Decided tonight, in the midst of some serious procrastination, to check on the old blog and see how it's gone. I'm very pleased to know that my post regarding the average number of minutes of actual playing time is the most commonly cited post on here. While I enjoyed the momentary notariety that came with predicting Jorge Larrionda would red card an American midfielder in our Confederations Cup match against Spain in 2009, I didn't start the site to criticize refs.

During the recent World Cup the newest popular formation was the 4-2-3-1. Don't you dare call it a 4-5-1 or a 4-3-3! Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany, the top 3 teams in the tournament, all generally played the same 4-2-3-1 attacking formation.

Although two other disappointing teams from South America, Brazil and Argentina, also played the same formation, some of their sub-par performance may have been due to their coaches' inexplicable tendency to prove that they could win without some of their best players.

I'm going to be out of town for a couple weeks, so post to the site will be on hold. We'll resume again in September.

I compiled the data from all of the match reports from the FIFA 2010 World Cup into a spreadsheet. Here's what I found in terms of Actual Playing Time:

In the average 90-minute match at the 2010 World Cup, the average actual playing time in a match that had a winner was 68.0 minutes. The average actual playing time for matches that ended in a draw was 67.

Just published another article on the USA 10 Kit: my overview of the averages for shots, APT, and fouls committed for teams that win, lose, or draw. Check it out here.

While I was working on that article, I found a post on Attacking Soccer from last month that had a number of interesting quick-hit statistics about the World Cup.

Ever wanted to know exactly how the US has performed against a specific country or region? The complete match history of the MNT is available on various web sites, but if you wanted to know totals, you were on your own. Now, you can simply check out our page: US Results by Opponent.

Every US MNT match from November 15 ,2000 through the 2010 World Cup is represented (with the U.

Eddie Johnson played 45 minutes in Fulham's 1-0 loss to Portsmouth today, coming in as a second-half sub. Clint Dempsey came on in the 60th minute and finished the match. No neat prose from Fulham FC praising the Americans' work this match, but I'll admit a little relief that Mark Hughes gave Eddie significant playing time in his first match as head coach.

Congrats to the U.S. U-20 team on their 3-0 victory over Norther Ireland to win the Milk Cup.

A couple things you must check out. First, Brent Latham does a very thorough job of looking into the futures of the U.S. team. Second, watch Agudelo's goal (it starts at about 1:10).

Finally, the stats for the match, from USSoccer.

Recently, I wrote about the influences corrupting soccer to support my position that FIFA should take advantage of available technology. One of those corrupting influences was the application of political power. I mentioned specifically the rumor that North Korea might send its players and their families to work in the coal mines as punishment for their performances.

As I alluded to yesterday, the folks at The USA 10 Kit are giving me a chance to join them. I'm really excited about this opportunity and look forward to your continued support.

My first story, What Made Charlie Davies Great?, is up on the site now. It is a comparison of Davies' stats from the Confederations Cup and Robbie Findley's stats from the World Cup.

Since starting this site last summer, I made my profile simply "Michael" to help guard against any suggestion that the views I expressed on this site reflected those of the U.S. Air Force. But a big development is in the works that will make keeping my last name secret on this site an exercise in futility.

By now, everyone who actually cared about the US Women's U-20 team knows that it was eliminated from the World Cup in a penalty shootout in which (a) Captain Christine Nairn's left-footed shot to slight to the left of center was saved and (b) Sydney Leroux's right-footed shot sailed high over the center of the cross bar.

In an ugly match, Nigeria's U-20 women sent the US women home: a 1-1 draw settled by a shootout which saw the Americans' captain, Christine Nairn (MF, Penn State), and its star striker Sydney Leroux fail to convert on their penalty kicks.

Sometimes the better team loses. It happens in every sport, but perhaps more often in soccer where matches are often decided by the slimmest of margins.

Congratulations to Charlie Davies, who captained the Sochaux reserves to a 2-0 victory yesterday. A couple of very important firsts for Charlie: his first full 90 and his first goal. (And in case you're wondering, there was no stanky leg. Charlie is saving that one.) If the video of the goal becomes available, we'll add it.

The Women's U-20 World Cup catch your interest? If so, do yourself a favor and check out All White Kit, the newest site on our list of links. Jenna Pel has put together a comprehensive site that will tell you everything you need to know about the other(better?) half's game. So once you're done watching Sydney Leroux highlights, check out Jenna's site you won't find a better one on the topic.