In the game of soccer, throw-ins are an underrated and undertrained part of the game. Coaches are just now beginning to pay these out of bounds plays more mind. With the recent success of Liverpool winning the Champions league in 2018-2019 and winning the English Premier League in the 2019-2020 season, their implementation of a throw-in coach is starting to be taken more seriously. I predict that teams will begin to have throw-in plays, almost like a quarterback and a wide receiver running routes, within the next five years.
How can my team increase their throw-in percentage? I analyzed Temple Universities Men's Soccer teams throw-ins from their 2019 season and determined some conclusions:
Findings from the data:
Taking your time on a throw-in will give teams a higher success rate (8 seconds or more).
Throwing the ball in close proximity to the middle of the field will increase your success rate.
Teams are more successful when throwing the ball in when in their attacking third vs. their defensive third.
The direction a team throws the ball (forwards or backward) has the most significant impact on their success rate.
*Kyle Chin helped me collect the data for the Temple 2019 Throw-ins Dataset.
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