20 years

Abstract

The new millennium was marked by the epic of the legendary Barcelona of Guardiola, the coach who revolutionized the world of football with his tiki taka. This game is made of fast ball exchanges, continuous changes of position and search for the free space to occupy but it has downgraded the dribbling, that is one of the main technical skills of the game of football. Starting from football schools, it almost seems that 1vs1 has been set aside to favour other fundamental techniques, so we find ourselves in a period where fewer and fewer players take the responsibility to try a bet in 1v1, but prefer to pass the ball to the closest mate. This research has analysed the goals of final stages of two World cup (the most football event),20 years later, Russian 2018 and France 1998 and has demonstrated that in 20 years, the incidence of goals scored after a dribble influenced by the action has decreased of 10%. From the round of 16 onwards of Russian 2018 have been scored 47 goals, whose 8 after an influential dribbling (17%). In France 1998 have been scored 45 goals, 12 with an influential dribbling (27%). The world of football should be open to new revolutions, without ignore none of basic skills to a player's growth.