Quarter Volley

Freedom 2 - 0 Fort Collins Force
Freedom 3 - 0 Real Colorado Cougars
The Washington Freedom were victorious in two exhibition matches last week. The first was a 2-0 victory over the Fort Collins Force on Thursday, and the second, a 3-0 victory over Real Colorado, came on Friday. The next match that counts for the Freedom is Saturday May 24 at the Fredericksburg Lady Gunners.

Royals 1 - 3 Vermont Voltage
The Royals fell behind 1-0 to Vermont on 32 minutes but found themselves level just two minutes later by way of a Grady Renfrow goal. Five minutes into the second half, Vermont’s Matthew Stedman tallied to give Vermont a 2-1 lead, and he scored again seven minutes later to put the game out of reach.

Majestics 1 - 7 Boston Renegades
A Jessie Deegan goal in the 36th minute was the only bright spot for the Majestics on Saturday, as they allowed seven goals on 12 Boston Renegades shots to lose 7-1. Boston forward Ashlee Pistorius scored four of the seven goals and also assisted on a goal.

Real Maryland Monarchs 3 - 2 Cleveland City Stars
USL2 side Real Maryland earned their second franchise victory on Saturday at Maryland SoccerPlex, defeating Cleveland and avenging a 4-0 loss just a week before. Real Maryland found themselves down 2-0 after just 16 minutes, but a Dennis Alas brace separated by a Nilson Perez goal lifted the Monarchs to victory.

Alright… as promised, here’s the defense and goalkeeping analysis. Click to enlarge. You know the drill. All the data is here, sorted alphabetically.

It’s the same as before, only it’s goals by opponents, shots by opponents… you know the deal. You can basically say that the Chicago defense has faced 87 shots, for instance, or that the Houston defense has faced 49 shots on goal. It gets tricky with the fouls committed as you have to read it literally as fouls committed by the opposition and fouls suffered by the opposition. So from that data, I got this…

Like on Tuesday, it’s sorted by PPG. Columbus, Chicago, and New York are the only teams in the league that are allowing less than a point a match. Not coincidentally, those are the only 1-loss teams in the league. In addition to surrendering only .57 points per match, Chicago’s allowing a paltry .43 goals per game, as well as virtually destroying the competition in shots that are goals, and shots on goal that are goals (aka: reverse of goalkeeper save percentage). More on Chicago in a moment.

There isn’t much of a correlation between allowing shots and winning. Columbus allows the most shots per game in the league but they’re at the top of the overall table. Colorado is allowing less than 10 shots per game, and they’re near the bottom of league in points per game surrendered.

If a team is allowing 20% of their SOG to be goals, that means that they have a save percentage of 80. Los Angeles is scoring goals, but allowing them too. Their %SOG=G is 38.46%, meaning the save percentage of their goalkeepers is slightly higher than 60%. Not good. Also not good is that the LA number is only second worst in the league. The worst? DC United. I’m talking to you, Mr. Wells.

Look at the rankings for United. 12th in goals per game, 12th in shots that are goals, and dead last in what amounts to save percentage. Statistically speaking, if you want a goat you can look to the backline in part, but mostly at Zach Wells. Yeah, a goal is not always the goalkeeper’s fault, but for the most part if it’s on frame you’d better be saving it. Holy crap. I can’t even say anything else about this. I felt like he had been performing at a level that’s sub-standard at the least, but these numbers absolutely floored me.

Now, back to Chicago, The hated Fire, our postseason nemesis. Look at that. 1st in goals allowed, shots that are goals, and shots on goal that are goals. Is there any question that defensively, and especially between the posts, they’re unbelievable? I mean, in terms of percentage numbers, the Fire %SOG=G number is 7.89%. Second to them? Houston at 20.41%. That’s a difference of nearly 13 percentage points! Speaking of Houston, their numbers should be skewed due to Tony Caig replacing Pat Onstad, but they still have a high save percentage… except they’re allowing the highest percentage of shots on goal. The next closest team is Chivas by nearly 10% points. Not good for a young and inexperienced keeper.

I’m still staggered by the DC United numbers, so I’ll bring this to a close. Well, at least until later in the season when I want to look at how teams have improved and worsened and why. This feature will be back sometime over the summer.

