The Importance of Set Plays in High Performance Football

The constant recording and evaluation of goal scoring characteristics are important and can present changes and evolutionary trends in football. The objective of this study was to analyze the importance of set plays actions for high performance football, checking the incidence of goals scored through these actions during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. 169 goals scored in 64 matches played in the tournament were analysed. The data were obtained from the FIFA website database, through official summaries and videos of the goals scored. According to the results, 68 goals (40.2%) were scored in actions originating from set plays. This high number of goals scored shows that these actions can be an important means of determining victory in high performance football matches, especially between teams of the same level. Among the main reasons to explain the results, we can suggest the following: greater training and tactical improvement, causing a better collective efficiency of the teams in the execution of these actions; and the insertion of VAR technology, mainly causing a greater number of penalties.