Thoughts on KC-Toronto

Will Toronto ever score?  Obviously they will, but even despite putting together some solid stretches of soccer, they never really threatened on goal.  And this is with Kevin Hartman in goal.  Anyone could notch one against him.

Eddie’s goal was weak.  Greg Sutton is just not an MLS caliber keeper, there’s no reason to get beat on a slow roller like that.

Dichio seemed to provide a person to play through at the front, which gave Toronto someone who wouldn’t just dribble to the middle of nowhere and pass it to the touch line.

Marvel Wynne needs to just be planted by the flag during practices and just knock in crosses for a few hours.  He’s fast and seems to be a solid defender whose natural talent makes up for his marginal soccer skills.  He’s definitely lacking in the quality department expected of a previous #1 pick, especially at his age.  If he can refine his crosses, he’ll be trouble coming out of the back, but right now, Toronto is desperately lacking on that side of the field.  He’s got a nice throw in though.

Toronto’s attack really fell apart once Welsh left.  They no longer had anyone who looked dangerous roaming the wings, so KC was able to shut them completely down.

Esky again looks to have flashes of skill, but will he be able to consistently put those flashes together?

Mauricio Navarro is absolutely shit at being a referee.

Kansas City seemed to be sleeping through the return match, doing just enough to not lose.

The fans were spectacular.

Reyna and Taylor Hicks

No real reason for this. I’m watching Dallas and New York and they get a close up on Reyna. Perhaps I’m alone, but does anyone else think he looks like American Idol winner Taylor Hicks? Maybe if you gray’d up Reyna’s hair a lot… I dunno, just spit-balling.

Miniscule Crowd in KC

The Wiz and Toronto are playing in a massive rainstorm in Kansas City, and around 300 people look to have shown up.  It will be interesting to see what spin MLS puts on the attendance numbers, because the seats behind the goal are literally bare.  All the fans are scrunched around midfield in the first 8 rows on both sides.  I’ve seen more fans at high school soccer games.  I don’t blame people, it looks fucking nasty, and there’s really no reason to torture yourself to see KC beat Toronto, but the numbers there is pretty pathetic.  I’ve seen the Battery in worse weather.

Oh, and 20 minutes in, KC leads 1-0 on a goal from LFB (former Grown Ass Man Eddie Johnson, heretofore known as Little Fucking Bitch).

Mild Statistical Thoughts Through 3 Weeks

So I sit here going through some stats through 3 weeks of the season, since only 1 game was actually available on MLS.tv this weekend (and that one started showing in the 25th minute).

Home teams have 10 wins, 6 ties and 2 losses. That’s a 72% winning percentage. That’s the highest percentage since the first year without shootouts.

Home team records by year (through 18):
2006: 9-6-3
2005: 8-6-4
2004: 7-7-4
2003: 2-8-8 (includes OT w/l)
2002: 9-2-7 (includes OT w/l)
2001: 9-2-7 (includes OT w/l)
2000: 11-4-3 (first year with ties)

Home teams have outscored the away teams 31-14 in 18 games for a total of 45 goals. 52 (36-16) goals were scored at the same time last year.

There have been 63 yellow cards and 3 straight red cards so far (1 every week).

There has been 25 minutes and 44 seconds of 1st half stoppage time. There has been a total of 54 minutes and 22 seconds of second half stoppage time. There has been a total of 80 minutes and 6 seconds of stoppage time.

That means 67.8% of all the stoppage time occurs in the second half of games.

There have been 510 fouls in the MLS this season (includes cards). 261 fouls in the first half, 249 in the second half.

There have been 26 first half goals and 19 second half goals.

Now, while I understand that there is more time wasting generally in the second half, that still means that the average “event” in the first half takes 5.38 seconds, or Clint Mathis’s 40 time.

For the second half, the average “event” translates into 12.64 seconds, or the amount of time it takes Mathis to drink a sixer.

Now, while i don’t doubt that there is more gamesmanship in the second half than in the first, is there really over 2 times as much gamesmanship? I know that refs generally have an inclination to more time in the second half, but over twice as much?

No game has had over 135 seconds of stoppage time in the first half, with only 4 having less than that in the second half.

Looking at games reffed by Jair Marrufo, there have been 30 events in the first half and 23 in the second half. He’s added 3 minutes and 4 seconds of stoppage time in the first half and 8 minutes and 37 seconds in the second half over 2 games.

Honestly, I don’t know what to make of these numbers, I just decided to keep track of them. Now, I am missing some “events”, like corners, goal kicks, throw ins and offsides, but MLS only keeps track of half of those, so without watching every game and charting it myself, this is probably as good as it gets.

