Some WhoScored Crew Analysis

Who Scored is one of the only places (if not the only place) that rates each MLS player each game, all season. They also rate another 10+ leagues that span the globe. Just like anything, it isn't perfect but it does give us a general indication of which players are doing well.

I like tracking such things but often times things like a game by game player rating might get over looked because of another story or just not enough time to put together a coherent thought.

What I've done here is take each player's rating when they started and broken each out into one of three categories.

1. EXCEPTIONAL
This is any score above the best median player score on the year (Chad Marshall's 7.36, which was good enough for WhoScored's 2013 Best XI). The % in the chart is out of total number of player starts. I should indicate it on the chart but it's the holidays. Alright, I'll get to it soon.

2. ABOVE AVERAGE
This is the middle column. It's the percentage of times the player performed above the median starter's rating for all Crew players.

3. NPS (SOLID START)
I work in the retail industry where a metric called NPS (Net Promoter Score) is very important. What it does is throw out the average scores and only look at the best and worst. I like looking at NPS with player ratings because you can really waste a lot of time dissecting average performances (or players). For this quick exersize I decided a 'top' Crew performance was 7.17 and above. A poor performance was 6.49 and below.

For all three above, the higher the better. I've sorted by the aggregate of all three.

One of the reasons this doesn't get a more serious look is because I don't have enough time to fairly compare it to the rest of the league. This just tells me which Crew players performed the best vs. other Crew players.

That said, I'm familiar with their ratings to say that a MLS level player should have a 'Net Promoter' above 50% if they have over five starts (George, Finlay, Finley, Warzycha, Schoenfeld are light).

With Injured Gaven Photo Comes a Story

On May 29th 2013 the Crew were facing USL Pro side Dayton Dutch Lions for the 2nd straight year in a row in front of a few hundred folks.

Since the Crew had been knocked out the previous year by them Robert Warzycha and company decided it was important to field a very strong side that featured Federico Higuain, Danny O'Rourke and Eddie Gaven.

This was an exciting match for me as I had been watching a lot of the Lions before this game. Dayton had to play a couple USOC games just to get to this point and were starting to find some form.

In fact the Lions had already taken on the Crew not long before in Dayton for a Reserve match. That game was hotly contested so I expected a good one for the USOC.

The Crew ended up dominating most of the first half and not long into the second Eddie Gaven scored off a beautiful assist from Higuain to put the Crew up 1-0.



I think Warzycha thought this game was won by that point, so he took Higuain off the pitch to keep him from getting injured.

What happened as Higuain was jogging off I will never forget.

He took a detour and found Eddie and forceably applied the captains armband on him. He must have tried this before because it wasn't a hand off it was grabbing Eddies arm and looping it in. Higuain would then give a couple claps to the crowd and jog off.

Eddie, in true Eddie form, would drop his head and quickly slide off the armband and take it over to a nearby Danny O'Rourke. Danny didn't seem to hesitate in accepting it, almost like he expected it from Gaven.

Shortly before the game ended Eddie was chopped down, no foul was called but he tore his ACL.

The picture of Danny over Eddie reminds me of this exchange because you can see the captains armband sort of half put on, comforting Eddie.

No doubt a sad moment captured forever but it will always remind me of the armband exchange which has quickly become a favorite Gaven memory.

This is the type of player that he was, the kind of person he is. Wishing him the best in his post soccer career.

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The top photo is one I took before the game started and the bottom one of an injured Gaven was taken by Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports but with my liberal use of filters, cause I'm addicted to them right now.

Eddie Gaven's Injury [UPDATED]

Late on in an inspired game against the Dayton Dutch Lions, Eddie Gaven was tackled by Taylor Lord while charging down the inside edge of the 18 yard box. Lord seemed to get the ball but also sent Gaven tumbling to the ground.

In looking through the Crew Facebook page today I noticed that there were two photos taken by Greg Bartram (for USA Today Sports Images) of the tackle. Be sure to look Greg up if you need a good photographer.

Above are (rather hastily put together) screen caps of two photos taken during the tackle. I found them pretty amazing. Not sure too much can be derived from them right now but after we find out the nature of the injury it might make more sense. I will update as news comes out about his injury.

