Decoding Argentina's path to World Cup glory: Unveiling the winning factors in match result analysis

The use of technology in evaluating the results of football matches has been used in various countries. This study aimed to identify and analyze the match results of the Argentina national team as the 2022 World Cup champion team. This research was a descriptive quantitative research that was analyzed in statistical form. The data sources were collected by the researcher by analyzing statistical data and video recordings of matches from the official FIFA website, Whoscored and Vidio. A total of 7 matches had been played by the Argentina national team in the 2022 World Cup competition, analyzed in terms of goals, ball possession, attempts at goal, direction of attack, distribution and defense. The results showed that most goals were scored in the 31-45 th minute and most conceded in the 76-90 th minute, with the most ways being open play, most goals scored in area 3 with the striker being the top scorer. Argentina is quite dominant and controls the match in ball possession, attempt on target and total distribution (passing success, crossing success, and line breaks success) in every match with many attacks started from the right. When carrying out defensive pressure and tackles, Argentina is also more effective than its opponent. In this study, it could be concluded that the parameters to achieve victory were not only from ball possession, attempt success, and passing success but also seen from distribution parameters (crossing and line break success) and defensive parameters, especially defensive pressure which was also an indicator of team success in a match. It is hoped that in the future there will be further research discussing the successful journey of a team in several competitions followed by analysis parameters that are not much different, especially with a more detailed analysis of distribution and defense systems.


INTRODUCTION
and evaluation at the 2013 U-20 World Cup (Goral, 2016), the effect of tactical formation on men's football physical and technical match performance (Forcher et al., 2022b) and analyze the performance of the winning German national team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup (Göral, 2015). The research is mostly focused on the process of goals, possession, passing, and shooting only. This research will add elements of attack direction percentage, distribution, and defense.
However, while many studies have examined various aspects of team performance in competitive football, most have focused on goals, ball possession, passing, and shooting processes. While important aspects such as the percentage of attack direction, ball distribution, and defense have received less attention in previous studies. In this context, this research has the role of filling in the previous research gaps by comprehensively analyzing aspects of the performance of the Argentine national team as the 2022 World Cup champions. Thus, this research is expected to make a significant contribution to the understanding and evaluation of the performance of the soccer team in high-level competitions by analyzing the results of the match for the Argentina national team as the 2022 World Cup champion team in terms of goals, ball possession, goal attempts, direction of attack, distribution, and defense.

METHOD
This research is descriptive quantitative research. The data sources were collected by researchers by analyzing statistical data and video recordings of matches from the official FIFA website. (https://www.fifa.com/), (https://www.fifatrainingcentre.com/), WhoScored (https://www.whoscored.com/) and Vidio (https://www.vidio.com/) with a total of 7 matches played by the Argentina national team in the 2022 World Cup competition. The data obtained will be analyzed in 6 parameters, namely: (1) Goals, which consist of goals scored and conceded, time of goal occurrence with time intervals of every 15 minutes including extra time (if a goal occurs in the 45+ and 90+ minutes, it will be categorized in 31-45 minutes and 76-90 minutes), mode of goal occurrence and conceding (including own goals), goalscorer area (figure 1) and goalscorer position, (2) Ball Possession with percentage, (3) goal attempts which consists of total attempts, attempts on target, attempts inside the penalty area and attempts outside the penalty area, (4) direction of attack, (5) Distribution which consists of total passes, successful passes, crosses, successful crosses and line break success, (6) Defending which consists of defensive pressure, forced turnover, possession regained, goal prevention, intercept and tackle. The data that has been collected will be analyzed and translated into descriptive statistics.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the 2022 World Cup, the Argentina national team played 7 matches with a total record of 15 goals scored and 8 conceded with an average of 2 goals scored and 1 conceded per match. In the first half, the Argentina national team scored a total of 7 goals and did not concede a single goal, the most goals in the first half occurred in the 31-45 minute period with 5 goals and the other 2 goals occurred in each period of 0-15 minutes and 16-30 minutes. In the second half, the Argentina national team scored a total of 7 goals and conceded 5 goals, the most goals were created in the 61-75 minute period with 4 goals while the most total conceded in the second half occurred towards the end of the 76-90 minute time period with 5 goals conceded. In the extra rounds, the Argentina national team scored 1 goal and conceded 1 goal in the first extra round, namely the period of 91-105 minutes and did not score or concede in the second extra round. As shown in graph 1, the number of goals scored and conceded based on 15-minute interval periods. Graph 2 shows that most of the goals were scored through open play situations with a record of 6 goals (40%), and the least number of goals were scored in dead ball set piece situations, namely 1 goal and no goals were obtained through own goals. In transition situations or situations that begin with winning the ball from the opponent managed to record 4 goals, the same number as goals scored at the penalty spot. In the number of conceding shows almost the same results in each process, namely Argentina conceded 2 goals each in open play, transition and penalty situations, while in set piece situations and own goals the Argentina national team conceded a total of 1 goal in each process.

