On this episode of The Football Analytics Show, I talk with Mike Goodman, a writer who explains the finer points of soccer analytics. His content has appeared on FiveThirtyEight, The Athletic and Grantland among other outlets, and he’s the managing editor at Stats Bomb.
In previewing the World Cup, we discuss:
- The evolution of soccer analytics from goals to shots to expected goals
- The reason goal based analytics is still useful
- Mike’s top 4 countries that could win the 2018 World Cup
- Why the numbers underestimate Spain
- How expected goals might criticize the roster construction of Spain, Belgium
Mike does such an excellent job explaining the analytics, and I highly recommend listening to get up to speed on analytics before the World Cup.
Historian Ron Chernow dominates the non-soccer part of the conversation that ends the show.
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