11 Questions with Xavier Zavala

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Xavier Zavala:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

My first official opportunity came in January 2015 when I approached the Coaching Staff of Male Varsity soccer team where I was pursuing my MBA degree. Which is the University of New Brunswick. Thankfully the coaching staff is full of very modern coaches always looking for additional ways to gain a competitive advantage.

I approached them with the idea to expand the analysis they did to their games. To expand the statistics used and to go in further depth by linking analytics to the video analysis. In 2015 the University of New Brunswick advanced all the way into the finals of the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) where we lost the finals against York University.

What attracted you to writing about football? What’s more intriguing now names or numbers?

I always enjoyed having discussions about football. I feel that I have very controversial opinions and I have never been afraid to present them forward. Sometimes I have been praised for thinking outside the box and sometimes I have been proven wrong. My passion for the sport lead me to educate myself in several areas of the sport which have open more doors for me to dive myself in football discussions.

I went through an initiating phase in which the only important analysis about football had to be proven by numbers. Now, after a few years of doing proper analysis and coaching soccer I understand now that Data analysis has to go hand in hand with the eye test.

Who/what is the first player/concept you "found"? What caught your eye?

During my 2015 season at the University of New Brunswick I was a little hesitant to insist on my suggestions since The Head coach was vastly more experienced and knowledgeable than I was.

The team played a 4-3-3 formation with traditional wingers (Left footed LW & Right footed RW). After a few games I noticed that even though our main strength was our speed on the wing and on the offensive transition. If the first attempt to penetrate failed, we were quickly outnumbered in attack. I attempted to suggest to the coach that we could attempt inverting the wingers and pushing the fullbacks up so we can increase our numbers in the attacking third. Head Coach did not change the system and tactics he used for the games however he was open to use my suggestion as in-game changes for short periods of time to keep the rivals guessing.

I was extremely proud of being able to suggest a useful idea to such an experienced and successful coach.

Who/what is the player/concept you "miss" on? What did you learn from it?

When I initially started analysing football with numbers, I use to think that numbers had no context and you could use statistics to prove and disprove any theory you might have. For example, I went far enough to compare defenders and determine better fit depending on clearance stats and duel success %.

By reading, attending conferences, analyzing, coaching and working I was able to understand the proper way to contextualize the statistics you faced and how to use numbers to give a value to context.

The most important lesson I was able to get was Never stop “learning”.

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

I honestly would have wanted to learn Python/R and data visualization when I was younger. Because the journey of learning the sport in depth has to come with experience on the field on different responsibility levels. However, the skills you need to complement your profile are difficult to add at a later stage of your professional career but could be added before the sport learning journey start.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Is development on the club or the player? Why?

Being involved in Coaching and Match analysis gives me the unique benefit of perspective. I believe that is both an art and science. Because Science will tell you at what physical development stage the player is, what skills he needs to develop, optimal nutrition, sleep cycle, etc. However, it is an art to learn how to communicate, explain, guide and inspire the players so they can find their intrinsic motivation to push themselves to the limit and beyond.

Development is on both the player and the club. The club should be able to provide the resources the player needs to push him/herself to the maximum. If the club can not provide coaching, equipment, knowledge and guidance enough for the player be the version of him/herself then the club is failing. On the other hand, if the player does not follow the path the club has drawn out for the player to optimize its skills and maximize his/her potential, then the player is failing.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

November of 2001 is when “Ecuador” my home country secured its ticket to our first world cup in Japan & Korea 2002. One of my favorite players Jaime Ivan “Nine” Kaviedes tied the game against Uruguay which was enough to secure our spot to the world cup.

The generation before mine lived in a world where Ecuador constantly disappointed with its performance in football. But my generation was lucky enough to watch Ecuador succeed constantly specially in our journey in 2006 world cup.

No comments about our current football situation.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

My inspiration to go in deep into the football world is the France 1998 World cup champion team. The way Aime Jacquet (Head coach) was able to maximize the potential of his team by ignoring about positions and focusing on skillset was an inspiration to me. It motivated me to stop enclosing myself with limits and boundaries but to see players in a different way.

I believe the team is my inspiration to have controversial opinion since I constantly rock the boat and challenge the status quo in the way the sport is perceived and analyzed.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into media/analytics?

I would divide my advice in 2. First, the easy one. Never stop learning. Every new skill or subject you dominate is knowledge that could be the major difference between you and your competition. Specially, considering that in football there are so many different areas that you could get extra knowledge in.

Second, Find a niche for you. Most of the superficial subjects are covered by many diverse outlets. However, there are a few uncovered niche markets that could ease your access to the media/analytics world that later could be great experience and Portfolio for your career.

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for fun only!)?

Honestly, I wish I had a more exciting answer. But any streaming service that allows you to re-watch games. Because of where I live (Canada) I use 3 streaming services that allow me to watch games on demand and I really enjoy watching games twice so I can catch tactical movement and nuances that I missed the first time. It extremely helps to notice movements off the ball that sometimes you miss when you are watching the game for the first time.

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst? Why?

In my experience my deep passion for the NBA and the advance analytics of Basketball gave me a head start in my football analyst career. Basketball analytics are a few years ahead of football analytics, hence by following the trends in basketball analytics helps you to see what is coming to football analytics in the short term.