Sunday, November 14, 2010

Tourneys and more

MLS
Tournaments
FIFA Club World Cup Bracket
Qualifier Semifinals
 Al-Wahda(UAE)>>> >>>
 Hekari Utd(Oceania) Seongnam(Asia)  Internazionale(UEFA)
 Mazembe(Africa) >>>
 Pachuca(CONCACAF)  Internacional(COMNEBOL)
Dec 8-18 in Abu Dhabi

Interesting Reads


Friday, November 12, 2010

Make Believe 2014 USMNT World Cup Roster

Waiting for the weekend MLS playoff games. The announcement of the roster for the upcoming USMNT friendly in South Africa got me to dreaming a bit. So here is my make believe roster of outfielders for the 2014 US Men's World Cup team.

Forwards: Altidore, Agudelo, Bunbury
also in consideration: Wondolowski, Braun

Midfielders: Bradley, Edu, Dempsey, Donovan, Diskerud, Holden, Torres, Bedoya, Shea, Jones
also in consideration: Pontius, Cameron, Feilhaber, Cruz, Convey

Defenders: Gonzalez, Ream, Agbossoumonde, Lichaj, Bornstein, Goodson, Opara
also in consideration: Pearce, Orozco-Fiscal, Wynne, Parkhurst, Siriboe, Spector

Just having some fun.


A Bit of This and That

MLS
Interesting Reads
Tournaments
The Business of Soccer


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

MLS Player Scoring

Hanging around waiting for the MLS semifinals, I cobbled together the following lists of player scoring performances for the 2010 season. It's a simple metric with goals counting for 2 points and assists counting for 1 point, then calculating points per 90 minutes. I picked the 700 minute minimum because it allowed for the inclusion of players that signed mid-season. For the rookies, I picked 600 minutes minimum because no rookie was in the 500-600 range.

Take what you want from the information. For me, a few things... Danny Mwanga is the only rookie in the overall top 20. That just reinforces the argument that he deserved the Rookie of the Year award over Andy Najar(at least from the offensive viewpoint).

No rookies were in the top 20 last year. Nine players, however are repeaters from 2009. They are: Angel, Casey, Ching, Cummings, Cunningham, DeRosario, Donovan, Montero and Wondolowski.


Players with 700 minutes minimum - Top 20
 Team  Player  Minutes  Goals  Assists  Points  Pts per 90
 LA  Edson Buddle 2,109  17  2   36  1.536 
 SJ  Chris Wondolowski 2,308  18   1  37  1.443 
 DAL  Jeffrey Cunningham 1,464  11   1  23  1.414 
 PHI  Sebastian Le Toux 2,520  14   11  39  1.393 
 TFC  Dwayne DeRosario 2,226  15  3   33  1.334 
 RSL  Alvaro Saborio 1,988  12  4   28  1.268 
 LA  Landon Donovan 2,141  7  16   30  1.261 
 COL  Conor Casey 2,289  13  6   32  1.258 
 DAL  Milton Rodriguez 835  5  1   11  1.186 
 CLB  Emilio Renteria 857  5  1   11  1.155 
 SEA  Fredy Montero 2,353  10  10   30  1.147 
 COL  Omar Cummings 2,471  14  3   31  1.129 
 PHI  Danny Mwanga 1,461  7  4   18  1.109 
 HOU  Brian Ching 1,425  7  3   17  1.074 
 NY  Juan Pablo Angel 2,593  13  4   30  1.041 
 SEA  Steve Zakuani 2,285  10  6   26  1.024 
 KC  Kei Kamara 2,418  10  6   26  0.968 
 DAL  David Ferreira 2,699  8  13   29  0.967 
 SEA  Blaise Nkufo 931  5  0   10  0.967 
 LA  Jovan Kirovski 932  4  2   10  0.966 
2 points per goal, 1 per assist