The Columbus Crew would be dealt a serious body blow if Gaven is out for an extended period of time.

As of the time of this writing the Crew have said it is a leg injury and he is getting it looked at today. Gaven was taken off the pitch on a stretcher and said to have left on crutches.

Along with Federico Higuain, Eddie Gaven was the difference in the Crew's 2:1 win over Dayton last night.
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[UPDATE, Thursday May 30, 6 PM: Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the Crew will release Gaven's injury details Friday afternoon. This likely means it is more serious then a normal hamstring or sprained ankle. This may be the old crusty DC side of me talking, but releasing it late also allows the Crew to pull together positive articles to get out in front of the bad news].
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[UPDATE; Thursday May 30, 10 PM: It's an ACL injury. Eddie is out for the year. Details to come from the club on Friday. “Eddie Gaven does so many things. If you ask anybody on this club, they’re going to tell you that there’s only one Eddie Gaven." - Robert Warzycha.]

Crew Rd 12: Draw at NYRB

After leading twice, Columbus will feel a bit disappointed not to get all three points out of this messy affair.

1ST HALF
Eddie Gaven came off the first whistle looking like the Eddie Gaven fans are more accustom too. Even after assisting on Dominic Oduro's 2nd minute goal Gaven was going after loose balls, finding space to receive passes, drawing defenders out. His play lifted the Crew as they matched NY, for the most part, in quality of play during the half.

Oduro was injured on the goal he scored and was replaced (curiously) by Aaron Schoenfeld.

In the 31st minute Tim Cahill played a nice longish ball to Thierry Henry who, from the 18 yard box, blooped it over an off his line Andy Gruenebaum.

Some nervy type moments after that goal as Gruenebaum sometimes seems to lose confidence and composure after goals. Fortunately, NY was not able to get any real chances off before the half ended.

2ND HALF
Sensing that the Crew were going to play cautiously, the Red Bulls came out aggressive and impatient. Every pass they made was seemingly one searching for a quick goal. Columbus was up for it though, and held NY to just three total shots from the 45th minute to the 82nd.

In the 74th minute there was some controversy as Justin Meram was pushed in the back after mishitting a chance on goal in the box. The ref called the foul and Federico Higuain finished off the penalty shot putting the Crew up 2:1.

Things changed from there. They NY onslaught was on and it put the Crew against the wall a bit. In all the chaos towards the end the Red Bulls' Jonny Steele found Olave for a tying goal.

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FINAL NOTES / THOUGHTS
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• Injured Oduro's 8th minute sub; Aaron Schoenfeld, was subbed off for Ben Speas in the 62nd minute. Sub for sub isn't something that happens too often. Not clear of Schoenfeld was tired or just not playing well.

• Speas came on and Meram appeared to move up top in a more attacking roll.

• Meram found the right spots and Gaven was finding him well, just he was way off on his shots. He is rusty but given more time he will find the goal.

• Foul in the Box: The problem with the call is that it was after Meram had already flubbed the shot. It was a sloppy play that permeates MLS play. They are not consistently called in this league because of the talent levels in defending.

• NY's decision to start Dax McCarty was a mistake. Good player but results have been poor with him playing. Doesn't fit.

• No updates on Dominic Oduro's injury, didn't look serious. Interestingly, Oduro has left the game immediately after scoring twice this year due to injury.

• I don't mind the line up decisions for this game. It felt more like a Crew team to have players like Eric Gehrig, Kevan George and Justin Meram out there. I don't think results would be much different were it them or the regular starters. It's club style of play and coaching that puts them mid-table.

Rd 4: Win at RFK

Columbus beats the odds and grabs all three points away in Washington DC 1:2 with both goals from NE Ohio born players. This was easily one of the more engaging games of the young MLS season.

1ST HALF
Columbus came ready to play and was as dominate and threatening in the first 20 minutes as they have been all year. DC made no adjustments to deal with Federico Higuain in the midfield and, well, generally looked unprepared.

