Photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com
The pieces are in place for it to be the weekend of the landmark appearance for Americans across
Europe.
After Tim Ream was named to Bolton's matchday roster and Charlie Davies was named to Sochaux's,
West Ham announced that centerback George John will be part of the 20-man traveling party for the
club's match at Peterborough United on Saturday.
One of the issues with depth charts and roster math is how to place players who can fill many
roles. With Adam Johansson in Qatar for the opening of training camp, Seattle Sounders coach Sigi
Schmid gets to test a bunch of different options at the right back role. One thing quickly clear
when asked was who the leader in that role is:
Obviously Zach Scott is somebody who can play there.
"It's unfortunate that the league didn't work out a balanced schedule for the Cascadia
teams."
Garrett Dittfurth of the Timbers Army
The Cascadia Cup format was announced today with an eye towards the future of the competition.
All matches will count in the Cascadia Cup math, with the home/away records
playing no part in the tie breakers.
Time to put on your thinking caps, or tinfoil hat if you prefer, and dive into an examination of
the Dynamo's current roster and salary cap situation. A few notes before we get started:
- This is based on the last MLSPA Salary information release from 9/1/11
- There is some speculation on my part concerning salary levels for new players.
Luckily for Gatorade drinkers everywhere, Nick Novak is more accurate when it comes to urinating
than it comes to kicking. The kicker for the San Diego Chargers successfully urinated in somewhat
privacy in the game between the Chargers and the Denver Broncos.
Unfortunately for Chargers fans, Nick Novak wasn't successful kicking.
I bet many of the managers in English Premier League would like to have one wildcard in their
possession when the season begins. Unfortunately they don't, but the players of fantasy premier
league get, not only one but two wildcards to use. One you can use any time of the season and the
other during gameweeks 20 to 23.
It was a roller coaster of a match in Dresden, Germany on Sunday July 10, 2011, when the United
States and Brazil met in the quarterfinals of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
It was an own goal, put into the net by Daiane, that gave the United States an early lead:
Then in controversial confluence of events, Rachel Buehler picked up a red card in the 65th minute,
but after Hope Solo stopped a penalty kick taken by Cristiane, but, after an encroachment call, the
penalty was retaken, and converted, by Marta:
The match stayed tied at 1-1 as regulation came to end.
The United States Development Academy Playoffs continued this weekend and it was a bit of good
news/bad news for Chicago Fire Country. The U-16 squad have put themselves in a position to
advance. The U-18s finished up with a game this morning that unfortunately was purely academic. The
squad was eliminated Saturday with 1-0 loss.
The Rose Bowl will be site of this year's Gold Cup final. If all goes as planned, Mexico and the
United States will once again do battle for the right to claim the regional crown.
If all goes to hell, then, CONCACAF stands to lose quite a bit of money.
A Gold Cup final featuring Mexico would draw at least 80,000 fans to the Rose Bowl.
The Rose Bowl will be site of this year's Gold Cup final. If all goes as planned, Mexico and the
United States will once again do battle for the right to claim the regional crown.
If all goes to hell, then, CONCACAF stands to lose quite a bit of money.
A Gold Cup final featuring Mexico would draw at least 80,000 fans to the Rose Bowl.
It was the offensive explosion for which we've all been waiting.
Against Toronto, the Union nearly doubled its goal total for the year. And it did so with
multiple goal scorers—four in total—with two of the goal scorers scoring four of the team's six
goals on the day.
More attempts = more shots on target = more goals
Through the first nine games of 2011, the Union scored only six goals.
"Super Me-La-Chenko!"Quite a boring game in which both teams seemed content to pass the ball round
to no effect. It
was more interesting watching the scores come up on the screen and then trying to work out who was
going down. Points, goal diffrence, goals scored, it was hardcore maths at one point.
"Super Me-La-Chenko!"Quite a boring game in which both teams seemed content to pass the ball round
to no effect. It
was more interesting watching the scores come up on the screen and then trying to work out who was
going down. Points, goal diffrence, goals scored, it was hardcore maths at one point.
So today I totally geeked out. I was looking this awesome website that predicts the play-off
chances for all of the MLS. I know I have shared it before but I was looking at it a little more in
depth and it has the Portland Timbers chances at 76%. Compared to the other expansion team,
Vancouver Whitecaps at 6.
