Some Monday Morning Power Rankings

12 games over the weekend and only 4 Draws. That's a wild swing in the other direction for the league. Definitely an out of control point considering that near 40% of MLS games end in ties this year (most other leagues, including the MLS of the past fall in the 30% draw range).

The NY Times took a look at all the ties this year, good for a Monday morn read. Mostly intelligent comments as well from MLS fans.

Again, and I'll beat this like a drum; The league has just expanded in the west (POR, VAN) so more games past 10 PM EST. Every week there is an example of a better eastern team scratching out a draw at the strike of midnight. Last week it was PHI and SJ. 0-0. I also noticed Chicago's legs go out on them in the 2nd half, late, against LA. 2-1.

Exhibit A of a Tired Team (CHI). David Beckham 'bananas' in a corner kick for a goal. Has to be seen to be believed.

MLS best XI whooped Man Utd. yesterday

I hear that having the best players doesn't mean you have a good team. It is fun playing around with the line-ups and trying to find the best formation in FIFA 11. Also satisfying to put my player ranking model to the test in this way.

I put the team together just pulling from the top 50 from my player rating list. The line up in the image is the one that worked out best for me.

Biggest digital them surprise after playing a few games? How strong the defensive 4 are. Nice work Captain Marshall. The other surprise? Wondo in this game. He's good.UPDATE: MLS FIRST XI announced. Players with links on the right made that team. My understanding is that the final full team list will be released next Monday.

Players selected to First XI not in my top 50, Rank on left:

54:Chris Wondolowski
119:Tim Ream
196: Rafa Marquez

Let myself introduce...

Hey Blogtown Beer Hellians, this is Smitty and here I am, throwing up (all over) my first post. Looking forward to offering some commentary about the wide world of soccer, covering mostly DC United (Davies, pick up your game! DeRo I like you) and Americans involved in the EPL (Stuart Holden is tops). I will only pale in comparison to BillySasquatch and Bleeno in their mathematical and humorous skills (respectively), but I played a lot of soccer until I hit 30. I still think about it a lot with many happy thoughts.

In light of completing the trifecta, I am proposing an annual HB Summit, to be held at a location relatively equidistant to each of us, also known as HQ. See the photo below.

Drop Dead Fredlines

i've been noticing a whole lot of fabulous (ridiculous) headlines scattered through soccer/football sights.

Concerning Wes Brown's move from Man U to Sunderland we get:

Black Cats bag Brown

nice.

FC Dallas' on form Brek Shea gets:

Un-Brek-able

easy now.

and an article about NY Red Bulls hoping for more recruits after acquiring Dax McCarty has the headline:

Dax not all, folks

mmm?...no.

But I do appreciate the effort. certainly. hey, even I could do it:

Doni Knots Deal

Adam Well Red

BullS hit

Please sir, may I have some Moyes.

Poulson Position

UnCredible Hulk

Second to Nani

easy peezy.

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.

--------------
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!

Black & Gold Above the Fold

Now we are talkin'. Pic is the sports page of today's Columbus Dispatch. Great way to start the day. Points gleamed per game. Comparisons to this point compared to years past. GF and GA p/GM. More then player profiles. A Sunday bulldog on Wednesday. Never, never underestimate the power of pulp and print. Grinning over here. Grinning.

Crew Candle Part 1: MLS Eras and Most Successful Franchise in History

The players participating in this year’s U17 World Cup were born after the formation of Major League Soccer on December 17th, 1993.

In 1996 Major League Soccer held its first game. This is the sixteenth year of competition.

ALL TIME MLS TABLE:
There have only been a brave few that have tried to make sense of MLS history. Some say that it is the first step down towards insanity so before I jumped in I looked for others that made attempts at classifying it. The best I’ve found is Dave Clark’s piece titled The Eras of MLS (Sounder at Heart, August 13, 2009). In it he divided up MLS history into 3 parts, aptly labeling them 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. A good read.

