Say what you will about Brazilian striker Marta drawing a penalty shot against the United States yesterday and whether it was a legitimate “fall” on her part, but data shows that female soccer players are half as likely to fake in-game injuries, compared to their male counterparts.

Flopping, as it’s known in soccer, has long been a part of the sport’s innate gamesmanship. There are many times when players truly get tackled or tripped by an opponent, but there are still many times when players fake injury, where the slightest bodily contact will send someone grimacing and screaming in apparent pain.

Now researchers at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, having analyzed 47 games from international women’s soccer tourneys, say that while there are fewer “injury incidents” per match in women’s soccer than men’s (5.74 to 11.26), the percentage of injuries that were denoted as “definite” was actually twice as high for women (13.7 percent) as it was for men (7.2 percent).

“While it was difficult to know for certain if a player had a true injury or was faking or embellishing, we found that only 13.7 percent of apparent injuries met our definition for a ‘definite’ injury,” said lead author Daryl Rosenbaum in a statement. “Also consider that we saw six apparent injuries per match in the 2007 Women’s World Cup but team physicians from the tournament reported only 2.3 injuries per match, so it looks like there may be some simulation in the women’s game.”

Of course, if you do believe that Marta’s flop in the goal area was less than genuine, then you might also guess that karma was more than returned by match’s end.

At least, Abby Wambach might think so.

Photo: AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez