Crew Rd. 10: Nation Judging Draw (SJE)

They say... one can judge the quality of nation, past or present, by how they treat their prisoners. Just like one can judge the quality of football league by late game goals. Or something like that.

Unusual feelings for both teams after the final whistle blew on this one. San Jose ridiculously dominated the game yet Columbus had the 3 points in the bag right up till the dying embers (thank you FIFA 12 Martin Tyler).

1ST HALF
San Jose worked the ball around in the Crew third with remarkable ease in the first half. They wound up with 17 shots in the first stanza. Crew GK Andy Gruenebaum was outstanding. He had a PK save in there as well. But why so many shots in one half? There are only a couple MLS teams that average 17 in an entire game.

For any Crew fan or Supporter the 1st half was nightmarish. Simon Dawkins (London born, on loan from Tottenham) worked his way past Milovan Mirosevic and Danny O'Rourke like hot knife through butter. I'm not just saying that because he is (Edgware, North) London born and on loan from Tottenham, either. He really did make it look easy. It's worth mentioning again... Gruenebaum was outstanding.

Did I mention that Justin Meram dropped one in right before half in the 2nd minute of stoppage? It was a beautiful shot that I'll go ahead and nominate as Crew goal of the year so far (along side of the 20 yd header Miranda had last week).

The touch and control Meram showed on the goal was outstanding. Next level outstanding, to be bluntly honest. More on that later in this post.

2ND HALF
Mirosevic was subbed out and Cole Grossman was subbed in. Cole has been with the Crew for some time and has taken the more workman like path to playing with the Senior Team. Turns out that work has paid off. Grossman's positioning was much better than Mirosevic. Not saying that Cole is a better player, but he is better at playing what the Crew are doing.

With Cole's presence the 2nd half turned the game into something more resembling a pro team for the Crew. Whether for injury to Mirosevic or not, this sub was important. Had the game gone on like in the 1st half it would have been a 3-1 or 4-1 affair.

Ultimately, it was a 1-1 affair. Heart-breakingly for the Crew the Earthquakes pulled even in the NINETIETH MINUTE.

GAME OVER, GAME NOTES:
• I was in Northern Virginia for the game celebrating a nephew's first birthday. The MLS Live feed had the San Jose play callers and what not. It was interesting to hear a Crew game from another perspective. I don't get that very often as the Crew are never on Nationally. Let me say this... SJ goal scorer is a jerk character. Bizarre interview after the game where he let all the viewers know how large his ego is.

• Alex Alan Gordon's Ego, San Jose and Co. went after Eric Gehrig. I've seen this over the past few weeks. Teams have pegged him as a weak link in the Crew back line. Fact remains thus: Only 2 goals against in last three when Gehrig and Josh Williams are starting at CB. Excellent.

• The fact that other teams are now attacking Gehrig and not Williams is a testament to how respected Josh Williams is already.

• Computers and Cyberdyne Systems Model 101's don't lie. Meram's 2 goals in two games has been FORETOLD! I wrote about it HERE back in March.

FIFA 12 Says... Crew 7th. Meram #1.

Work, work, work. It only makes it harder to simulate things with EAs FIFA soccer franchise now that we have an unbalanced schedule in Major League Soccer.

We are about 2/3rds of the way through the international soccer calendar. MLS is zero/thirds. As in; not started. What this means is that the +5 million people (and $300 mil+ with it) that have purchased the game are playing with outdated schedules and kits until the new game next fall.

Not all bad though. Rosters have been updated to the point of - well, as much as they can be with MLS right now. Why? The powers that control MLS keep it untimely and mushy.

Pile on incredible amounts of team attrition still going on and you have a perfectly, remarkably blurry picture that really diminishes this type of simulation.

It takes at least three separate custom tournaments in FIFA 12 to approximate the MLS schedule this year but I did it, gosh darn it. The results:

Rank : Team
1 : RSL
2 : LA Galaxy
3 : Sounders
4 : Toronto
5 : NY
6 : Houston
7 : DC United
8 : FC Dallas
9 : Sporting
10 : Chicago
11 : Columbus
12 : San Jose
13 : Whitecaps
14 : Chivas
15 : Colorado
16 : New England
17 : Portland
18 : Montreal*
19 : Philadelphia

That's the Crew finishing 7th in the East. 11th Overall.

There are a number of things that tell me to throw this sim out the window but lets play History Channel 2 here and RUN WITH IT.

It's very important for me to note that with Columbus I started the season with current injuries to key players (Hesmer, Meram, Balchan, James). I worked them in as the season went on. In other words, put on my best Warzycha hat.

Precise numbers aside. What did the simulation tell me about the Crew, as a team.

1. ~1.22 Goals per Game (1.26 last year). About the same, Low.
2. At that... Same goals against (1.28 vs. 1.29 last year).
3. Borderline playoff team.
4. All similar to last year.

In line with what "everyone" is settling into right now.

How about individual stats? I simulated it a few times with Columbus so as to be confident in how the game approaches players.

1. Justin Meram came out on top each time. 10 goals 3 assists in one simulation. I kept him on the bench at first but the game subbed him in a bunch. For Vargas here, Duka there... Then I just gave up and started him. Throw it out? or should he play more? Bottom line; Football Manager 12 likes him too. Video game superstar. Hoping real game Meram get's healthy soon.
2. Renteria, Heinemann, Vargas all topping the overall ratings around the 66. All about the same Goal and Assist Ratios too. Interchangeable forwards right now who seem to need a solid MF to be more productive in the game.
3. Mirosevic finishes with 27 games 4 goals and 5 assists.
4. Running the attack through Miro will stunt Gaven with 3-ish goals and 2-ish assists. If you play around with FIFA 12 you know that he could run the CAM role in the game and do more virtual damage than Miro.

Anyhow. That's just how this game see's things. Fun running the sims. It's pretty fast and easy to do.

I think the ranking above accurately portrays how the game thinks the teams will fair. It doesn't work so much for individuals. Still fun to look at so...

...I've posted the raw stats from it. LINK.

The real deal starts this weekend. Alright, already.

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*I used Rochdale as a place holder for Montreal since le IMPACT aren't in FIFA 12.

No Problem Eddie

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

Sparkling Form

All quiet on the Crew front... No news on Emilio Renteria yet. Time is running out (his contract is up on Dec. 30). I have to believe he plays very largely in the goal scoring make up of the ver.2012 Crew. I really, really hope that Columbus is all over this. They have to be right? See, this is what bothers me about Major League Soccer. All this time off. The intensity level is zero while the rest of the world is operating at the highest levels. Arg. Frustrating. Anyhow... Outside of Renteria the Crew don't have a whole lot of goal scorers. Well... proven scorers, anyway. Heinemann is ripping it up playing for fake Northampton in FIFA 12. Ladies like him too (tea ladies that is).

Real Northampton is in sorts after today's Boxing Day game. Not looking good. Mess of a game, again. The Cobblers went down to 10 men and blew 2 leads. Not good. Dangerously close to non-league now.

Stoke pulled out the draw, though. For folks that get paid to follow the BPL, I realize that it wasn't pretty, but to me? I've worked everyday since the end of October. I got off a little early and got to catch the final 35 minutes of the game in HD. To me... I got to see a couple long Delap throws. A couple tackles. A couple chances. A side financially solid and full of heart and pride. It was a beautiful in a way that most don't get.

I'll take the point and proudly say that I'm happy they play how they want.

What a great 1st half of the season for the Potters.

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).