The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer Is Wrong

by Chris Anderson

When it comes to goals, though, all those findings, and Galeano’s philosophy, do not stand up. It does not matter whether your league has more foreign players or is reliant on homegrown talent; it does not matter if your tactical blueprint was originally inspired by Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff or by Nereo Rocco and Helenio Herrera, the grandmasters of catenaccio; it does not matter a jot if your league is infused with imports from northern Europe and France, like the Premier League, or Brazil and Argentina, like Spain and Italy, or Eastern Europe, like Germany. It may or may not be true that English players are fair, energetic and robust, that Argentines are wily and erratic, that Brazilians are rhythmic and inventive, and that South Koreans and Japanese players are hardworking and well organized. None of it is important when we look solely at goals in soccer’s top leagues.