The Crew still struggling to get anything from open play but just reward came from yet another set piece off the foot of Tyson Wahl and head of Josh Williams in the 15'. Somewhat against the run of play, DC was able to equalize in the 22' off some lazy defending from Glauber and with a touch of magic from (man-child) Rafael.

Crisis struck DC a few minutes later as Nick DeLeon went down with what appeared to be a hamstring problem.

As time ticked down on the frantic 1st half teams were relatively deadlocked.

2ND HALF
Started much like the first, entertaining. With DeLeon missing and his replacement (Kyle Porter) a steep drop off from his talent, the Crew were able to control most of the happenings in the middle.

Again, reward from the Crew did not come from open play. It came from a corner that bounced around and found Ben Speas atop the 18 yd box. Speas whipped in a laser for his first career goal.

From there Columbus slipped back to defend and held DC off though both good defending and a couple amazing saves from Andy Gruenebaum.

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CONCLUSIONS
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• This game held all the hallmarks of a Ben Olsen DCU game. Which is to say, chaos.

• There was a somewhat controversial offside call that pulled back a DC goal as well as Chad Marshall pulling down Chris Pontius in the box that probably should have been a PK

• Match official Allen Chapman let things go this match, stopping the action very few times. 16 total fouls this game (about half what a normal match gets).

• So few fouls made for a wide open affair and this approach is probably calculated by the league. Fewer fouls and Red Cards this year.

• Josh Williams getting forward like a madman in the first 20 minutes. I've seen this before from him, most notably (and frustratingly) in the Dayton Dutch Lions game last year. He seemingly wants to win the game single-handedly. This is a quality trait.

• 4 of 7 Crew goals this year are from set pieces.

• Moving Oduro out of the midfield was the key to this match. While no goals came from open play, it did play up to the level of their opponent. Something that was missing from past two games.

• Eddie Gaven got a yellow for simulation around the box. It's been a while coming. Over the past couple years Eddie has racked up the most 'fouls suffered' in the league by going down very easy. It's become a bad habit for him. While he does look extra frail this year (man, does he), he's got the skill to work through fouls, he needs to stop going to ground.

• Ben Speas has been playing great. Good to see him get a win in a start away with the game winning goal. Well done.

2012 "Team of the Week" MLS Soccer

Throughout the the year I kept tabs on Major League Soccer's "Team of the Week" (TotW) feature on their website MLSsoccer.com. How it works is that their staff selects a team of 11 players each week that they feel played the best over the previous week. On top of those eleven, they also pick another 20 (or so) players and place them under the "Honorable Mention (HM)" category.

It's not perfect. MLS generally uses this feature to generate social interest and do little beyond listing out the players with a short blurb. No historical reference or player tracking. Once it's posted, it's posted and they move on.

Regardless. It can be a valuable feature. All totalled - about 10% of all players week to week get mentioned in the MLS TotW / HM feature.

There were 182 different players and coaches to make the site's TotW out of a possible 348 open starting XI slots + one coach (should have been 408 but MLS got weird with this feature between weeks 13 and 15). There were another 130 players that made the Honorable Mention category.

I tracked: 312 different players and coaches, 929 mentions.

Here are the players with over 9 mentions (TotW + HM = Mentions).

MENTIONS: NAME : (TotW only)

14 : Robbie Keane (4)
12 : Chris Wondolowski (8)
12 : Fredy Montero (3)
11 : Landon Donovan(5)
10 : Chris Pontius (5)
10 : Brad Davis (5)
9 : Marvin Chávez (5)
9 : Dan Kennedy (3)
9 : Andy Gruenebaum (3)

I don't think it's out of bounds to think that Total Mentions, as a subjective list like Team of the Week, can be used general barometer of quality. It passes the smell test as a measurement of quality. More value can be found in that it will also tell you who the league favors (bigger names get more attention). Smaller market teams might get overlooked in these lists but with a league of only 19 teams there you can only hide for so long.

The only player to separate themselves from the rest of the pack as far as TotW mentions was Chris Wondolowski with 8. Five players made the team 5 times (in the list above + Lee Nguyen).