Something you may not know about me is that I love stats as pertains to sports. I recognize that a lot of stats don’t mean anything, but they’re always going to be fun to examine. A recent email exchange with another soccer fan has lead me to a little team-by-team MLS statistical analysis. Here’s the set of data I was working with (click to enlarge):

In case there are any questions, that’s an alphabetical listing of each team in the league and their numbers from left to right: games, goals, shots, shots on goal, fouls committed, fouls suffered, and then their record.

So I took that data and went a few steps forward:

This is sorted by the right most column, points per game. From left to right it’s goals per game, shots per game, percentage of shots on goal, percentage of shots that are goals, percentage of shots on goal that are goals, overall shots differential, and fouls suffered differential.

There are a few numbers that jump out. First of all, freaking Columbus is first in the league in points per game? Next, from the Department of The Obvious, for the most part it looks as though scoring goals will get you points. Sure, Colorado and RSL are the only other teams averaging over 1.5 goals per game and they’re not very high in the pecking order, but for the most part the PPG and GPG trend the same… until you look at the Galaxy, who are tied with Columbus for the league lead in GPG but are tied for 9th in PPG. I guess they need to shore up the defense. Also rather obvious, the team with the lowest GPG has the lowest PPG.

Moving on, you don’t necessarily have to shoot the ball the most to earn results. Columbus lead the league in SPG, but teams 2 through 5 (RSL, LA, Houston, and Chivas respectively) in that statistic are all in the bottom half of the league in PPG. Nobody averages less than 10 shots per game, and the teams tied for the lowest SPG (Toronto and FC Dallas) are 4th and 8th in terms of points per game.

The most efficient team in terms of shots that are goals is Chicago. This is noteworthy because they’re also 2nd in percentage of shots on goal, and 3rd in both goals per game and shots on goal that are goals, as well as 2nd in points per game. But they’ve done all of this while shooting 10.6 times per game, good for 12 in the league out of 14 teams. This chart is representative of the rankings of each team in the statistical categories:

Not surprisingly, San Jose is at or near the bottom in every category. I added the fouls committed and fouls suffered categories hoping that their might be some fun correlation between committing fouls and losing and suffering them and winning. What I found instead is that somehow San Jose has suffered the fewest number of fouls in the league and has committed the second lowest. Additionally, Toronto has committed the fewest, and suffered the third fewest, yet those teams are virtually at opposite ends of the table in terms of PPG. The Galaxy are rated 6th or better in the goals and shooting categories, and that makes their defense look that much worse when you see their position in the standings. Houston is shooting the ball a lot, 4th overall in shots per game, and they’re out-shooting their opponents at a ratio that’s 3rd best in the league, yet they can’t score. Maybe it’s time for the team to go through some drills to improve their shooting accuracy, as they’re even 2nd worst in terms of beating the keeper when they get it on frame.

The team I haven’t mentioned so far, as I’m sure you’ve realized, is DC United. I expected them to be worse in terms of shots per game than 8th, as it seems like they hardly ever shoot the ball. When I saw that they were ranked where they are, I figured they were maybe shooting but just not getting it on frame, but that turned out not to be the case as they’re ranked 6th in getting their shots on goal. Yeah, they’re 10th both in scoring anytime they shoot, and scoring when they get it on frame, but those numbers aren’t the stuff that makes a team 12th in PPG. So what is it that’s the problem for United? In what ways are the Fire succeeding doing more than just being more efficient in their shooting? The answers will likely come to light a little later this week when we look at the defense and goalkeeping.

Every Monday/Tuesday I’m going to run the weekly roundup of local soccer, primarily focused on the semi-pro happenings in the area. Once these teams start hosting games that I can attend you’ll be seeing more in-depth posts on those games.

US WNT 6 - 0 Canada
Yeah, it wasn’t local in the sense that it was the National team, but it was at local because it was played at RFK Stadium. Natasha Kai’s hat trick as well as single goals by Carli Lloyd, Leslie Osborne and Lindsay Tarpley were more than enough for the US to dispatch with Canada. Kai’s hat trick came over a 21 minute span, with goals in the 54th, 60th, and 75th minute.

Freedom 3 - 1 Long Island Lady Rough Riders
Opening the defense of their 2007 W-League title on the road, the Washington Freedom defeated Long Island behind a Christie Welsh brace and a single goal by Sarah Huffman. Welsh’s first strike came on 6 minutes to give the Freedom a 1-0 lead which they held at halftime. Long Island’s goal did not come until the 80th minute. The Freedom open the season with 4 road games, not playing at home until June 1st. Next up is a May 15th date at the Fort Collins Force.

