*Moneyball meets Freakonomics in this myth-busting guide to understanding--and winning--the most popular sport on the planet. Innovation is coming to soccer, and at the center of it all are the numbers--a way of thinking about the game that ignores the obvious in favor of how things actually are. In...

*Moneyball meets Freakonomics in this myth-busting guide to understanding--and winning--the most popular sport on the planet. Innovation is coming to soccer, and at the center of it all are the numbers--a way of thinking about the game that ignores the obvious in favor of how things actually are. In The Numbers Game *, Chris Anderson, a former professional goalkeeper turned soccer statistics guru, teams up with behavioral analyst David Sally to uncover the numbers that really matter when it comes to predicting a winner. Investigating basic but profound questions--How valuable are corners? Which goal matters most? Is possession really nine-tenths of the law? How should a player's value be judged?--they deliver an incisive, revolutionary new way of watching and understanding soccer.