Here is how it looks with the Crew ganked out. On the left are the number of times a player was mentioned. On the (right) is TotW mentions only.

9 : Andy Gruenebaum (3)
7 : Eddie Gaven (3)
7 : Jairo Arrieta (2)
5 : Chad Marshall (1)
5 : Josh Williams
4 : Federico Higuaín (3)
4 : Justin Meram
3 : Emilio Rentería (1)

2 : MLS LEAGUE MEDIAN

2 : Robert Warzycha*
2 : Shaun Francis
2 : Tony Tchani
1 : Aaron Schoenfeld
1 : Chris Birchall
1 : Danny O'Rourke
1 : Dilly Duka
1 : Milovan Mirosevic
1 : Sebastian Miranda

* One coach picked per week. More on that later on.

Here is number of TotW (best XI only) by club.

MENTIONS : TEAM

35 : San Jose Earthquakes*
25 : Real Salt Lake*
23 : Chicago Fire*
23 : Seattle Sounders*
22 : D.C. United*
22 : LA Galaxy*
20 : New York Red Bulls
19 : FC Dallas
18 : Houston Dynamo*
18 : New England Revolution
17 : Philadelphia Union
17 : Sporting Kansas City*
16 : Montreal Impact
15 : Columbus Crew
14 : Portland Timbers
13 : Vancouver Whitecaps*
12 : Colorado Rapids
10 : Chivas USA
9 : Toronto FC

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Alright. A few metrics here be.
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How many minutes it takes to get a MLS "mention" (includes TotW and HM). On the right I put total mentions again.

MINS PLAYED PER MENTION : NAME : MENTIONS

219 : Jairo Arrieta 7
240 : Justin Meram 4
251 : Federico Higuaín 4
254 : Shaun Francis 2
298 : Aaron Schoenfeld 1
324 : Andy Gruenebaum 9
427 : Eddie Gaven 7
429 : Chad Marshall 5
486 : Josh Williams 5
514 : Emilio Rentería 3

644 : LEAGUE MEDIAN

667 : Tony Tchani 2
1073 : Dilly Duka 1
1515 : Chris Birchall 1
1603 : Danny O'Rourke 1
2140 : Milovan Mirosevic 1
2881 : Sebastian Miranda 1

Crew players that didn't make TotW or HM this year, of the guys that saw minutes: Speas, Anor, Mendes, Grossman, Gehrig, Finlay, James, George, Lampson, Vukovic, Vargas. Fair or not; of that list, the only one to play over 1000 mins and not get a mention was Vukovic.

Here are some notable names from the rest of the league in terms of how many minutes it takes to earn a team of the week mention:

162 : Alan Gordon
180 : Robbie Keane
205 : Landon Donovan
212 : Marvin Chávez

All these guys had over 1000 minutes.

Not much to go on here with Managers. Ben Olsen was the only one to get mentioned 3 times. Warzycha got mentioned twice but so did 8 others.

One thing that interested me was how much a "Team of the Week" and "Honorable Mention" were worth. You can, if you figure that there are a possible 9044 eligible players generated by from 19 teams playing 34 matches with three available subs.

9044 total slots / 363 TotW picks = a 25 Share
9044 total slots / 581 HM = a 15 Share

Not perfect but close enough for a feature like TofW, so by that logic here are your top 6 MLS performers as picked by MLS themselves:

268 : Chris Wondolowski
254 : Robbie Keane
220 : Landon Donovan
213 : Fredy Montero
194 : Chris Pontius
194 : Brad Davis

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Some interesting things to be found in regards to Major League Soccer's "Team of the Week". If you have questions, you can contact me via twitter @HelltowBeer or email at: ljbaby654@gmail.com

If you are interested in looking over MLS Team of the Week and Honorable Mentions you can find my data HERE.

As with anything, there is an error rate. With this mine happens to be around +/-5%. Reason being; MLSsoccer.com doesn't post this data other than a "conversational" form. They also, because of international breaks and a strange unbalanced schedule, skipped or combined weeks. I had to manually pull this together. It's close enough.

