For Sports Illustrated, our Paul Carr analyzes the four MLS conference finalists and their vastly different playing styles.

Measuring playing style by where a team begins possession and how long a team maintains possession, the quartet could not have been much more different this season.

New York and Sporting Kansas City began the most possessions in the attacking third. Sporting Kansas City and Atlanta had longer possessions than any other teams. Atlanta and Portland rarely gained possession in the attacking third. Portland and (especially) New York had some of the shortest average possessions in the league.

Full article: Sports Illustrated

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TruMedia’s Paul Carr uses ProVision to explore how Julian Green and Jonathan Amon might be able to fill the void left by Christian Pulisic’s absence from the United States attack.

“Pulisic won’t participate in the two October friendlies because of a torn calf muscle, meaning he'll have gone more than a calendar year playing just 89 minutes for the national team. The U.S. will miss him most in the center of the midfield, where he has no obvious replacement as a chief attacker and playmaker. In his absence, a Pulisic-shaped hole has appeared in numerous U.S. touch maps, including the team’s year-long heat map.”

Full article: Sports Illustrated

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This SI.com article goes beyond the box score to examine how France's N'Golo Kante and Croatia's Luka Modric powered their teams to the World Cup final.

"[Modric] does defensive work, as he’s tied with Kante for most recoveries at this World Cup (48), and no player has won possession more times in the middle third of the field (31).

Modric is also the offensive talisman, with 16 chances created, double the total of any teammate."

Full article: SI.com (by Paul Carr, TruMedia Director of Content Development)

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"Possession hasn’t necessarily been helpful here in Russia. According to TruMedia Networks, the top six teams in average possession at this World Cup already have gone home. Interestingly, Croatia, England, France and Belgium rank 7th through 10th, respectively. Uruguay, the CONMEBOL side that held the ball the least, still stands 19th overall. Four years ago, Germany finished second in the possession standings at 60%, but none of the other semifinalists were in the top eight."

Full article: Sports Illustrated

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TruMedia's Paul Carr wrote a Sports Illustrated piece with a stat and graphic for each of the World Cup quarterfinalists. The article highlighted contributions by Romelu Lukaku, Neymar and Luka Modric, along with potential issues for Russia and England.

"Despite playing four games, England ranks 22nd in the tournament with 23 shots from open play and 17th with 2.22 expected goals from open play. Only three of those shots were worth at least 0.2 xG each, which is about double the average shot quality."

Full article: Sports Illustrated (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

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For Sports Illustrated, Paul Carr examines how Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fared at previous World Cups.

"At the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo was far more active in the midfield, both offensively and defensively. He went one-on-one 37 times and had 36 recoveries of the ball in 484 minutes. Four years later, he had 21 one-on-ones and 11 recoveries in 360 minutes. In 2014, those numbers dipped to 12 one-on-ones and four recoveries in 270 minutes.

This is because Ronaldo has evolved into more of a true forward than a winger. He sent in 21 crosses in 2006, and a total of 14 in 2010 and 2014. In Brazil, 35 percent of his touches were in the center third of the field (as opposed to the left or right thirds), up from 28 percent in 2010 and 18 percent in 2006."

Full article: Sports Illustrated (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

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