Graph 2. Number of Goals Based on Process
In graph 3 we can see that Argentina scored a lot of goals in zone 3 or the center of the penalty box with 12 goals (80%), 2 goals (13%) in area 2 or the left part of the attacking area in the opponent's penalty box and 1 goal each (7%) was produced in area 4 and area 7. The Argentine national team conceded 8 goals with 4 goals (50%) occurring in area 2 or the right side of the defence and the other 4 goals occurred in area 3 or the centre of the defence. Graph 4 shows the number of goals scored based on the position of the scorer. The position of the scorer is based on the formation of the players in the match, this is because there are changes in roles and formations in each match. For example, Molina, a defender in his original position, scored a goal in the match as a midfielder, so he will be categorized as a midfielder as well as Di Maria. The highest number of goals was produced by players who played as forwards or forwards with 12 goals (80%), midfielders or midfielders managed to score 3 goals (20%) then defenders and goalkeepers did not manage to record a single goal.

. Number of Goals by Goal Scorer Position
In each match, Argentina almost always won the ball possession percentage except in the quarter-final match against the Netherlands with 43% first half and 48% overall, as well as against Croatia in the semifinal match with 44% first half and 39% overall. Nevertheless, Argentina's ball possession record is still balanced and slightly dominant compared to its opponents with an average of 56% in the first half and 57% overall as shown in table 1. In the Attempts at goal category we can see in table 2 and table 3 which describe the results of the acquisition of total attempts, attempts on target, attempts from inside the penalty box and attempts from outside the penalty box. In total, Argentina managed to record 104 attempts with an average of 15 attempts per match. Argentina tended to dominate every match compared to their opponents except for the semi-final match against Croatia, where Argentina lost the total number of attempts by 10 to 12. In terms of attempts on target, Argentina were always ahead of their opponents with a total of 48 attempts on target or an average of 7 attempts on target per match with a percentage of 46% when compared to the total attempts. This is higher than their opponents' average of 35% attempts on target out of 43 total attempts. In terms of attempts, Argentina recorded a total of 69 attempts from inside the penalty area with an average of 10 attempts per  In conducting the attacks depicted in figure 2, it can be seen that Argentina is very dominant in attacking through its 2 flanks, especially from the right side of its attack with a total of 143 attacks or an average of 20 attacks per match (43%). When viewed from the defense side, Argentina is attacked a lot through the right side of its defense with a total of 95 attacks or an average of 14 attacks per match with a percentage of 45%. The central area showed the least value with 16% of Argentina's attacks from the central area and 13% of Argentina's defense received attacks from the central area. The left side of the attack recorded 136 attacks (41%) or an average of 19 attacks per match and the left side of Argentina's defense received a total of 87 attacks (41%) or an average of 12 attacks per match.

