Just before the start of the World Cup, I posted an exploration of the United States’ roster through its last five qualifying cycles. Now that the tournament has finished, here is an updated version that includes the four games played by Jurgen Klinsmann’s team.
Continue reading Revisiting player use in World Cup qualifying cycles
The American roster for the World Cup has been named, and the intense discussion over Donovan’s exclusion (and that of Eddie Johnson before him) has begun to subside. This seems an opportune time to look back over how this World Cup cycle compares to the last few.
Continue reading Examining players used in World Cup qualifying cycles
Two weeks ago, I published an article that analysed the distribution of playing time for Columbus Crew teams over the past 14 years. One of the apparent conclusions of that investigation was that, for a team to be successful, it is necessary to have a relatively stable core of players. The underlying charts identified that the more successful Crew teams had a group of 6-7 players who played at least 80% of the season, and a relatively small number of players who played more than bit roles, usually 15 players who appeared for at least 25% of the time.
Continue reading Revisiting playing time: how important is a stable lineup in Major League Soccer?
With the end of the year quickly approaching, and the 2009 season starting to recede into memories both good and bad, this seems to be a good time to look back and begin to consider how the Crew’s performance this season compares to previous years. One way to do this is to examine how playing time was distributed in 2009, compared with past seasons. Continue reading An analysis of playing time for the 2009 Columbus Crew