Royals 1 - 0 Hampton Roads Piranhas
The Northern Virginia Royals opened their season with a 1-0 victory over defending regular season champions Hampton Roads at their home field at Virginia Wesleyan College (what happened to the Hampton Roads Soccerplex?). The lone goal of the match came in the 2nd minute of 2nd half stoppage, courtesy of Royals forward David Atkinson. The Royals play Thursday 5/15 at the Fredericksburg Gunners before the hope opener at Fairfax High School against the Vermont Voltage on 5/17

Whew.

I’m incredulous.

This morning, it was disclosed that Luciano Emilio has been made, for all intents and purposes, a DP for the season. Usually I defend the Front Office until the moves they make prove to be errors, even if they really look like errors at the time. I can’t wait on this one.

If DC United had decided to make Luci a DP over the winter it would’ve been difficult to argue against them. He’d just won the Golden Boot and the MVP, and the team had just won the Supporters’ Shield. I would’ve supported the move. However, making the move now, 6 matches into the season with the team having a 2-0-4 record and Emilio having garnered just a goal and an assist, doesn’t make sense to me. Why are we rewarding him now for what he did last season when he’s started so poorly this season. He’s having trouble holding the ball. Well, he’s having trouble staying on his feet long enough to hold the ball, and it’s clear that he isn’t scoring. Looking ahead, this stands out to me as a big deal:

His original contract remains intact, but at some point this year, one of three things must occur: United must sign him to a new deal, trade him or sell him abroad.

Okay, so let’s say Emilio recovers and scores oh… 15 goals over the course of the season. After taking a statistical step back of 5 goals from the 2007 to 2008 seasons, the team would be justified in offering Emilio a new contract at less than what he makes now, and at less than DP money (see: Twellman, Taylor and his 16 goals for non DP money), but would Emilio accept that money now that he’s making a DP salary? I say no. If the club wants to keep him, they’re probably going to have to give him at least a minor raise. So then what happens? Emilio hasn’t earned the raise, so he tries his hand elsewhere, and the team is back to having a DP slot available. So why even let Emilio take up the DP slot to begin with if it’s going to end up being free at the end of the year? Sure, the club probably wasn’t going to go out and use the slot on a new player over the course of the year anyway, but now we certainly don’t have the option. And really, when’s the last time a professional athlete in any sport got the money and then ratcheted up their performance?

I hope Luci proves me wrong here, but for the time being I can’t defend this move. Not one bit.

Yes, DC United has a match tomorrow, but for the time being my focus is off of MLS and on…

Royals to open home schedule at Fairfax High School
In what appears to be a first round US Open Cup match, the Northern Virginia Royals are hosting the Vermont Voltage at Fairfax High School on Saturday May 17th at 7:00pm. Usually the team plays their home games in Woodbridge, but this match is an exception. Quarter Volley will likely be there.

Royals and Majestics matches find the same home
Originally the Royals’ schedule had them playing their home matches at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, VA. The Majestics’ schedule had them playing their home matches at something called “Hellwig Memorial Field Stadium.” Now the Royals’ schedule has them at Hellwig too. Originally I was not sure what/where Hellwig actually is. Now I have an idea.

This article on uslsoccer.com details some of the USL facilities that are getting Sprinturf installed. Written on April 28, 2008, the article says…

USL’s Northern Virginia Majestics (W-League) and Royals (PDL), along with their local youth club affiliate, the Northern Virginia Soccer Club, are the latest organizations to contract with Sprinturf. Groundbreaking on the new field in George Hellwig Memorial Park in Prince William County, VA will begin later this month.

…which sheds a little bit of light on the situation.
View Larger MapThe park is close to the Quantico base, and a bit further afield than Gar-Field High. The question then is as to where the games will be played if the groundbreaking has already happened. There appear to be two fields on the park grounds, so presumably they’ll be playing at one of those. I don’t see any bleachers on this sat image though, so I hope they’ve installed them since it was taken.

I don’t write a lot about European soccer, specifically the Champions League, but something needs to be addressed.

Yesterday’s semifinal at Stamford Bridge between Liverpool and Chelsea…

**SPOILER ALERT**

…went to extra time. As you know, there’s no more golden goal, so they were playing 30 minutes no matter what. ESPN ran a graphic about the rules governing the extra time, and contained within was the fact that away goals count.