Figure 2. Argentina's Attack Direction and Opponents
Tables 3 and 4 show Argentina's system of distributing the ball, particularly in attack, by showing the results of passing, crossing, switching and line-breaking. In terms of total passes, Argentina only lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and to Croatia in the semi-finals, but in terms of successful passes, Argentina only lost to Croatia. Argentina made a total of 4375 passes (625 passes per game) during the competition, outperforming their opponents who made a total of 3185 passes (455 passes per game). Argentina also averaged more successful passes than their opponents, with 549 per game (88%) in 3841 matches compared to 378 per game (83%) in 2646 matches. In terms of passing success, Argentina only lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and Croatia in the semi-finals.
Argentina dominated the distribution of successful crosses and line breaks, outperforming most of their opponents. In terms of total crosses, Argentina produced 115 crosses and averaged 16 crosses per game, the same average as their opponents. Of the total crosses made, Argentina made 30 successful crosses (26%), an average of 4 successful crosses per match, compared to their opponents' 21 successful crosses (19%), an average of 3 successful crosses per match. (FIFA, 2022) Argentina's line break success was 798 or an average of 114 line break successes per game, more than their opponents who recorded 580 line break successes or an average of 83 line break successes per game. Argentina's line break success results were lost against the Netherlands and Croatia in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Tables 5 and 6 will explain aspects of defensive results or when in out possession conditions. Total Defensive Pressure is the total number of defensive players applying heavy or moderate pressure on opposing players who are in possession of the ball with the aim that the opponent loses possession (forced turnover) or the transfer of possession to the defending team (possession regained). In table 5, it can be seen that Argentina's defensive system can be considered quite effective when compared to its opponents, because from 1688 total defensive pressure carried out resulted in 494 times (29%) forced turnovers and from 494 forced turnovers, Argentina got 350 times (71%) possession regained. On average, each match resulted in 241 total defensive pressures with 71 forced turnovers and 50 possession regained. If we look at the total number of opponents faced by Argentina, the total number of defensive pressure carried out is indeed more at 2649 times, but only 557 times caused forced turnovers (21%) and from 557 forced turnovers only resulted in 298 times of possession regained (54%). On average, each match resulted in 378 total defensive pressures with 80 forced turnovers and 43 times resulting in possession regained.
In table 6, it can be seen that Argentina's total goal prevention was 45 times with an average of 6 goal prevention per game, less than its opponent who managed to record 104 goal prevention and an average of 15 times per game. The total interceptions made by Argentina were 43 times with an average of 6 interceptions per game, while its opponent made a total of 51 interceptions and an average of 7 times per game. Argentina's tackles were also more effective than their opponents with an average of 79% tackle success percentage, more than their opponents' average tackle success percentage of 74%. From the results that have been presented we can know, identify, and analyze the results of the Argentina national team's matches at the 2022 World Cup in terms of goals, ball possession, attempts at goal, attack direction, distribution, and defense. Statistical results obtained in sports competitions are a significant tool to change the overall performance of a player or team (Senturk & Baskaya, 2017). In the 2022 world cup, Argentina scored 15 goals and conceded 8. This is more goals than the 2018 world cup winners France with 14, but France conceded only 6 goals in 7 matches (Taha & Ali, 2023). These results are still below the achievements of the 2014 World Cup champions, Germany, who managed to record 18 goals and only conceded 4 times (Göral, 2015). This result is better than the achievement of the 2018 world cup champion France with 14 goals and 6. If divided into 15-minute intervals, Argentina managed to score in each interval and scored a lot of goals in the 31-45th minute of the first half and 61-75th minute of the second half, the same achievement in total goals if divided by 15-minute intervals in the 2018 world cup (Kubayi, 2020) and Liga 3 Bali zone (Chandra et al., 2022). Minutes 76-90 of the second half showed the most goals in the Argentina national team with 1 goal scored and 5 goals conceded or a total of 6 goals, in minutes 76-90 there were also many goals in the 1998-2006 world cup competition (Başkaya, 2022), World Cup 2010 (Njororai, 2013) and England Women's National Team at the Women's World Cup 2022 (Başkaya, 2022). In some previous studies, it was stated that the total number of goals scored and conceded occurred in the second half, such as World Cup 2014 (FIFA, 2014), and World Cup 2018 (Kubayi, 2020). However, in this study, the Argentina national team obtained the same results in the first half and second half with 7 goals each, which means there was no decrease in concentration in terms of attack. With the result of not conceding at all in the first half and conceding 7 goals in the second half, it can be said that in the second half, Argentina players experienced a decrease in concentration in defense, fatigue or inappropriate changes in strategy in defense. In this study, it was found that many of Argentina's goal situations occurred in the open play process (40%), in terms of conceding the same value (25%) in the open play process, transition and from penalty kicks. One indicator of team success is the number of goals scored through open play situations such as Germany when they won the 2014 World Cup (Kempe et al., 2014), France with 9 out of 14 goals through open play situations (FIFA, 2018) and 75.9% of goals in Europe's Elite Leagues came in open play situations (González-Ródenas et al., 2020). In addition to analyze the occurrence of goals, this study also analyzed the areas or places where goals are scored. 80% of Argentina's goals were scored from the opponent's area 3 or the center of the penalty area, and Argentina conceded all the goals from areas 2 and 3 of the defense or the right and center of the penalty box with 50% or 4 goals each, thus proving that the highest proportion of goals have come from inside the goal and penalty area (Kubayi & Toriola, 2019), 80% of the goals of the England Women's national team, the 2022 Women's World Cup champions, have also been scored inside the penalty area, similar to the 71% scored by the French national team when they won the 2018 World Cup (FIFA, 2018) and England, champions of the 2022 Women's World Cup (Başkaya, 2022) and in the 2016-2017 European Champions League (González-Ródenas et al., 2020). This is due to the forwards want to improve their accuracy and increase the likelihood of a goal if they are closer to the opponent's goal. The biggest contributor to goals for Argentina is the forward in each game and the player who has scored the most goals is Leonel Messi with 7 goals.