So that smarter people than I can look at the numbers, I’m attaching a pdf and probably putting it on a shared google spreadsheet for everyone to look at.

So yeah, like I said, a I had mild thoughts, maybe like two. There rest was just numbers, but hopefully someone enjoyed it.

mls-stats.pdf

Google Spreadsheet version

*Updated post game with video* Revs Up 2-1 @ Half

That’s a story, kind of, that Columbus scored a goal. But the Revs are taking the game 2-1, with goals by Twellman and Dorman. The emerging story right now is that things could get a little violent in the second half after a vicious Andy Herron elbow to the nose of Jay Heaps. The game just got a lot more interesting.

Now with video (ok, soon, probably by the time you read this the vid will be working)

Deuces Wild in Columbus

The Crew battled back from a 2-1 halftime deficit on Kei Kamara goal from Frankie Hejduk to salvage a home 2-2 draw.  The Crew kind of floated along for a good 70 minutes, bookending two Revolution goals in the process.  For long spells, Ned Grabavoy, Eddie Gaven and Frankie Hejduk disappeared.  When they resurfaced, the Crew were able to put together an attack, with Frankie Hejduk getting free on the right.  James Riley, who has to be considered a liability at some point, missed a chance to clear, and Kamara banged it off the crossbar and in from about 6 feet.

The Revs had their chances to take the lead, with Pat Noonan setting Twellman up with an easy goal, only for Twellman to knock it straight the a lead footed keeper.  Otherwise, New England did just enough not to extend the lead, and as much as Columbus floated for 70 minutes, New England floated around for the first and last 10 minutes of the contest.

In the end, Columbus comes through with their third tie in three games, with New England finding themselves essentially losing two points with their sloppy back line.  I’m going to say that now, their back line will be a story the rest of the year, and it won’t be a good story for the Revs.  Their defense will lose them more points in the standings than their offense will gain.

Roberto Brown red card in the 6th minute

Well, Colorado starts off their match in a hole after 5 minutes, with striker Roberto Brown getting red carded on a high challenge on CJ Brown.  Bit of a weak red card, but it can be argued the ref made the right call.  So its 10 v 11 as the Rapids attempt to hold off the Fire early.

Dynamo Top Chivas

Houston scored on a Brian Ching header (of course) in the 64th minute off a free kick to take out Chivas USA 1-0.  This wasn’t really one of those boring low scoring games (see Columbus earlier), with both teams pushing it end to end in what was both a technical yet physical game.  Neither team had an abundance of chances, with Houston directing only 3 shots on frame.  They probably should have made it 2-0 if not for Brian Mulling whiffing on a couple of shots and a missed hand ball from the referee.

Chivas lost their first game of the season.  Not a lot to say for them.  They played well and look to be set to finish in the top half of the Western Conference.  No doubt we’ll see both of these sides in the playoffs at the end of the year.

DC, Toronto smoked like ham

Although neither game is technically over, I think its safe to say that Toronto and DC are both set to lose their matches.

In Foxboro, the Revolution led throughout, with Toronto never really able to mount a serious challenge to the goal.  The Revs took the game 4-0 with Taylor Twellman starting the scoring with two goals in the first 18 minutes.  Shalrie Joseph added a penalty (which isn’t mentioned on MLSnet) and Andy Dorman scored on a nice drop pass from Steve Ralston, his second assist of the night.  New England looks to have lost absolutely none of its offensive firepower with Clint Dempsey hopping across the pond.  Also, Taylor Twellman finds the post-game lemonade to be crap.

Toronto was never able to get anything going offensively, though they look like they have a solid attacking set.  The defense came apart on multiple occasions and they were fortunate to only give up 4 goals.  They’re going to be a gritty team and should be able to grind out a few wins against the bottom half of the MLS table.

I can’t really speak to the DC-KC game, as I don’t get Fox Soccer, but it looks as though the defense may be a huge hole for United.  They no doubt have offensive firepower, but they’ve given up 6 goals through 2 games.  Hopefully mlsnet will archive this game so I don’t have to torrent it.

KC wins 4-2

RSL – Crew draw 0-0

An uneventful match yields a boring nil-nil draw.  The Crew had 2 real chances, 1 on a needle threading pass from Ned Grabavoy that Jason Garey couldn’t finagle into goal.  The second was a rocket from the foot of Eddie Gaven from 25 yards out that forced Nick Rimando into a sprawling save.

Salt Lake never really looked to challenge goal, with their best chance coming from a Mehdi Ballouchy worm burner from about 35 yards out.  Otherwise, both sides were content to play follow the bouncing ball around Rice-Eccles.