Once again, all four Mexican teams made it through to the quarterfinals, as did one MLS team. Here's the survivors:
Mexico (4): Cruz Azul, Pumas, Toluca, Pachuca
Guatemala: Comunicaciones
Honduras: Marathon
Panama: Arabe Unido
USA: Columbus Crew
Here's the updated results by country:
Country W L T GF GA GD win% PPG
Mexico 21 3 4 77 21 56 75. Click to continue reading...

With Chicago's defeat of Chivas USA on Thursday, the Columbus Crew wrapped up the 2009 Supporter's Shield. This feat automatically qualified them for next year's CONCACAF Champions League. Earlier this year, the Seattle Sounders grabbed a slot when they defeated DC United for the US Open Cup Title. Click to continue reading...

Congrats to the Columbus Crew whose tie in Bayamon, Puerto Rico was enough to punch their ticket into the CONCACAF Champions League knockout stages.
Congratulations to DC United as well, who became just the second MLS team to get any sort of a result in Mexico, tying Toluca 1-1. Had Lawson Vaughn not gotten his legs tangled up with Isaac Lopez in the box, DC would have advanced. Click to continue reading...

This week Pepsi introduced an iPhone application called "Amp Up Before You Score" to promote its competitor to the slew of energy drinks. Its purpose? To give you alleged insider information to boost you powers of seduction, as well as give you a platform to brag about which women you managed to get naked. Click to continue reading...

The USA finished their World Cup qualifying on Wednesday with a 2-2 draw against Costa Rica. With the entire qualifying campaign in the books, it makes me wonder why there was so much complaining during this cycle. From internet complaining you would think that this was the worst US team in a while, but the stats tell a different story. Click to continue reading...

Update: Reader Dr. Chuck Pearson left a comment pointing me to the missing game. The Crew lost 2-0 to Saprissa in the one and only edition of the CONCACAF Giants Cup in 2001.
Last night the Columbus Crew became the first MLS team to beat CD Saprissa in Costa Rica. Soccer By Ives is reporting that it's the first time in seven tries for an MLS club, but I can only find six games at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa:
9/16/09 Saprissa 0, Crew 1
10/9/08 Saprissa 2, DC United 2
3/12/08 Saprissa 3, Houston 0
3/8/06 Saprissa 3, LA Galaxy 2
3/16/05 Saprissa 2, KC Wizards 1
4/14/04 Saprissa 2, Chicago 0
I think SBI might be mistaken, but if anyone can find the missing result, post a comment. Click to continue reading...

With one round to go in the group stage, all three remaining MLS teams still have a chance to advance. In my eyes, one is a shoe-in, one is a tossup and one needs a well-placed outbreak of swine flu among their rivals to advance.
Houston
Houston is currently in third place, but they hold the tiebreaker with Arabe Unido. Click to continue reading...

Here's the results through the penultimate group stage matches:
Country W L T GF GA GD Win% PPG
Mexico 19 2 3 71 17 54 79.2 2.50
Panama 5 3 1 17 12 5 55.5 1.78
Honduras 7 7 0 20 28 -8 50.0 1.50
USA 7 7 5 27 26 1 36. Click to continue reading...

When I saw that Kei Kamara had been traded for Abe Thompson, I was a bit surprised. If you take a closer look at the numbers, it makes a little more sense. Here's the stat lines involved:
77 gm 14 g 12 a .18 gpg (3547 min)
58 gm 9 g 2 a .15 gpg (2957 min)
There's not too much to distinguish these players, other than the fact that one of them seems to be a much better passer than the other. Click to continue reading...

One of the arguments used against Major League Soccer expansion markets is that they already have a USL-1 team that draws poorly. Now that the Seattle Sounders have jumped ship, there are two franchises we can examine to see if this critique is fair.

• Before Toronto FC came into existence in 2007, the Lynx represented that city in USL-1.

Click to continue reading...

With the impending addition of franchises in Philly, Vancouver and Portland, I thought it would be interesting to see how much of a "sophomore slump" expansion franchises experienced in regards to attendance.
Here are the numbers for the recent expansion teams, as well as Houston who moved from San Jose in 2006. Click to continue reading...

There seems to be something about Houston that awakens the scoring touch of forwards. Here are three recent examples of players who reaped the rewards of joining one of Major League Soccer's best teams.
Kei Kamara
Houston 19 gm 5 g 3 a .26 gpg
SJ/Clb 48 gm 7 g 0 a .15 gpg
Nate Jaqua
Seattle 12 gm 3 g 4 a . Click to continue reading...

The Houston Dynamo is competing in just its fourth season in MLS, but when they square off with Pachuca again in two weeks, it will already be the sixth time they have tangled with the Tuzos. If they can win the game, it will actually level the overall series at three wins apiece:
9/16/09 Pachuca 2, Houston 0 (CONCACAF Champions League)
7/29/08 Pachuca 0, Houston 2 (Superliga)
3/15/07 Pachuca 0, Houston 2 (CONCACAF Champions Cup)
4/05/07 Pachuca 5, Houston 2 (CONCACAF Champions Cup)
8/14/07 Pachuca 2, Houston 2* (Superliga)
*Pachuca wins on PKs
Going by the numbers, I predict a 2-0 Houston win at Robinson Stadium on the 30th. Click to continue reading...

The other day I was watching television and saw an advertisement for something called Aciphex. As far as I can tell, it's a medication for acid reflux. I'm sure it's a fine product full of wondrous medicinal properties, but I can't help but think that the people who named it are off snickering to themselves right now. Click to continue reading...

To follow up last week's post about the teams who had been seen by the largest percentage of fans, I ran the numbers to determine which teams had been seen by the smallest percentage of fans.
There have been 35 teams that were seen by less than 15% of the fans attending games that season. The only year no team fell below this threshold was 2002. Click to continue reading...