{"id":165339,"date":"2026-06-17T21:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/165339\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T21:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:35:30","slug":"what-a-world-cup-match-looks-like-when-data-is-your-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/165339\/","title":{"rendered":"What a World Cup Match Looks Like When Data is Your Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of NGN Offside<\/a>, a blog about the 2026 FIFA World Cup, powered by data science.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagical.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was the feeling that Brennan Klein, a Northeastern data researcher and lifelong soccer fan, says he felt when he could see his professional work with numbers and statistics come alive at a World Cup match on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dream. \u2026 I had a phenomenal time,\u201d said Klein, who was one of more than 63,000 people at the Norway versus Iraq match at Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Klein leads Northeastern\u2019s NetSI Sport research team, which has been analyzing a host of soccer data from the tournament for Northeastern Global News\u2019 blog, NGN Offside<\/a>. One minute, Klein said he was marveling at Norway\u2019s attack and defense patterns as a data researcher, noting, for example, Norway midfielder Martin Odegaard\u2019s vision to find pockets of space on the pitch to counter Iraq\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

\"\"This diagram shows the passing in one of Erling Haaland\u2019s two goals for Norway.<\/p>\n

Data comes to life as researcher attends World Cup match\"\"\"\"\/<\/p>\n

After every one of Norway\u2019s four goals, he found himself swept up in the emotion of the game, he said, as Norway fans beside him turned and hugged him when their country scored. Norway won, 4-1.<\/p>\n

With a seat in the middle tier just left of the center of the pitch, Klein had a clear view of the game, which made it that much easier to pick up on the data-rich trends unfolding before him.<\/p>\n

This post is part of NGN Offside<\/a>, a blog about the 2026 FIFA World Cup, powered by data science.<\/p>\n

Klein has attended four previous World Cups: the 1994 U.S. tournament when he was 3, the 1998 games in France, the 2006 event held in Germany, and the 2010 tournament in South Africa. He said that watching on TV doesn\u2019t always allow viewers to see how offensive attacks or defensive strategies unfold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s defenders draw back during an attack by Iraq. Courtesy Video<\/p>\n

In a video he shared, you can see the Norwegian defenders all draw back toward their goal in unison as Iraq begins an attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can imagine them being attached with a string, where if one person comes up, then he\u2019s kind of pulling his neighboring defenders with him,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n

A separate image below shows Iraq\u2019s defense using a similar strategy. There are two lines, or banks, of four of defenders. Klein explained that teams use this strategy to defend against strong offensive players, while the footballers on offense try to find space in between these banks to set up their attack.<\/p>\n

\"NorwayNorway\u2019s offense in action. Courtesy Photo<\/p>\n

One player who stood tall \u2014 literally \u2014 was Erling Haaland<\/a>, a 6-foot-5-inch striker and electric goal scorer, who netted two goals in Tuesday\u2019s match. Haaland\u2019s size and speed were a sight to behold, Klein said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t anticipate that he\u2019s that fast because he\u2019s so enormous,\u201d said Klein, who described Haaland as a Tyrannosaurus rex that puts its head down and starts charging. Haaland\u2019s first goal came off a beautiful crossing pass and finish, where Haaland slid as he drove the ball into the net, nearly crashing into a goalpost. See the graphic below for the sequence of events that led to the goal.<\/p>\n

Norwegian fans made synchronized rowing motions while repeatedly shouting \u201cHu!\u201d Courtesy Video<\/p>\n

Klein also made note of the great camaraderie between both teams\u2019 fans, who he said welcomed each other into their chants. He said this friendliness is often the case early in the World Cup in the group stage when the teams don\u2019t necessarily have heated rivalries.<\/p>\n

A fun experience, Klein said, came when the Norwegian fans made synchronized rowing motions while repeatedly shouting \u201cHu!\u201d to help their team increase its defensive intensity. He captured it on video.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like they had this kind of psychic connection with the team,\u201d Klein said, comparing it to U.S. fans chanting \u201cdefense\u201d during a basketball game.<\/p>\n

Greg St. Martin is a news reporter at Northeastern Global News. Email him at g.stmartin@northeastern.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This post is part of NGN Offside, a blog about the 2026 FIFA World Cup, powered by data…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[2030,94,2576,2577,3222],"class_list":["post-165339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-data","tag-iraq","tag-soccer","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116767603406785381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}