Crew Round 25, The Will in Williams

Eddie Gaven puts away the Philadelphia Union in the 95th minute off some good play from Federico Higuain and Justin Meram... but it all wouldn't have happened were it not for a couple sparks provided by Josh Williams in the middle of an otherwise flat game. Those sparks came in the form of a fearless header for goal in the 31st min off a Higuain free kick and then a Red in the 68th. Those events were much needed in a match that the Union were otherwise trying to kill.

Crew Round 23, Crew Win (TFC)

Columbus comfortably holds off Toronto for all 90 minutes and comes away with the 2:1 win.

1ST HALF
Columbus looked the hungrier of the two sides at the start and just 4 minutes in was able to get defensive deflection which enabled an Eddie Gaven shot to angle past a frozen TFC GK Freddie Hall.

Interestingly, the goal didn't change the mentality of either side. Crew kept up the sharp pressure and finding plenty of gaps in the midfield and Toronto looked game to absorb and build possession.

2ND HALF
The script didn't change much from the 1st half and the Crew were rewarded at the 58th minute off some hustle play from Eddie Gaven, Jairo Arrieta and Frederico Higuain. The goal was the first for Higuain in a Crew uniform.

From there the Crew dropped back and essentially abandoned possession. It wouldn't be unfair to call the game flat after the second goal. Out of that and around the 70th minute TFC's Luis Silva took advantage of a sleeping pair of Crew defenders off a free kick to score one back.

From there Crew Coach Warzycha brought in a trio of defensive subs to wrap the game up.

THE END, NOTES
• First off, I gotta say, very cool to see both Cole Grossman and Danny O'Rourke come on at the same time. I've got a big ol' grin on my face because I just wrote about those two playing together the other day.

• Federico Higuain is off to a great start in his first 135 121 minutes. He and Arrieta look like they will be absolute pests to opposing back lines.

• With Higuain, Eddie Gaven has looked like the player we all know he is. Over the past few years the quality has always been there but it looked like it took extreme effort... but now with a couple players up top who can cover a lot of ground with him... man o man, watch out.

• I thought Emilio Renteria looked pretty good running up and down the right side as, basically, a wing man.

• I wasn't impressed with Milovan Mirosevic and Chris Birchall wasn't blowing anyone's hair back. A win is a win.

• Toronto played much of the match like they weren't in the mood, organized but definitely a not tonight honey kinda evening. No pancakes for them, I guess.

• Would have liked the Crew to bury this poor TFC side. Columbus did exactly what they needed to this game, though. 3 points at home and get the PR regulars to beat that free drum for the new expensive signing.

• Looking forward to this weekends match against another below average side in the NE Revs.

No Problem Eddie

Good to see all the silverware never (hasn't?) got to him. Gaven is still the same guy in 2015...

Eleven, twelve, Dig and delve;

Welp, it was like Christmas day over here at the Helltown Beer, Brewery District location. Electronic Arts FIFA 12 came out.

So what are we dealing with here? 1. Player movement is slowed again this year (a very good thing). 2. MLS is treated with some more respect (was that Martin Tyler making a team specific comment on the Whitecaps?). Player pictures for almost all Crew players too. 3. And, this is big... two announcing teams.

Okay, that's all I've got so far. Only spent a little bit of time with it.

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If you care not for fake Crew team news, change the channel. I'll get back to real Crew news tomorrow as they take on KC in probably their most important game of the year.
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As silly as this may sound. What the folks at EA think about a player in the fake world... does matter in the real world (as it does, to a greater degree, in Football Manager where, among other things, player dollar values and contracts are more accurately handled).

The creators of these games review and rate over 4000+ players across the globe in 20+ statistical categories. It's mind boggling, really.

Below is the overall ranking of all Columbus Crew players in FIFA 12.

Overall : Player
73 : Marshall
68 : Gaven, Hesmer
67 : Rogers
66 : O'Rourke, Renteria, Mendoza
65 : Miranda, Duka, Ekpo
64 : Balchan, Gruenebaum
63 : Rusmir, Gardner, Anor, Meram, Cunningham
62 : Francis
61 : Heinemann, Gehrig, Burns
59 : Prim, Grossman
58 : Williams
57 : Riggs, Horton, Veeder
54 : Sippola

As most FIFA players hopefully know; overall score isn't a great indication of what the player is capable of, but it is a good general score. In that: generally speaking, 65 and up is an above average MLS player. 60-64 is an average starter. In the PL, you have to have a 68+ to be competitive.