Image: REUTERS/Felix Ordonez.
We consider it to be a testament to our bluffing skills that we manage to cobble together
(barely) enough posts on this website to fool people into thinking we are taking it seriously. We
do, don't we? It's not entirely obvious that a good 90% of our attention is generally on drinking,
shopping or a frighteningly expensive combination of the two, is it?
With the Fire finishing up the first win-less month of April in club history, I am sure many of
you are thinking the same thing as I am. Is it time to press the panic button? Right now, if you
look at the math, we are a bit over 20% of the season completed. Although it seems like the season
just started a few days ago and we still have time to regroup, 1/5 of the season is in the
books.
Football statisticians have long known that scoring increases with match duration. For example,
take a look at this graph from a 1998 paper by Mark Dixon and Michael Robinson in the
Journal of
the Royal Statistical Society based on data from over 4,000 matches collected over in the top
four divisions of English football over a four year period in the early to mid-1990s.
Football statisticians have long known that scoring increases with match duration. For example,
take a look at this graph from a 1998 paper by Mark Dixon and Michael Robinson in the
Journal of
the Royal Statistical Society based on data from over 4,000 matches collected over in the top
four divisions of English football over a four year period in the early to mid-1990s.
Tonight the Columbus Crew opened the season on the road against D.C. United. The result?! In the
words of wise people PATHETIC. Yes the Crew fell to DCU 3-1 but what did they learn from it? Simple
answer: Teamwork. The Crew have 14 returning players from last season. So let's do the math....oh
that means half of last season's team is gone.
By Gordon Fleetwood, writing from New York City
A much heated topic is at the forefront once again in light of Barcelona's current era of
dominance. Are Barcelona the best club side in history? Those words trigger an endless debate. Fans
choose sides and support their claims vehemently.
By Gordon Fleetwood, writing from New York City
A much heated topic is at the forefront once again in light of Barcelona's current era of
dominance. Are Barcelona the best club side in history? Those words trigger an endless debate. Fans
choose sides and support their claims vehemently.
Okay, so let me see if I can prove my work here.
Trade, Spring, 2010
IN - Troy Perkins
OUT - Fred, 1st round pick, allocation money
Trade, Fall/Winter, 2010
IN - Steve Cronin, allocation money
OUT - Troy Perkins
Trade, Spring, 2011
IN - Fred
OUT - 2nd round pick
Doing a little trade-algebra ninjutsu makes Perkins, Fred, and the allocation money* cancel out,
leaving us with the equation:
Steve Cronin = 1st round pick + 2nd round pick
Really?
Okay, so let me see if I can prove my work here.
Trade, Spring, 2010
IN - Troy Perkins
OUT - Fred, 1st round pick, allocation money
Trade, Fall/Winter, 2010
IN - Steve Cronin, allocation money
OUT - Troy Perkins
Trade, Spring, 2011
IN - Fred
OUT - 2nd round pick
Doing a little trade-algebra ninjutsu makes Perkins, Fred, and the allocation money* cancel out,
leaving us with the equation:
Steve Cronin = 1st round pick + 2nd round pick
Really?
[I'm sorta just throwing darts at a dart board here, so feel free to slate my hypothesis
in the comments]
An old axiom in football is that a settled lineup often brings good results. So below is an
image I assumbled using data from Football-Lineups.com that show the changes in the starting lineup
since the prior game.
Posted by Jared Montz
In case you didn't hear the MLS draft was today and the University of Akron had 7 of it's
players drafted. Yes, 7 players. If you do the math that's 64 percent of their starting 11
being drafted. Very impressive from the Zips.
I was reading up and youtubin them when I saw this video from one of their players doing a mock
Joga Bonita.
Adrian Hanauer really sounded like someone who just won the lottery. You know that one birthday
where it seemed like every present you opened was exactly what you wanted? Where you started
actually getting embarrassed that people actually listened to you this time? That's the best way I
could describe my conversation with the Sounders' general manager and part owner.
Michael Vick hoped to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl championship. Instead, his
Eagles were defeated by the Green Bay Packers on NFL Wild Card Weekend. Fittingly, Vick decided the
game for the Eagles and not in a good way. With 33 seconds remaining, Vick threw an interception to
end Philadelphia's season.
