title: Physical and technical performances are not associated with tactical prominence in U14 soccer matches.
abstract: The aim of this study was to analyse the association between physical/technical variables and the tactical prominence variables in U14 soccer matches. Twenty-two young amateur soccer players (13.5 [Formula: see text] 0.5 years old, 5.4 [Formula: see text] 0.5 years of practice, 163.3 [Formula: see text] 9.8 cm in body height) from two teams of the Portuguese regional league volunteered for the study. Our results showed positive and moderate correlation between dribbling test and betweenness centrality (r = 0.324; p = 0.142), and negative moderate correlation between %fatigue index and betweenness centrality (r = -0.390; p = 0.073). Physical and technical variables had no statistical differences among tactical positions. Nevertheless, when tactical prominence of players from four tactical positions were compared, significant differences were found in terms of degree prestige (p = 0.001) and degree centrality (p = 0.002). This pilot study did not find strong correlations between physical/technical levels and tactical prominence in soccer matches.
authors.affiliation: a Escola Superior de Desporto e Lazer , Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo , Melgaço , Portugal.|b Applied Mathematics , Instituto de Telecomunicações , Covilhã , Portugal.
authors.forename: Filipe Manuel
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Clemente
authors.affiliation: c Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education , University of Coimbra , Coimbra , Portugal.|d CIDAF, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education , University of Coimbra , Coimbra , Portugal.
authors.forename: António José
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Figueiredo
authors.affiliation: b Applied Mathematics , Instituto de Telecomunicações , Covilhã , Portugal.|e Department of Education , RoboCorp, ASSERT, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, ESEC , Coimbra , Portugal.
authors.forename: Fernando Manuel Lourenço
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: e Department of Education , RoboCorp, ASSERT, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, ESEC , Coimbra , Portugal.
authors.forename: Rui Sousa
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: f Sport Science Research Center , Shandong Sport University , Shandong , China.|g Human Performance Laboratory , Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) , Hong Kong , China.
authors.forename: Del P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005080:Exercise Test; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011174:Portugal; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Performance analysis; individual prominence; match analysis; network; tactics; technic