Better decision-making skills support tactical behaviour and reduce physical wear under physical fatigue in soccer

The purpose of this study was to verify whether decision-making skills influence the tactical behavior and physical performance of soccer players under acute physical fatigue, assessed in an actual game-play. The sample was comprised of 24 trained soccer players (18.25 +/- 1.48 years old) from two Brazilian clubs grouped into two categories with 12 players each (with high and low decision-making skills). The assessment of decision making, tactical behavior, and physical performance were carried out using TacticUP((R)), FUT-SAT, and GPSports((R)), respectively. Acute physical fatigue was induced through the T-SAFT90 test. Results showed that under acute physical fatigue players with high decisionmaking skills maintained tactical behavior efficiency and had their paces reduced, in addition to displaying reduced total distance covered (p < 0.001), number of accelerations (p < 0.001), and decelerations (p < 0.001), and average movement speed (p < 0.001). On the other hand, players with low decision-making skills displayed reduced tactical behavior efficiency (p = 0.002) and maintained their movement pace under physical fatigue. It is concluded that decision-making skills contribute to players' tactical behavior efficiency under acute physical fatigue, besides promoting reduced physical strain in movement actions throughout the field.

Automated summary

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of decision-making skills on the tactical behavior and physical performance of soccer players under acute physical fatigue. A sample of 24 trained soccer players from two Brazilian clubs was divided into two groups based on their decision-making skills. The results showed that players with high decision-making skills maintained tactical behavior efficiency and had reduced physical performance under acute physical fatigue, while players with low decision-making skills had decreased tactical behavior efficiency but maintained their physical performance.