MLS Lineup Database 2009

It's that time of year again: Download link (multiupload.com - choose any of the options to get it) There are 19 spreadsheets: 1 for each team, 1 for the overall stats, and 1 for a player list. Contains all lineups for competitive matches involving MLS teams from 1996-2009, as well as the number of starts, subs, and goals for each player. There's also overall records for each team and coach in league history. This past year, I've gone through and added every red card for regular and postseason MLS games (other competitions, not yet). That's the biggest change. As always, leave any comments or questions here or email them to me. I'm especially interested in hearing about any errors.

2009's New MLS Players: Where Did They Come From?

In the 2009 season, 114 players made their competitive debuts for an MLS team. Over the past 14 years, the total number has now risen to 1,369. There's a possibility we could see the 1,500th player next year. The 1,000th player was Houston's Paul Dalglish in late 2006. So where did all of these players come from? I've posted the breakdown below. But first, the number of debuts by year and the number per team in 2009: Debuts By Year 1996 241 1997 80 1998 93 1999 62 2000 75 2001 63 2002 54 2003 68 2004 63 2005 120 2006 87 2007 113 2008 136 2009 114 Total 1,369 There was one more team in 2009, but fewer debuts. Fewer coaching changes might have something to do with that, but the biggest factor was probably the reduced roster sizes. 2009 Debuts By Team CHI 3 CHV 10 CLB 6 COL 7 DAL 9 DC 10 HOU 5 KC 5 LA 8 NE 7 NY 9 RSL 5 SEA 14 SJ 7 TOR 9 Seattle's total of 14 is right in line with recent expansion teams, with the exception of San Jose: 14-CHV 2005 17-RSL 2005 20-TOR 2007 8-SJ 2008 14-SEA 2009 Talent Breakdown Let's see exactly where these new players came from, started with those drafted. The team listed is the one that gave the player his first minutes, not necessarily the one that first acquired him. 2009 Superdraft (29) CHI Husidic, Baggio CHV Lahoud, Michael CLB Grendi, Alex COL Holody, Michael COL Schunk, Ross DAL John, George DAL Marosevic, Peri DC Barklage, Brandon DC Kocic, Milos DC Pontius, Chris DC Wallace, Rodney HOU Cruz, Danny KC Besler, Matt KC Zusi, Graham LA DeLaGarza, A.J. LA Gonzalez, Omar LA Patterson, Kyle NE Alston, Kevin NE Barnes, Darrius NY Hall, Jeremy NY Zimmerman, Nick RSL Alexandre, Jean RSL Cox, Raphael SEA Brown, Evan SEA Zakuani, Steve SJ Amarikwa, Quincy TOR Cronin, Sam TOR Frei, Stefan TOR White, O'Brian 14 first rounders, 5 second rounders, 6 third rounders, and 4 fourth rounders saw action. Last year, the breakdown was 12-8-8-8. MLS went from 36 Superdraft players seeing action to 29, though those who did certainly made a bigger impression. Colleges represented with multiple players are Maryland (5), Wake Forest (3), Michigan (2), Saint Louis (2), and Washington (2). 2007 Supplemental Draft (1) RSL Reynish, Kyle The only player to come directly from a previous draft and make a debut in 2009 was Real Salt Lake's third string goalkeeper. Domestic-Based Signings (23) CHI Dimitrov, Stefan CHI Dykstra, Andrew CHV Chijindu, Chukwudi CHV Mayen, Gerson CHV Zamora, Cesar CLB Brunner, Eric CLB Burns, Kevin CLB Nyazamba, Stanley CLB Schoeni, Kenny COL Palguta, Scott DC Peters, Anthony DC Shipalane, Tiyi KC Pardo, Boris LA Marshall, Yohance NE Knighton, Brad NY Dufty, Alec SEA Alonso, Osvaldo SEA Eylander, Chris SEA Forrest, Kevin SEA Le Toux, Sebastien SEA Scott, Zach SJ Ribeiro, Antonio SJ Weber, Andrew This is mostly players who were signed from a club in a lower American league, including the foreign teams in those leagues, like Ribeiro from the Montreal Impact. It also includes undrafted rookies like Dykstra and Marshall. I was going to count them as a separate category, but it's tricky with players like Chijindu, who sat out a year before signing. Academy Signings (1) LA Bowen, Tristan Mayen and Zamora were from Chivas USA's youth teams, shouldn't they count here? I don't believe so. Mayen was