For the first time in 8 and a half years, the US Men’s National Team played in the final round of the FIFA Men’s World Cup. We all expected what came next; after all, it happens every time the USMNT plays a high profile game in front of people who are relatively new to watching the sport.
Read MoreSoccer is beautiful chaos. It’s players working together to weave patterns in line with an overarching plan, but simultaneously reacting to moments influenced by an incredible number of rapidly changing factors. When the chaos lines up perfectly, it’s like those players share one mind and create a product greater than the sum of its parts. Relatively infrequently, that beauty and chaos influence the score.
Read MoreNow that the soccer portion of the Major League Soccer season is over we can focus on what really matters: complicated systems by which the league shuttles players from one city to another. Though the 48-hour trade window came and went with little excitement, we’ll get a better look into what St. Louis CITY SC will look like on the field when it kicks off in 2023
The expansion draft doesn’t play as big of a role in team building as it once did but there’s absolutely still value to be found. Just finding average (or slightly below average) contributors can be a boon for franchises in early seasons in the league. As Lutz Pfannenstiel looks to build his Designated Team, he’ll have an opportunity to find contributors already in MLS. So how have the recent teams done in this particular team building exercise?
Now that the regular season is by all credible accounts over, it seems like a great time to peer back through the annals of history and see which plays the computer liked the best from the ENTIRE SEASON. Let us comb through literal months of historical footage dating back to like May, and remember some of the campaign’s most pedestrian moments that a computer thinks are the most impactful plays of the regular season.
Read MoreAnother year has come around and it’s time for everyone’s favorite discourse: end of season awards. We’re tired of all the lists that leave out the players who really deserve their dues, so we crunched the numbers and returned the top 11 players according to American Soccer Analysis’ Goals Added (g+). This is totally unbiased and not at all subject to some tweaking to ensure that the output made sense (yes, there are two primarily left backs on our backline – in Vlatko we trust).
Read MoreThe decisions have been made. Or occurred. Things have been decided, but in the boxing sense, I guess. I’ve never really liked #decisionday as a moniker for the craziest day in Major League Soccer. First of all, Decision Day is already a thing in another sport, and in THAT sport people are, you know, actually making decisions so it works better. Here are some alternate suggestions for what to call this most exciting day:
Read MoreThe 2022 National Women’s Soccer League Regular Season wrapped up earlier this month, and both the Shield and the playoff race came down to the wire. In the NWSL, the top six teams make the playoffs, the top two teams secure a bye to the semifinals, and the regular-season winner is granted the NWSL Shield along with a $10,000 per-player bonus.
Read MoreWell, that’s it folks. The 2022 regular season is a wrap, many fought for the well traveled Supporters Shield, many failed. Now, the teams chase the real-and-totally-not-dictated-by-the-randomness-of-single-or-two-leg-elimination-series MLS Cup. As such, let’s take a look at why every team has a shot, or doesn’t.
Read MoreSoccer, when viewed through a lens pulled back wide enough is basically an exercise in futility. There are so many ways that players are prevented from accomplishing their most basic directive of kicking the ball over that goal line. Some of these are personal failings. Some are systemic. Some are manufactured. Some, of course, are just your no frills varietal of lousy luck.
Read MoreWhen the season started this year, there were a lot of questions floating around the Western conference. Will LAFC make it back into the playoffs. Will Nashville take the next step and be a shield contender? Can anyone stop Seattle?
In hindsight, these questions are quite silly, considering how these storylines played out, but that’s the type of thing only hindsight can bring. In reality, making predictions about MLS, especially before a game is even played, is very difficult. Heck, even with the right data, making predictions in MLS is hard.
There is also the matter of humans being bad at interpreting probability in general. Below are the playoff odds for the Western Conference going into decision day, and, as you can see, we have seen some major changes in probabilities.
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