Fast Track
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Team structure is built by individuals playing very different roles. This post looks at three of them: the players who connect the game, the ones who carry it forward, and the ones who cover the ground that makes it all work.
Being on the ball is not one job. It is at least three. Some connect the game. Some carry it forward. Others cover the ground that makes the system work. The best teams need all three, but they rarely ask one player to do everything.
The findings below are based on the 376 players who started at least three matches across the group stage and R32, enough appearances to smooth out one-off performances and focus on each player’s underlying role, rather than a single big or quiet game.
At Gambeta, we have been following the FIFA World Cup 2026 through a network-analysis lens, looking beyond results, possession percentages and passing totals to understand the structures behind the game.
Our previous post focused on team possession: how sides connect, progress and create. By analyzing the Controlled Progression Index vs xG differential across all group stage and R32 matches, we found that teams with stronger possession structures generally created more danger.
The connectors: players who drive the game
Some players are the ones a team’s possession keeps returning to. They are always close to the action. Teammates are usually only one or two passes away. The ball comes back to them because they help the team stay joined together. These are the connectors.
In the first chart, we look at three network-based ways of measuring involvement: total involvement, link-up and focal point. Together, they help identify the players through whom possession is most often routed.
At this World Cup, many of the strongest connectors are ball-playing centre-backs or deep midfielders: Gabriel Magalhães, Van Dijk, Thomas Partey, Van Hecke and Caicedo. That makes sense. These are the players teams use to keep possession stable and connected.
The carriers: players who move the opponent
But being influential on the ball does not always mean the team’s possession runs through you.
Some players matter because they can take the ball past opponents themselves. Doku, Vinícius Jr. and Mbappé do not need every possession to go through them. They change possession by changing the opponent’s shape.
These are the carriers.
Across all 376 players, how much a player connects the game and how often he carries it past opponents are only weakly related, and if anything, slightly in the opposite direction than you might expect. Being central to a team’s passing tells you almost nothing about whether that same player beats people with the ball. They are, statistically as well as visibly, different jobs.
The second chart shows the split clearly. The horizontal axis asks whether play is routed through a player. The vertical axis asks whether he takes the ball past opponents.
The connectors sit towards the bottom-right. The carriers climb towards the top-left. The rare players who can do both appear towards the top-right.
That top-right profile is the one every coach wants and few teams have: a player who can both connect the team and break the game open: Robinson, Güler or Freeman.
Centrality is not always a compliment
A very high connector score can be a sign of influence. But it can also be a warning. Some players become central because their team has no other route forward. Everything goes through them because there is no alternative.
Being central is most valuable when a team also has options around the player. A strong connector inside a balanced structure can help a team control possession. A lone connector inside a predictable structure can become easier for opponents to stop.
We see this tension play out directly in the data. Most players who the ball keeps returning to also move it forward, connecting and progressing usually go together. But there are clear exceptions: some of the most central players in the tournament rank only mid-table on forward actions, meaning their team relies on them heavily to keep possession moving, without that possession going anywhere dangerous. Thomas Partey is the clearest case at this World Cup: hugely central to Ghana’s circulation, but far less involved in moving the ball forward.
This is why network analysis is useful. It does not only tell us who touches the ball. It helps us understand whether that influence is part of a healthy team structure or a sign of dependence.
The engines: players who carry the load
There is also a third job underneath all of this: covering ground. The players the network runs through are often also the players who run the most. In the third chart, players such as Galarza, Alrawabdeh, Attia and Enzo Fernández sit near the top of the distance chart.
The relationship holds up across the sample too: the players most central to a team’s passing are, on average, also among the ones covering the most distance. That tells us something important: Being the pivot is not a luxury role, it is hard work.
The connector has to stay available, support teammates, offer passing angles, move into space and help the team stay compact. The role is technical, tactical and physical at the same time.
These are the engines: the players whose movement allows the structure to keep working.
None of this replaces the box score. It adds context. Completed passes show accuracy. Centrality shows trust. Take-ons show who can create from nothing. Distance shows what the role demanded.
Network analysis connects those numbers into a fuller picture. It shows not only what a player did, but how his role worked inside the team. At Gambeta, we see football as a network of relationships. A pass is a connection. A carry changes the opponent. Distance is often the cost of keeping the structure alive.
That is why connectors, carriers and engines matter. Connectors keep the game alive. Carriers break it open. Engines make both possible.
At the highest level, possession is not just about having the ball. It is about understanding who connects the structure, who changes the opponent, and who does the work that allows the team to move.