After spending some time with the MLS history I found that it might be served better with the inclusion of two additional eras. With Respect, they happen during Mr. Clark’s 2.0 Stable State years.

You can click on each era below to see each team and its average rank in the table for those years. I've combined the conferences and for the early years I excluded “shoot out” wins and losses and turned them in to Draws so as to compare seasons as apples to apples and not cheese to chalk.

1996-1999: League Inception, (North) Americanization

2000, 2001: Dark Age, Failed Table Changes and Expansion

2002, 2003: Middle Age, Contraction and Stability

2004-2006: Donavan Dempsey, Birth of United States Soccer

2007-Present: Modern Era, Designated Player

Between Dave Clark’s post and Wikipedia you can get a good understanding of league history. If you would like my thoughts and argument on MLS Eras you can click HERE and read descriptions under each table. Just click the "next" button on the upper right to travel through history.

If you click on the Modern Era link, you'll notice that the Crew are the winningest franchise since 2007 and have the most hardware. In that time the team has not only racked up the most points but also made the playoffs 3 times (2008, 2009, 2010), won a MLS Cup (2008) and the Supporters' Shield (2008, 2009) trophy twice.

One of the things I looked at in cracking up MLS history into parts was average league attendance per game. Maybe it's a good topic for a post another day. I've only got one day off work here! One note, 2011 attendance is projected with 50% of the season in the books already.

“Crew Candle” refers to my frustration with Crew fans as of late. They’ve turned their back on the team this year to the tune of -28% less fans attending games this year over last. I’m burning a candle for this year’s team in hopes that other fans might see it and realize that they are watching a good team on a historic run.

Despite loss, Crew Still 2nd in East. FC Dallas on Top for Now

Lighting a little candle and going with the optimistic approach after a Crew loss. Why the candle? Because I know when I go over to the CrewXtra blog space at the Columbus Dispatch later today I'll read a chorus of crap from Buckeye opps Blue Jacket opps - Crew fans (there we go). This 2011 iteration of the Crew is a good team compared to years past and I'll have the stats later this week to prove it. Yep, traveling all the way back to 1996 this weekend with my little candle shedding light in the cynical darkness that Crew fans wallow in recently. It wasn't always this way (dot dot dot).

Moving along.

FC Dallas played as well as any team I've seen this year. Hoping Bleeno has a few words to say on the team from Frisco. They are a legitimate contender for both the Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup.

Keep FC Dallas Out of the Box

After winning a couple games against mid-table / mid-talent teams tonight's road game against FC Dallas is going to tell us who the Crew are and what they are made of.

FC Dallas is a formatible team at this point in the season. They are 2nd in the league in Points (31) and Points per Game (1.82). They are also the 2nd highest scoring team in the league (1.42 GF p/Game). All that combines to equal a solid 2nd in my own Power Ranking.

Their strength comes from an organized, building MF that eventually finds a number of players in the 18 yd box. Because of this they are good at winning corners and scoring off them (5 of their 24 goals off corner, Columbus doesn't have any).

The challenge for the Crew tonight will be to keep them out of there. The last time Columbus faced a team with a lone striker / loaded MF was Chicago. That game was ugly. Chicago was very content to play for the draw and come out with a win. An ugly loss for the team.

Chicago lines up with a more defensive MF though. FC Dallas has an attacking one that will keep Ekpo and Balchan back for much of the match. Columbus will have to work the counter attack effectively like they have for the past two games. Anor and Gaven (Rogers and Meram) will have to resist the temptation to play on their heels, trust in the teams strong back line and find holes to push balls up to Heinemann and Mendoza.

If they can't? Well, then we have a Crew stuck in their own muddy defensive 3rd as they were against Chicago.

If they can push up and win? We've got ourselves a team to be reckoned with here in Columbus.

-----------
Credit where credit is due. Both photos: NewsdayLaura.