Automatic extraction of goal-scoring behaviors from soccer matches

Abstract

In a soccer match, a cooperative behavior emerges from the combined execution of simple actions by players. A cooperative behavior can be planned if players are previously committed to its execution prior to its start or unplanned otherwise. The ability to reproduce some of these behaviors can be useful to help a team achieve better performances. This work presents an approach to identify and extract cooperative behaviors that start from set-pieces and lead to a goal while ball possession is kept. The representation of these behaviors is abstracted using a set-play definition language to promote their reusability. A set of game log files generated with the FC Portugal team and collected from the RoboCup 2010 2D simulated soccer competition were analyzed. The results achieved showed that 25% of the total goals scored originated from set-pieces which attests to the importance of performing this analysis. Several guidelines for the definition of future set-plays were also inferred. In the future, these behaviors shall be tested to infer which are capable of neutralizing an opponent's team strategy and maximize the creation of goal opportunities.