Photo: Paul Rudderow

When it comes to soccer, statistics and numbers are hard to weigh because there just isn’t a lot of quantifiable data in the game.

We look at goals, assists, passing charts, and possession numbers, but you’re never going to find the breadth of information that is used for baseball, basketball, and American football.

One of the statistics, however, that’s becoming much more prevalent in soccer these days is the “final third entry,” which you’ve probably heard of if you read MLSSoccer.com or follow the OPTA guys on Twitter.

The statistic is exactly what it sounds like, a determination of how a team enters the ball into the attacking third of the field.

We use this parameter to learn how teams prefer to attack and how they build play through the midfield and into opposition territory. It can be used to troubleshoot poor offensive execution and chance creation for struggling teams.

You can generally enter the final third in six different ways: short pass (1 to 10 yards), medium pass (10-20 yards), long pass (20+ yards), dribbles (or carries), flicked headers, and throw-ins. Opponent turnovers are another way to get into the area, but I didn’t total those numbers, I just noted those scenarios in the big list below.

One issue with final third entries is that there is obviously a lot of discrepancy in compiling this statistic. There’s no magic line that determines where the final third begins, so a lot of this is determined by the naked eye. It’s also impossible to measure if a pass went 17 yards or if it went 21 yards. It’s usually a bit easier to figure out when a grounds crew mows the field in parallel rows, which creates a discoloration in specific intervals.

For purposes of this article, I re-watched the entirety of the Colorado game and made the judgments one play at a time. I logged entries that both succeeded and failed, and tried to be specific in what lead to chance creation and what didn’t. I also counted free kicks that were lumped into the area as “long balls,” so keep that in mind when looking at the number totals. A lot of this is very subjective in nature, so cross-check the compiled numbers with the individual attempts.

See below for the full list of entries. We’ll do this for the RSL and Dallas games as well.

Philadelphia 0-0 Colorado

Short pass – 6
Medium pass – 15
Long pass – 31
Dribble – 11
Header – 1
Throw – 6
Total – 70

First half final third entries

2′ – Andrew Wenger dribble, double teamed, ball out for a throw-in

5′ – Maurice Edu medium pass, cut out before reaching Wenger

6′ – Rais Mbolhi free kick, flicked on by Fernando Aristeguieta, cleaned up by Rapids

7′ – Maurice Edu short pass to Wenger, angled shot blocked

9′ – Ray Gaddis short pass for Wenger, cycled back and outside of the zone

10′ – Wenger short pass for Gaddis, overlapping run leads to cross and scoring chance

11′ – Nogueira long pass for Aristeguieta in the right channel, shot deflected for a corner

13′ – Wenger medium pass for Aristeguieta, cut out by defense

13′ – Ethan White long ball, intercepted by James Riley

14′ – Gaddis long ball, misplayed then cleared by Colorado

14′ – Gaddis medium pass, challenge on a 50/50 ball results in a lumped pass that Aristeguieta wins

15′ – White long ball, cleared

15′ – Le Toux long ball/cross, picked up by Clint Irwin

18′ – Wenger medium pass for Gaddis on the left

19′ – C.J. Sapong dribble into right channel

21′ – CHANCE – long diagonal from Nogueira to Williams, cross falls to Wenger and ensuing shot hits crossbar

24′ – long throw, quick restart from Williams to Sapong on the right, foul leads to Bobby Burling yellow

25′ – White long ball, recycle attempt into box after cleared free kick

27′ – Williams long ball for Le Toux, falls for Aristeguieta at the edge of the area

29′ – Aristeguieta on the counter, long ball for Le Toux cut out

29′ – Williams long ball cleared

31′ – Gaddis throw for Aristeguieta is cleared

32′ – C.J. Sapong dribble after Rapids turnover, short overlap for Le Toux is snuffed out in the box

33′ – Nogueira medium chip goes out for a goal kick

34′ – Aristeguieta header, flicks on a White long-ball that Colorado clears

34′ – Wenger picks up the loose ball and dribbles down the left

35′ – Edu dribble down the left flank, beats one man, the cross is cut off

37′ – Le Toux cross/long-ball, free kick from edge of area headed down for shot on goal

39′ – Williams long on a free kick, handled by C.J. Sapong

42′ – Edu dribble into the area, short ball left for Wenger is deflected into the air

43′ – Wenger short pass inside centrally, cycled back out

43′ – Williams long cross, cleared by Colorado

44′ – White long ball, first won by Colorado, then falls to Le Toux for a shot on goal

45′ – Le Toux long on a free kick, doesn’t clear first man

Vincent Nogueira’s passing chart against Colorado. You can see most of his distribution was side to side in the middle third of the field. Philadelphia did not have a true attacking midfielder on the pitch until Cristian Maidana came on at halftime.