signed in 2008 before Bowen, who was called the first academy signing when he signed with the Galaxy later in the year. Zamora is slightly harder to classify. I don't remember reading anything special about his signing, so I didn't think he belonged here. Now for a much larger explanation: Zamora also comes from the youth teams, but he was signed to a developmental contract and it says nothing about Generation Adidas there. All academy signings get signed to GA contracts, right? Well, apparently not any more. The signings of Bill Hamid and Giorgi Chirgadze by DC and NY came with the note that: "In July 2009, the MLS Board of Governors approved an amendment to the rules governing the signing of youth academy players. MLS clubs will receive two additional roster slots that may be used to sign academy players, in accordance with current Home Grown Player rules, to Generation adidas or Developmental contracts during the 2009 season." So just having a developmental contract only doesn't mean that he couldn't be an official academy signing. However, it says that was changed in July, and Zamora was signed in May. That should be case closed, then. Except for the fact that academy players "...may not play in League games during the 2009 season, but can participate in training, exhibition games and CONCACAF Champions League games." Zamora only played one game, and it was in the Superliga. Could that mean he actually was considered an academy signing after all? No, because the original press release says clearly: "Currently out with a left hamstring injury, Zamora has been added to Chivas USA's Disabled List and is not immediately eligible for MLS play." That must mean he if he was healthy, he would've been eligible. That was a whole lot of text for something so minor... Foreign-Based Signings (57) CHV Cuesta, Yamith CHV Lillingston, Eduardo CHV Padilla, Jesus CHV Santos, Maicon CHV Stepanovic, Bojan CHV Trujillo, Mariano CLB Renteria, Emilio COL Baudet, Julien COL Diz, Facundo COL Richardson, Gregory COL Smith, Jamie DAL Benitez, Jair DAL Chavez, Marvin DAL Ferreira, David DAL Pearce, Heath DAL Purdy, Steve DAL Sanchez, Alvaro DC Habarugira, David DC Jacobson, Andrew DC Jakovic, Dejan DC N'Silu, Ange HOU Akinbiyi, Ade HOU Hainault, Andrew HOU Hall, Tally HOU Landin, Luis Angel KC Hercegfalvi, Zoltan KC Hirsig, Santiago LA Berhalter, Gregg LA Birchall, Chris LA Ricketts, Donovan NE Assengue, Stephane NE Jankauskas, Edgaras NE Osei, Emmanuel NE Videira, Michael NY Celades, Albert NY Garcia, Walter NY Johnson, Carlos NY Krupnik, Leo NY Obster, Ernst NY Pacheco, Alfredo RSL El Khalifi, Rachid RSL Escalada, Luis Miguel SEA Gonzalez, Leo SEA Hurtado, Jhon Kennedy SEA Keller, Kasey SEA Ljungberg, Freddie SEA Montero, Fredy SEA Nyassi, Sanna SJ Luiz, Andre SJ Sanchez, Ramon SJ Weaver, Cam TOR de Guzman, Julian TOR Fellinga, Lesly TOR Gerba, Ali TOR Gomez, Emmanuel TOR Sanyang, Amadou TOR Vitti, Pablo Includes loan deals, and also American players coming back from other countries. Nyassi counts as a foreign signing even though he played for the USL Sounders in 2008. That's because he was signed by the MLS version first and then loaned out. Weighted Lottery (2) DAL Davies, Kyle SJ Campos, Pablo Did you remember that these players came into the league via lotteries? I barely did. Interesting fact: Real Salt Lake won the Davies lottery, then traded him to Dallas for a draft pick. RSL then ended up using that same draft pick as part of the trade to acquire Campos from San Jose. Both could also be categorized as foreign signings, but I prefer to do it this way. Emergency Loan (1) SEA Dragavon, Ben The smaller rosters meant that third string goalkeepers were a luxury that few teams decided to keep in 2009. Dragavon played the one game when Keller was sent off against KC. You might be thinking Dufty belongs here for New York, but he doesn't. He was actually a member of the Red Bulls while he played his one game. He was waived and only then did he sign as a pool keeper. Further Reading 2008 MLS Debuts