The most improved Crew players over last years version of the game are:

+6 Gardner (57 to 63, bench to starter)
+5 Gehrig (56 to 61, reserve to possible starter)
+3 Anor
+2 Gaven
+2 Balchan

Setback (overall) this year:

-2 Mendoza
-3 Cunningham
-3 Veeder

Believable. I know the guys up in Vancouver do there homework in rating players. Other notable increases include Renteria and Heinemann's all important 'vision' stat (+2 and +5, respectively).

Fanfare from Crew v. Galaxian

Andres Mendoza has 6 goals from the run of play. Eddie Gaven and Emilio Renteria have 4 and Tommy Heinemann has 3. The Columbus Crew are dead last at procuring goals outside of PKs. They have been last all year.

13 MLS teams have a scorer with 6 goals or more. On those 13 teams, 28 players have at least 6 goals or more. There are 24 MLS players with 6 or more goals that make less money then the Crew's create-a-player (on FIFA 12) lefty only goal scorer.

Bleeno and Smitty (and Geoff(and Crack and Stevens)) will get that reference, but to others reading... I meticulously create players on sports video games. Usually each player has at least one weakness (save for the Woods, Crack and Smitty; Trequartistas those guys). Comic books from the 80s are probably to blame.

Mendoza is like one of those created players. He has a top 50 in the world "100" left foot but little* else. When I watch him I feel like I have a controller in my hand and am trying desperately to get the ball on his left side. And when less then 30 yds out? Punch it.

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This weekends Crew game is sold out. A feeling I haven't felt since...

Beckham flew back to Cali today. So none of that guy at the game. Yeah, there is Donovan and that Irish fellow (Keane, sorry Nana) but it's Beckham that sold out the stadium (for the first time since...). But leave that behind. If fans knew there stuff they would know that Todd Dunivant is the real reason to go to the game. He has a stranglehold on the MVP race right now. Well... here at Helltown he does.

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The Crew have a real chance of dropping out of first this weekend. A loss here and a KC win puts the Crew in a tight spot in 2nd with Philly. If DC and Houston also win then we have a 5 alarm fire going on here in Columbus.

What's that then?

Looking forward. Columbus has KC Wed. of next week then DC next Saturday. Danger, Danger. 1st in the East to the last wild card spot will bring out the nearly dead and depressed Buckeyes.

And it will be the thing of nightmares.

*Mendoza showed recently he can play the mid-field well. The Houston game. Check the tape. Unfortunate we can't see the 33 yr old there more during his stay in Crewtown.

Your Ctrl+(right)click for reading this post (for my brother. Amazing how it means so much to so many. Not only in the US, but across the world. And amazing how quickly we forget what it's like not to be the clear number one).

Door Opened for Rapids 2-0

Eddie Gaven went down in the third minute with an injury. The Crew battled in the MF without him but the Rapids had their hands on the controls of this game. The Crew even had a sub for a sub in the middle in attempt to pry the ball off their feet. Haven't seen a sub sub for a while (Gaven sub: Anor. Anor sub: Meram) but it happened last night by a team searching for some possession and a link to the two fellas up top.

Speaking of Anor and Meram. Both came out of the chute guns blazing early in the year but have since gone a bit quiet. Solid, but quiet. I bring this up because Eric Gehrig, another new young player, started slow but is coming on starting to play on a good MLS level. No fireworks to his start like the other two. No fancy headlines for him either. He's just putting in the work. I like that.

It is important to remember that it is Dilly Duka's injury that has given these young players time. The future for the three of them looks good but in order for this team to stay in the hunt for the Cup they are going to need Mr. Gaven and a Mr. Duka healthy.
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No news on Eddie's foot as I write this but I got a message from Bleeno last night that I fear is going to be correct: "shit. gaven's leg looks like a months-out kind of injury."