Second half final third entries

45′ – (Maidana on for Sapong)

46′ – Maidana dribble, takes space on the left and tries a right-footed cross that’s blocked

46′ – Wenger medium pass to Gaddis, who dribbles down the left flank

49′ – Gaddis throw from just outside the area to Maidana

50′ – Wenger dribble, collects centrally, turns, and gets into area, short pass snuffed out

50′ – Williams throw, quick restart knocked out of play

51′ – Gaddis medium pass, one-time recycled ball on a cleared throw-in

52′ – Gaddis short pass centrally for Aristeguieta, played wide, results in cross

53′ – Maidana short pass, touch forward is cut out

54′ – Vitoria long diagonal won by Colorado

56′ – Gaddis long ball for Aristeguieta, out for a goal kick

57′ – White long ball finds Maidana in the right corner, broken play leads to shot on goal

61′ – Ray Gaddis long ball finds Maidana in the left corner

63′ – Nogueira long ball for Le Toux on the right, won by Michael Harrington

63′ – Gaddis long ball for Aristeguieta on the left, won by Burling

63′ – Vitoria long ball finds Maidana in the left corner

64′ – Williams dribble on the right, following good switch of play by Nogueira

66′ – Maidana dribble, fights off Sarvas and gets centrally into the area

67′ – Maidana medium pass to the right channel cut out

68′ – (Burling sent off for second yellow card)

71′ – Maidana medium pass for Aristeguieta on the counter, played out by Colorado

75′ – Sheanon Williams cross/long ball from just on the edge of the area, cleared

75′ – Williams long ball for Le Toux, played out

76′ – Gaddis long ball for Aristeguieta, cut out

76′ – White long ball for Ariesteguieta, cut out

78′ – Vitoria long ball for Maidana, cut out

78′ – Gaddis long throw for Aristeguieta, won by Colorado

79′ – Nogueira medium pass on the ground played out by Colorado

79′ – CHANCE – Edu medium pass for Wenger, finds him on the left after a central movement, leads to cross and Le Toux header over the bar

82′ – Wenger dribble, pushes ahead after turnover, plays a nutmeg pass for Aristeguieta that is scuffled out of play

85′ – (Casey and Pfeffer on for Nogueira and Le Toux)

86′ – Gaddis dribble, finds Aristeguieta on the left, draws a foul, set piece is turned on goal by Casey

90′ – Edu medium pass on left for Gaddis

Cristian Maidana’s passing chart. You can see the flurry of activity going forward, including four key passes

90′ – Williams long-ball/cross from edge of area

91′ – Maidana long-ball/cross cleared out

92′ – White medium pass for Pfeffer intercepted

93′ – Maidana long ball cleared

94′ – Vitoria pushes left, medium pass for Gaddis

96′ – Pfeffer medium range chip for Wenger, who commits a foul

97′ – Maidana free kick/long ball at the dying whistle

Observations

It’s obviously disconcerting to see so many long ball attempts in this game. Even on some restarts that took place on the edge of the final third, Philly settled for deep crosses instead of trying to play short and move the ball on the ground. Ethan White also played a number of long passes out of the back instead of trying to get the ball to Maurice Edu and Vincent Nogueira.

The red card took place in the 68th minute, which should have theoretically opened up more room on the field. But you see that series of four long balls and a long throw starting in the 75th minute; that was more typical of the Union approach. They were conservative and moved the ball side-to-side instead of trying to play between Marcelo Sarvas and Lucas Pittinari.

All game long, Philly had possession in the area just outside of the final third. They didn’t play a lot of centrally-based short or medium passes. The addition of Cristian Maidana helped initially, though his influence began to fade and his tendency to pop up on the left and right crowded out the wingers a bit.

Overall, Philly seemed to play just too slow on this afternoon. There wasn’t a lot of overlap from the fullbacks either. The best opportunities of the game came from quick ball movement and dribbles into the final third.