In this study, it shows that Argentina's game also relies on possession ball and its influence is quite significant as evidenced by the average of getting 57% possession every match, with an average of 51.6 ± 6.8%. In general, winning teams tended to have higher game possession percentages (Farias et al., 2020). There was a modest increase when compared to the average possession in the first half which was 56%. The possession percentage may have a positive impact on the outcome of the match, but it cannot fully reflect the actual game situation (Kempe et al., 2014). The 2014 World Cup champions Germany recorded possession with an average of 56.7% (Göral, 2015). The 2014-2019 European Champions League results also show that most winning teams gained more ball possession than their opponents (Farias et al., 2020).
The study also showed that Argentina were dominant and effective in finishing with a total of 104 attempts with an average percentage of 46% attempts, compared to their opponents who only made a total of 43 attempts with an average percentage of 35% attempts. Statistically, the winning team at UEFA Euro 2012 had more shots on target than the losing team (Ergin et al., 2023). This is proportional to the results obtained by Argentina which deserves to be the champion because in this factor Argentina is very dominant compared to the opponents faced in the Bundesliga 2020-2021 shows that teams must have more goal attempts, shots, successful shots, successful passes, and key passes to climb higher in the league table (Ergin et al., 2023), The 2016-2017 Italian Serie A also proved that to increase the probability of getting first place, the team must increase the factors of sprint activity, goal attempts, total shots, shots on target and assists (Longo et al., 2019). The passing distribution factor also showed that Argentina produced a greater passing success percentage than their opponents faced, 88%, while their opponents produced an average percentage of 83% passing success.
From the results of the direction of attack, it is closely related to the distribution factor (crossing, and Line break success) and the goal zone obtained by Argentina. Many attacks were made from the right side of the attack direction (43%), and the distribution of crossing and line break success Argentina also produced more values than the opponents faced, it means that Argentina's game relies a lot on attacking from the right and then making line break crossing to the left of the attack and ending the goal completion in zone number 3 and 2 (Figure 1). This study proves that crossing is one of the most effective and valuable tactics, players have a sense of when to cross, and when they do, it is a good time to pass on average. For example, players should cross when approaching the end line, when there is space, or when there is a high ratio of attacking and defending players in the penalty area (Wu et al., 2021). This study explains that line breaks success is also very instrumental in the outcome of the match, with many line breaks, the chances of scoring a goal are greater because of successfully breaking down the opponent's defense.
In the defensive aspect also shows that Argentina is a solid team in defense, this is shown in the data that from the total defensive pressure carried out by Argentina is more effective, on average producing 29% forced turnover compared to the opponent faced which is 21%. Of the 29% forced turnover 71% resulted in possession regained while the opponent only 54%. Defensive pressure is a valuable key performance indicator for defensive play (Forcher et al., 2022c). In terms of goal prevention, intercepts, and tackles, Argentina does not dominate, this is due to Argentina's defense is quite effective as evidenced by the percentage of forced turnovers and regained possession, but also because Argentina controls possession more often. Studies show that a team's defensive style can be determined by certain indicators, and teams are advised to harmonize their styles rather than maintain a consistent strategy to achieve better performance. In addition, the categorization of defensive styles can be used during match identification and preparation (Ruan et al., 2022).

CONCLUSION
From this study it can be concluded that the parameters of achieving victory are not only from (which has been widely studied) ball possession, trial success, and passing success but also seen from the distribution parameters (crossing and break line success) and defense parameters, especially defensive pressure which is also an indicator of the team's success in a match. It is parameter that has made Argentina successful in winning the 2022 World Cup. The limitation of this study is that there are differences in data (although not significant) from several sources used and this research was only conducted in one competition period. This research contributes so that coaches can obtain an objective source of information about the team and its opponents to prepare the team both in the training program and preparation for the next competition. This research also contributes to providing another parameter that the analysis of match results is not focused on the method or process of scoring goals, but also distribution and defense, where this can be an evaluation for defense. It is expected that in the future there will be further research discussing the successful journey of a team in several competitions followed by analysis parameters that are not much different, especially with a more detailed analysis of distribution and defense systems.