Gaven Great Crew win 1. Timbers 0.

The first note I jotted down in my little notebook around the 8th minute was "Lot of energy from Gaven." The guy was all over the place and showed even more hustle then he usually does. He was rewarded right before the 80 minute with a goal that proved to be the only one needed to put away a toothless Timbers team.

I ran over to MLS website and checked out the "chalkboard". I wanted to see what Eddie Gaven and Jewsbury were doing all night. I felt it was two field commanders going at it. Turns out they were basically playing the same way. A couple of the best midfielders in the country. Fun to watch.

Other notes from the Game:

- Gardner is coming along. He has developed above average crossing ability and a savvy about when to push up and when not too.
- Rogers had a good game. Back to his old self. He is still 'nervy' around goal though. It's a mental thing he needs to work on.
-Crew really goal hungry all night. The Timbers did everything they could to pack it in and in doing so they were zero threat most of the game.
- Crew pushed both right and left defenders up all game then eventually just went to a 3-4-3 at the end. They got a goal out of it but they probably should have had a couple.
-Cunningham had zero contribution after the first 20 minutes. I read somewhere that he hasn't committed a foul this year. That about sums it up for me.
-Jewsbury (and Cooper) are good players on a bad team
- Happy to see Renteria back. He played well, didn't look rusty at all.

Two final notes:

1. Marshall is really, really shining now. The guy is a bulldog out there. Man of the Match for me (edged out Eddie by .00001 %). He and Eddie were fired up this game. They were not going to let this team lose.

2. Crew games end on time because the fans DO NOT tolerate injures. They will BOOO your ass. Crew games are the shortest games I watch. Warms this SCFC fan's heart!

Hans Backe, Respected. MLS All-Star Team

Major League Soccer should feel pretty lucky to have Hans Backe. I respect him a great deal. A big thanks to Notts County for being disorganized whilst he was there a couple years ago. Had it not been for you bouncing checks we'd never have Mr. Backe here in the USofA.

Mr. Backe has a great deal of freedom in choosing his squad that will take on Manchester United here in about a week. I think he did a pretty good job considering that teams are entering into a busy part of the year. Championship League games and EPL friendlies on top of league games. Tricky stuff. Since the MLS is a centrally controlled animal I'm going to say his list is good (even if Swedes have a hard time differentiating a defensive mid from a straight defender. ahhh ziiiinnnng).

The first group of players here are Mr. Backe's. On the left is my rank at that particular position.

Goalkeeper:
04: Faryd Mondragón (Philadelphia Union)
06: Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo)

Defenders:
08: Sean Franklin (LA Galaxy)
14: Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo)
18: Heath Pearce (Chivas USA)
21: Jámison Olave (Real Salt Lake)
29: Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City)
39: Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls)
35: Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo)
45: Bobby Convey (San Jose Earthquakes)

Midfielders:
05: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake)
08: Nick LaBrocca (Chivas USA)
12: Jack Jewsbury (Portland Timbers)
14: Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo)
15: David Beckham (LA Galaxy)
31: Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution)

Forwards:
01: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
07: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
09: Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
53: Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls)
43: Omar Bravo (Sporting Kansas City)
87: Omar Cummings (Colorado Rapids)

Inactive All-Stars (Note that another six inactive All-Stars will be chosen via player voting): Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Rafa Márquez (New York Red Bulls), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
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Okay. Now here is my list. Note the ++. That means they are not available. I went with a traditional 4-4-2.

Helltown Beer All-Star Starting XI
++Note++ Eliminating Sounders, FC Dallas, Rapids, Galaxy players can't play due to Champions League games.