Rookies with 600 minutes minimum
 Team  Player  Minutes  Goals  Assists  Points  Pts per 90
 PHL  Danny Mwanga 1,461  7  4   18  1.109 
 KC  Teal Bunbury 1,441  5  2   12  0.749 
 NE  Zack Schilawski 1,261  5  0   10  0.714 
 DAL  Eric Alexander 1,054  2  3   7  0.598 
 SJ  Ike Opara 914  3  0   6  0.591 
 DC  Andy Najar 1,983  5  1   11  0.499 
 LA  Michael Stephens 1,884  1  8   10  0.478 
 CHV  Blair Gavin 1,369  3  1   7  0.460 
 SJ  Steven Beitashour 640  1  0   2  0.281 
 CHI  Steven Kinney 963  1  1   3  0.280 
 NY  Tony Tchani 1,610  1  3   5  0.280 
 CLB  Shaun Francis 993  0  1   1  0.091 
2 points per goal, 1 per assist


Designated Players
 Team  Player  Minutes  Goals  Assists  Points  Pts per 90
 LA  Landon Donovan 2,141  7  16   30  1.261 
 NY  Juan Pablo Angel 2,593  13  4   30  1.041 
 SEA  Blaise Nkufo 931  5  0   10  0.967 
 LA  David Beckham 466  2  1   5  0.966 
 SEA  Alvaro Fernandez 475  2  1   5  0.947 
 NY  Thierry Henry 859  2  3   7  0.733 
 SJ  Geovanni 777  1  3   5  0.579 
 CHI  Fredrik Ljungberg 2,432  2   10  14  0.518 
 NY  Rafael Marquez 783  1  1   3  0.345 
 TFC  Mista Martinez 544  0  1   1  0.165 
 TFC  Julian de Guzman 2,014  0  2   2  0.089 
 CHI  Nery Castillo 487  0  0   0  0.000 
2 points per goal, 1 per assist

Thursday, November 4, 2010

MLS - Playing with Numbers

MLS

Wondo really was a sniper this year. Over half his shots were on goal and half of his shots on goal went in.

PLAYER TEAMGP SHOTSSOG SOG %GOALS G/SHOTSG/SOG
 Chris Wondolowski  SJ 28  68  36   52.94%  18  26.47%  50.00% 
 Conor Casey  COL 27  69  28   40.58%  13  18.84%  46.43% 
 Dwayne De Rosario  TOR 27  72  36   50.00%  15  20.83%  41.67% 
 Edson Buddle  LA 25  96  43   44.79%  17  17.71%  39.53% 
 Omar Cummings  COL 29  76  37   48.68%  14  18.42%  37.84% 
 Juan Pablo Angel  NY 30  98  40   40.82%  13  13.27%  32.50% 
 Kei Kamara  KC 29  91  33   36.26%  10  10.99%  30.30% 
 Fredy Montero  SEA 29  91  34   37.36%  10  10.99%  29.41% 
 Sebastien Le Toux  PHI 28  90  48   53.33%  14  15.56%  29.17% 
G/SHOTS=Goals % on Shots Taken --- G/SOG=Goals % of Shots on Goal

DC United, FC Dallas, Houston, New England, Philadelphia, Seattle and Toronto are the teams that lost more than once when scoring the first goal.

Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake are the only teams not to have won when surrendering the first goal.

DC United and Houston lost more than once when leading at the half. Los Angeles led at the half 15 times. Chivas USA led at the half just 4 times.

Houston, Philadelphia and Toronto won more than once when trailing at the half. Philadelphia trailed at the half 12 times. FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake trailed at the half just 4 times.

There was no 'World Cup' boost in attendance as these numbers demonstrate.

pre cup during cup pre/during thru cup after cup thru/after overall
GPAvg GPAvg +/-GP AvgGP Avg+/- GPAvg
 1998  82   14,894  23  15,827  6.27%  105   15,098  87  13,363  -11.49%  192   14,312 
 2002  45   16,483  25  13,011  -21.06%  70   15,243  70  16,398  7.58%  140   15,821 
 2006  60   16,057  40  13,198  -17.81%  100   14,914  92  16,142  8.24%  192   15,502 
 2010  93   16,472  24  17,227  4.58%  117   16,627  123  16,721  0.56%  240   16,675 

MLS 2010 Statistics

Tournaments