The story of Other Odeku perfectly simplifies the football dream of any young man who aspires to be discovered by a club of a medium-high level, a call that usually depends on a cocktail that mixes luck and talent. At 18 years old, the forward tried to break through to the seventh level of the English football pyramid…when an unexpected call led him to play a trial match with the Burnley U23 team. Plucked from relative obscurity, Odeku was not discovered in the traditional way, but for registering scoring numbers similar to those of Haaland in a league without impact. And this is where the work comes in. Nacho Leblic, director de scouting de los Portland Timberswho has attended BRAND in the preview of Osasuna-Real Madrid to analyze the ‘new’ model to find the young pearls hidden throughout the football planetone that no longer only depends on the human eye and that brings you closer to any footballer on the planet.
Andre Odeku’s great goal, the footballer discovered with artificial intelligence
“We have just closed the last signing of the season”tells this newspaper exclusively about the incorporation of a new footballer as soon as the interview starts. Without wanting to give any names… but joking about the ‘triples’ that he has read in the press. And the Spanish talent scout is on the front line of fire, with absolute freedom and with the support of the MLS franchise to put together a team that is currently leading and that they do not know defeat (same points as Inter Miami with one game less). “Cata says a very good phrase that I have engraved in me: ‘In a football team you can only make 30% mistakes… because if you do, you will be relegated. And you can’t make mistakes in either the goalkeeper or the forward. ‘”says Nacho after work side by side with the technical secretary of Osasuna. And our protagonist began to make a name for himself in this industry in Tajonar.
Osasuna’s BigData
“At first the change was very little by little.. I was listening and adapting to their processes as a scout, trying to implement the data to have a deeper analysis before carrying out any operation and know how it can impact Osasuna’s game model“, he explains former head of Sports Data Analysis and Exploration at Osasuna about the arrival of the data to Spanish football. “It’s about contributing additional data that the human brain cannot retaintranslate it to football and that the error of each operation can be minimized.” In this way, the ‘Tajonar Method’a project that arises from the rebirth of the rojillo club after the great crisis of 2014 and that has led it to become the envy of Spanish football after ‘molding’ the DNA of its footballers with the utmost respect and care. The quarry comes first.
The difference between an MLS team and Osasuna… is that for me the resources here are unlimited
Nacho Leblic, director de scouting de Portland Timbers
According to his calculations, Currently one in five Tajonar players reach the first team and that “the objective is for more to arrive and in a better way” as the club assures. “The Brasanac case was curious because it had very large data if you did not extract it from the actual data…because when the ball came out he returned to his position very quickly. You cut and analyzed only when the ball was in play and its physical data changed a lot“, gives the Serbian footballer as an example to understand that The key with the data is knowing how to interpret it and read in the best possible way what each footballer gives you or can give you. It’s about translating it into football, which is the raw material of everything, and not moving away from what the real game is.
Unlimited resources in the MLS
Thus, there is already an upward curve that wants to make its way in the world of football to try to gain ground with the intention of becoming the ‘alternative football league’. It is almost impossible to compete with Europe, because the culture that is needed to continue growing does not yet exist, but investment and new infrastructure aim to threaten the established system for hundreds of years. “The difference between an MLS team and Osasuna… is that for me the resources here are unlimited. There, with very little, The demand was maximum because we had to stay in First Division and compete against great powers.. In Portland I have everything I want and I optimize everything I can. It is a club that is capable of being out of the playoffs… and the following year winning the MLS“, he assures.
If you only speak data, no one, no one will listen to you and they will not trust you.
“The MLS is the League with the greatest growth in the last five years, in fact it is the League with the highest income in the world after the Premier League”assures Gerardo Molina, CEO of the company Euromericas Sport Marketing. This is one of the keys to ‘soccer’, a competition that does not give rise to teams constantly repeating championshipsso there is always an opportunity for a new club to be champion. MLS offers the world an unparalleled competitive balance, having had 13 different champions in the last 15 years. “Now I have a large forest of data where I can work around the world, if you put together a good project you can be successful… on the other hand, In a context like Osasuna you know that being among the first four is already predetermined“, he tells MARCA.
We go to Norway, we adjust BigData to our game and it ends up giving us a reduced list of 10/20 players
This is the new search model to find unknown stars
“In professional football there are around 35,000 professional players and we have a scout in each game who ends up giving you a final assessment. There we are cutting corners a lot with the investment of time… because we don’t go to the Norwegian league and see each other for the 40 games they have. We adjust BigData to our game which ends up giving us a reduced list of 10/20 players and that is where the human eye comes into play to corroborate the data. It is the first filter in the unknown leagues,” he explains about the search carried out in the MLS to discover the most ‘hidden’ footballers on the planet… who fit what the club is looking for. Although it makes one thing very clear: “If you only talk facts, no one will listen to you and they will not trust you”.
The importance of arriving first… and a historic sale
“It’s about arriving a little earlier than the rest, because in the end there are a thousand eyes and when you arrive a little later“, after passing all the filters that we have established in our scouting department, then Montpellier arrives and takes it,” he assures about the importance of the speed of reading the data, key to fighting in an industry in which there are people very prepared. A market that never stops opening… to try to hit for two with each signing. A double vision that allows achieving performance and expanding the international brand.
The owner has sold the female part, he wants a winning project… and financially we are above average in the MLS
“We are doing some very interesting studies of competitions such as the Asian one and the signing not only performance, but combining performance with the player’s brand openness. Expand your vision, sponsors, countries and generate more income so that the next signing can be bigger than the previous one,” he says before analyzing the sale of part of the franchise. RAJ Sportsthe Bhanthal family who are investors in the Sacramento Kings of the NBA, acquired the Portland Thornsfor 63 million dollarsthe highest price ever paid for a majority stake in a NWSL team (National Women’s Soccer League) after the owner of the women’s franchise put the team up for sale in late 2022 amid a series of abuse and misconduct scandals that shook the United States. “The owner has sold the female part, he wants a winning project… and financially we are above average in the MLS”account.
Messi and a highway with Europe
Beckham’s ‘unknown’ great goal that goes viral again: how and where he put it!
“When Beckham came to MLS, the players had two jobs and that wasn’t that long ago. Some earned $13,000 gross per year…” explains what the arrival of the English legend to the LA Galaxy 17 years ago. The signing of the ‘7’ caused a restructuring of the MLS regulations and its Franchise Player law. Everything changed after the arrival of Beckham and that served to open the doors of American soccer to great international figures.. A legacy that he wants to continue expanding as owner of the Inter Miami.
When Beckham came to MLS, players had two jobs and that wasn’t that long ago. Some earned $13,000 gross per year…
“Players who are in the final years of their careers are almost no longer hired. That player who is 33 or 34 years old, who comes from Europe and wants to earn a million to retire in the United States. We don’t sign players like that anymore… I speak for us. We want players who are going to give us the best years of their careers. And when interesting offers come from names that are already proven but are already underperforming, they are rejected.“, he explains about the change that the MLS is undergoing. “Before, they were accepted and paid millions… but that trend is ending.”
Before you went to the United States and football forgot about you, now a highway is being built
And it is that It would not be correct to analyze the arrival of Leo Messi to the United States, just looking at the football side. The number 10 has been key to understanding that, in terms of entertainment, the MLS competes among the elite. His signing has been an ‘excuse’. Bringing the best in the world is the best strategy to showcase the sport and try to ‘create’ a soccer culture that allows for the definitive leap. “Before, you went to the United States and soccer forgot about you. Now there is more return… and certain sales of MLS to European soccer. As soon as that highway is finished, many will want to go through MLS to jump to European football,” he finishes explaining.
2024-03-16 06:28:47
#dont #sign #players #anymore..