Goalkeeper:
++: Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders)
++: Kevin Hartman (FC Dallas)
03: Nick Rimando

Defenders:
++: Todd Dunivant (LA Galaxy)
02: Sheanon Williams (Union)
++: George John (FC Dallas)
++: Ugo Ihemelu (FC Dallas)
05: Roy Miller (New York)
06: Carlos Valdes (Union)
07: Danny Califf (Union)

Midfielders:
++: Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
02: Joel Lindpere (New York)
03: Kyle Beckerman (RSL)
++: Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle)
++: Marvin Chavez (FC Dallas)
++: Juninho (LA Galaxy)
++: Daniel Hernandez (FC Dallas)
08: Nick LaBrocca (Goats)
09: Ned Grabavoy (RSL)

Forwards:
01: Sebastien Le Toux (Union)
02: Thierry Henry (New York)

One added note is that Eddie Gaven, Chad Marshall and William Hesmer missed the cut by one spot. ONE. Hoping at least one of them gets the call to replace the players who can't make it to the game. I know they have the Newcastle game the day before (MLS. Not on TV and not even listed in the homepage top page crawl) but they have earned it.

Wicked Start Time, Wicked Crew Win

I do believe that Crew fans witnessed an MLS game that employed direct attack tactics from a weaker side. As a nearly two year old Potters fan I am begrudgingly familiar with the direct attack or long ball (or at least, a fan of a team that are accused of it). It's a tactic almost as old as the game itself. Throughout the PL season last year I found myself reading up on it.

On to the game (sort of):

After Whitecaps skipper Tom Soehn retired as a player he became an assistant coach under Bob Bradley with the Chicago Fire. Say what you will about Mr. Bradley but he is one of the top football minds North America has. With that said (and everything that comes with it), we have to assume that Mr. Soehn knowingly employed long ball tactics last night against a Crew team the returned to a 4-5-1 formation. Those kickball tactics almost worked against the Crew last night. Had it not been for Robert Warzchya, nearly frantically, changing his own tactics (that found Heinemann and Gaven up front for a spell) the result could have easily been different.

What viewers saw last night was an admitted inferior side opting to bypass and fire over a Crew team that was hellbent on controlling the mid-field. For the record; Firing Over is a term used in manufacturing. It's when you leave work early on Friday and head to the closest waterin' hole. So... there's that.

I was impressed with how the Crew responded under that type of pressure. Over the past couple years it has been proven that EST teams are at a disadvantage due to late start times. This one could have easily ended in a draw as precedent dictates. It took a lot of blocks and brilliant saves from Hesmer (including a blocked PK), but they did what they had to do against a team applying the kind of tactics Vancouver had decided upon.

It's hard to compile player ratings kind of thing during a game like this. Hesmer, of course, saved the day and the back line did what they had to. But in all honesty I'm going to have to go with the Crew Coach Mr. Robert Warzycha. He recognized what the Whitecaps were doing and tried to adapt. Maybe it took all subs available to him and at least three tactical formation changes but it worked in the end.

Speaking of the end.

I'm sure most have heard; A Mr. Cunningham finally got that magical goal that puts him one step closer to holding the lone spot atop the all time MLS record books. In doing so he surpassed the one and only Mr. McBride for the Crew franchise record of 63. Brian has 62.

Who are the Crew's other greatest goal scorers? Here are the top 5 in Crew history:

63:Jeff Cunningham
62:Brian McBride
44:Stern John
42:Edson Buddle
33:Guillermo Barros Schelotto

That's a damn impressive list. Wait, there's more. What about assists?

61:Robert Warzycha
45:Brian McBride
43:Jeff Cunningham
41:Guillermo Barros Schelotto
37:Brian Maisonneuve

Well. Warzycha. Doesn't look like anyone will be touching that one for a while.

I'll get to breaking down the greatest Crew players here soon but one thing I wanted to mention was that Chad Marshall will be making massive news next year for the Crew. He will be surpassing Mike Clark as the player with the most minutes ever in a Crew uniform.

Considering that the Crew are on a run that rivals DC United's in the league's early years, this may be an even higher honor then a team goals record. Be on the lookout. Barring injury or trade, it'll happen around this time next year.

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Cunningham goal can be seen HERE.

For more information on the origins of the Long Ball and its place in English history look up Charles Reep and Charles Hughes. Or just read the English papers after Stoke wins against a 'superior' PL team. Lookin' at you Liverpool!

Impressive Crew Win Over Rapids, 4-1

as promised in my game preview post:

Maybe it was just me. It's just me.