Now I’m no fan of the away goals rule. I think it’s garbage, and that it assumes that every team’s home field advantage is the same, and punishes the teams for whom the advantage is inferior. But if the away goals rule must stay in Europe, then surely they shouldn’t make it so that away goals still count extra in extra time.

Look at it this way. Chelsea got their away goal (even if it was an own goal) in 90 minutes of soccer at Anfield. Liverpool got their away goal in 90 minutes of soccer at Stamford Bridge. That’s even. It’s a wash. But then Liverpool gets 30 minutes more to score an away goal that would count extra? How is that just? The teams played to an aggregate draw after 180 minutes of soccer. At that point the match should be played as if it was on neutral ground. If Liverpool had scored first to make it 2-1, then a goal by Chelsea should have sent the match to penalties. If UEFA wants to continue to use the away goals rule, then they need to abolish the bit about away goals counting in extra time.

Comprehensive victory. Yes, two of the four goals scored by DC United against Real Salt Lake came from the penalty spot, but 4-1 is 4-1, and not only were the two PKs legit, but the quality of the goals scored by Santino Quaranta and Marcello Gallardo to close out the match is enough for me.

Let’s talk about the two penalties, shall we? Not the infractions that lead to the penalty kicks, but the actual goals themselves. Jaime Moreno could not have known that he would get another chance to take a PK when his initial chip went past a diving Nick Rimando, but by doing that he scored the goal on the second PK before he ever struck it. I didn’t see Rimando’s reaction on the second PK until I watched the highlight package, but he waited in the center of the goal, seemingly so as to not get beaten by another chip, and Jaime put the ball in the upper left corner. Rimando, waiting to react, never had a chance.

The 3-5-2 formation to start the match was a bit of a surprise, and seeing Dan Stratford alongside Clyde Simms at the d-mid was even more of a surprise. I didn’t see enough of him to make a fair evaluation, but he didn’t do very much to impress me. Tom Soehn’s decision to pull him in favor of Rod Dyachenko seemed to do a lot for United’s attack. I couldn’t tell whether the move was tactical to get more offense, or performance-related, but this gives me a little bit of insight:

Surprisingly, Soehn elected to use his second substitution four minutes before the half, yanking off Stratford and inserting Rod Dyachenko in his place. Stratford immediately took a seat next to his head coach to get a brief talking-to before walking down to join his teammates on the bench.

“A brief talking-to” says to me that it’s performance related, but it was a good substitution nonetheless. I understand the need to play three defenders in the back with only four reliable healthy defenders and the team needing to have an option to use in case of an injury, but the insertion of Marc Burch in at left midfield when Fred left with an injury sort of negated the original decision. Looking down the line, the Fred injury is worrisome, though it’s being called a contusion, which isn’t that bad compared to what it could’ve been. And do I need to say anything about the goals by Quaranta and Gallardo? Great skill, and Gallardo’s golazo needs to be Goal of the Week.

So, what do we make of the win? United got on top, regardless of the method, and kept the pedal to the metal and squashed their opponent. I would’ve loved to keep the clean sheet, but I won’t split hairs here. Is this match some grand solution to the problems we’ve experienced this season? No. It’s a victory with authority over an opponent we should beat regularly (uh, at least at RFK). Like Winston Wolf in Pulp Fiction said, “Now let’s not start sucking eachother’s dicks quite yet.” Next week is a road fixture against a Colorado Rapids team that won’t be easy to beat at home. For me to start thinking that we’re really going in the right direction, we need to play well at DSG.

4-0.

Really Tom Soehn shouldn’t need to write anything else but that on the board in the locker room. When DC United took to the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium, they were flat out embarassed by the home side. Not only is this reverse fixture a chance for retribution, but it’s also a chance to start the climb back up the table.

Heading into the match, the only apparent injury of concern is that to Devon McTavish. I am not a fan of the idea of playing him at the wide midfield spot, but not having him as an option to sub defensively is a bit of a worry, particularly with Gonzalo Peralta declared healthy but having recovered from a minor knee knock. With another wide midfield option, Domenic Mediate, doubtful with a hamstring injury, Santino Quaranta will get the start in place of McTavish, somewhere I wish he would have been playing all along. Everything else should be status quo.

After beating United 4-0, RSL came crashing back down to earth last weekend, losing 1-0 at Toronto. I’m waiting for my eternal optimism to be overtaken by realism, but since that isn’t happening anytime soon, all three points are United’s, 2-1.