𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

We are pleased to hear from reader Jan-David A, who emailed us at live@theathletic.com to pose us this question:

📝 “It seems to be a high percentage of shots that miss the target, and also many attacks end with not-too-dangerous long shots. Is that symptomatic of international football, or is it a trend in this World Cup? The Turkey game today, with 30 shots more should be on target and the xG should be much higher.”

It’s a great question and one I’ll pose to the numbers experts at The Athletic — but my short answer for now, is that in this Turkey match, the desperation factor took hold.

With Paraguay down a player, the smart play for Turkey would have been to move the ball quickly and decisively to the ‘free man’. Keep Paraguay moving, keep the ball in play, keep their outfielders running, avoid silly fouls and set pieces that eat up time.

With Paraguay time-wasting, Turkey felt they had less time than they did, and resorted to low-percentage long shots, hopeful crosses and snatching at chances when they did come.

There have been plenty of teams who have been clinical with few chances at this World Cup. Brazil earlier today scored three goals from five shots on target and nine in total — so we need to dive deeper into whether it’s a tournament or international football trend.

And remember you can email us with your thoughts, comments, questions or observations via the above address, or join the conversation in our discussion tab right here.