Albion Analytics: Mac Allister's stunning World Cup numbers

The midfielder started six out of seven of Argentina's games at the World Cup, as they lifted the trophy for the first time since 1986.

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2022-12-20T09:00:00Z

Alexis Mac Allister started against France, as Argentina beat the French on penalties.

Alexis Mac Allister has joined one of football’s most exclusive list with 470 other players after winning the men’s FIFA World Cup on Sunday.

He entered the tournament with only eight senior Argentina caps but had been part of the U23 squad that reached the Olympics in Tokyo last summer. There he scored four in five qualifying appearances and played in all three matches at the games — being an Olympian and World Cup winner is not something most players manage in their career, let alone before their 24th birthday.

Across the World Cup he ranked inside the top ten players aged U24 in a significant number of metrics, reflecting his all-round game for Argentina.

Kylian Mbappe (123) was the only youngster to make more final third passes than Mac Allister (114) who had an impressive 88% accuracy with those passes, involved in 28 of Argentina’s shot-ending sequences — the fifth most of any U24.

Only Gavi (14) won more fouls amongst those players than Mac Allister (13), with the midfielder only committing one foul the entire tournament and blocking the most crosses (four) of any young player.

For Argentina, only Rodrigo De Paul (42) could better Mac Allister’s 40 ball recoveries and the 23-year-old received the third-most progressive passes (23) of his compatriots.

One of those receptions came in the final, with Mac Allister making Argentina’s second goal following a trademark run through the defence before calmly squaring it to Angel Di Maria to double the lead — only Lionel Messi (10) was involved in more of Argentina's shot-ending sequences than Mac Allister (seven).

Brighton’s no.10 was one of five different Argentina players — alongside Messi, Nahuel Molina, Enzo Fernandez and Di Maria — to finish the tournament having scored and assisted.

Mac Allister became the 61st Argentinian to score at a World Cup with his match-winning goal against Poland, which was actually his first senior international strike.

In trademark Mac Allister fashion, his display was all-round that night and he deservedly took home the player of the match trophy, making the most ball recoveries (11) of any Argentinian and completing 100% of his final third passes (27/27). He was involved in ten of Argentina’s 23 shots, with Messi (15) and De Paul (13) the only ones involved more.

The consistency of his performances was evident, having not started the opening game against Saudi Arabia — which they lost — but then starting the remaining six and Argentina winning all of those, outscoring opponents 13-5 and never going behind in that time. SofaScore’s algorithm rates Mac Allister as, on average, Argentina’s fourth-best player after Messi, Di Maria and Enzo Fernandez.

Mac Allister won at least a foul in every game he played, with his pass accuracy always above 80%, even for passes in the opposition half. He created at least once chance in five of his six appearances, only recording fewer than five ball recoveries in one match (two, against Mexico) and winning the majority of his duels — over 50% — across four of his six matches.

“I was a playmaker when I was younger and I spent many years there, but I feel my best position really is as a six," said Mac Allister during the tournament. His role was consistently on the left of a midfield triangle, tasked with operated in advanced areas and connecting defence with attack as well as being combative without the ball.