Professional Soccer Team Analytics
Portland Timbers opened the 2020 season at home for the first time in awhile and that's about the only positive takeaway the soccer hungry supporters had. In what I would offer was a horrible display of controlled possession the Timbers gave away three counterattacking goals to Minnesota while only scoring a PK early in the... Continue Reading →
I fielded this question on Facebook today from Phil Mitchell, a soccer pundit in the great northwest: Based on your data collection, in your best non biased view, can you give me a prediction for Seattle? Why? They are technically ahead on total points in the table than the year they won the cup and... Continue Reading →
Caleb Porter left Portland Timbers at the end of 2017. There were many rumors as to why that happened; I put (some) of my thoughts in writing here: Porter Pulls out of Portland I didn't include everything and still won't; what happens behind closed-doors should stay behind closed doors. But here's what I offered almost... Continue Reading →
Major League Soccer nears the All Star break and most teams have reached the mid-point in games played. From top to bottom here's the latest on MLS team performance in possession, passing accuracy, penetration, creation, precision, and finishing. Being the best in just one of those categories does not mean you are the best in... Continue Reading →
With betting on sports games legal in the United States I will no longer publish details behind how my Total Soccer Index was created. I will, however, from time to time keep you updated on the correlation of my Indices relative to points earned in the league table. Here's the latest for your consideration: ... Continue Reading →
Ironic? An epithet created by the Timbers Army, which had sincere meaning in the playoffs last year, might have even more meaning this year. The Path Long, The Way Unknown, You are the mapmakers. Caleb Porter is out and Gio Savarese is in. In case you missed it - my thoughts on why Caleb... Continue Reading →
Soccer is a global sport - and some say it's the largest, organized, youth sport in the United States. Why, in a country with such a huge population of youth soccer players, do we see ourselves failing to qualify for the World Cup? I don't think it's because we aren't teaching players the mechanics of technical... Continue Reading →
Serving as a head coach in Major League Soccer is not easy - the rotating door of coaches leaving seems non-stop. So the departure of Caleb Porter doesn't surprise me. I sense there may have been multiple reasons but I'll set the stage for one - main reason - a reason you won't see published... Continue Reading →
Breaking news. I've done some more analysis - looking at all my data, across four years of research. After creating new equations for attacking and defending team performance statistics I've made an update to my Total Soccer Index. To see what the Total Soccer Index was about prior to this late-breaking news read here. Good... Continue Reading →
I'm sure there's many ways to determine what Head Coach might best lead the US Men's National Team out of darkness... I've narrowed my scope of who might fit best by limiting the selection pool to those who currently lead a team in Major League Soccer. This obviously includes a broad band of candidates -... Continue Reading →