MLS 2009 Plus/Minus Data

What is plus/minus? It's a hockey statistic which "...measures the team goal differential when a specific player is on the ice." It's also being used more and more in other sports, such as basketball. In soccer, we haven't seen too much of it yet. I know Dave from Sounder at Heart loves to talk about it, and it was also used on the MLS Cup broadcast. They mentioned that David Beckham had a plus/minus of +10, which was a figure that included the playoffs (he's +7 for the regular season). I'm sure people would discuss it more, except that no one is keeping track of it (at least publicly). Well, I've put an end to that problem. I have gone through every game of the 2009 regular season and figured out the +/- for each player. In doing this, I've decided to only include the minutes played where both teams were at full strength, and only goals scored and allowed during 11 on 11 play are included below. All minutes and goals in a game after a red card has occurred aren't included. Doesn't matter whether it was 11v10, 10v10, 10v9, or 11v9. If you're interested in seeing how many minutes each team played and goals they scored in each of those situations, click here. Why do it that way? I don't think it's fair to include the minutes where one team has a clear advantage. It's also been suggested that maybe the player who gets a red card should be punished somehow, possibly by counting the goals scored later against him. I don't think that's fair either; to me that's the realm of a player rating system, not plus/minus. I've also decided to count own goals just like any other goals. Even if they're the result of a mistake by one player, you still have to take into account the way that the attacking team got into the position to score. Let's break it down by team. When looking at these results, obviously playing time is a huge factor. That's especially true for those teams with a large positive or negative GD. I'm not sure how useful of a stat this is, but it certainly is interesting to look at. It's probably better to compare players who play the same position, or have a similar amount of playing time (since the more you get, the closer you are to the team average). I've also figured out the league leaders in plus/minus per 90 minutes, both in unadjusted and adjusted forms. That's at the bottom of this post. Asterisks indicate that a player played for more than one team in 2009. The team's 11v11 goal differential is in parenthesis. Only regular season games are included below. CHICAGO (-1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Daniel Woolard 409 8 3 5 1.100 Cuauhtemoc Blanco 1308 21 17 4 0.275 Mike Banner 893 13 9 4 0.403 Justin Mapp 941 12 10 2 0.191 Baggio Husidic 420 3 1 2 0.429 Tim Ward 1469 19 18 1 0.061 Bakary Soumare 1198 17 16 1 0.075 Dasan Robinson 903 11 10 1 0.100 Calen Carr 84 1 1 1.071 Wilman Conde 1400 20 20 0 0.000 Jon Busch 2460 31 32 -1 -0.037 Patrick Nyarko 1777 20 21 -1 -0.051 Chris Rolfe 1711 22 23 -1 -0.053 Gonzalo Segares 768 11 12 -1 -0.117 Marco Pappa 2145 30 32 -2 -0.084 Brian McBride 1765 22 24 -2 -0.102 John Thorrington 1485 16 18 -2 -0.121 Peter Lowry 654 9 11 -2 -0.275 Logan Pause 2083 25 28 -3 -0.130 Stefan Dimitrov 119 3 -3 -2.269 Brandon Prideaux 1308 15 19 -4 -0.275 C.J. Brown 1412 14 19 -5 -0.319 Austin Washington 349 1 6 -5 -1.289 To no one's surprise, Blanco comes off looking pretty good here. The Fire was +4 when he was on the field, and -5 when he wasn't. CHIVAS USA (+3) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Mariano Trujillo 1395 21 11 10 0.645 Justin Braun 1127 19 10 9 0.719 Zach Thornton 2124 29 21 8 0.339 Carey Talley 2179 31 24 7 0.289 Eduardo Lillingston 1191 17 11 6 0.453 Jesse Marsch 1613 23 18 5 0.279 Atiba Harris*** 880 12 7 5 0.511 Michael Lahoud 765 12 7 5 0.588 Sacha Kljestan 1829 24 21 3 0.148 Shavar Thomas 1270 17 14 3 0.213 Jonathan Bornstein 2028 27 25 2 0.089 Yamith Cuesta 733 10 8 2 0.246 Jorge Flores 302 3 2 1 0.298 Paulo Nagamura 2039 25 25 0 0.000 Maykel Galindo 1322 17 17 0 0.000 Gerson Mayen 361 6 6 0 0.000 Jim Curtin 127 2 2 0 0.000 Claudio Suarez 90 0 0.000 Bobby Burling*** 106 1 -1 -0.849 Jesus Padilla 686 6 8 -2 -0.262 Maicon Santos 634 8 10 -2 -0.284 Bojan Stepanovic 632 7 9 -2 -0.285 Chukwudi Chijindu 350 2 4 -2 -0.514 Alecko Eskandarian*** 177 1 3 -2 -1.017 Ante Jazic 1001 13 17 -4 -0.360 Marcelo Saragosa*** 603 6 10 -4 -0.597 Lance Parker 262 2 7 -5 -1.718 Sasha Victorine 420 1 10 -9 -1.929 Now here's a team with some extreme swings in the numbers, thanks to the great start. I'm not sure any player in this entire post comes off looking worse than Victorine. A -9 in 420 minutes of action, for a team that was +3 overall. And maybe Preki should've played the Mexicans Lillingston and Trujillo when it counted most. COLORADO (-3) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Jacob Peterson 1030 15 10 5 0.437 Jamie Smith 165 5 1 4 2.182 Facundo Diz 77 4 4 4.675 Matt Pickens 1539 25 22 3 0.175 Terry Cooke 373 6 3 3 0.724 Colin Clark 1288 21 19 2 0.140 Michael Holody 66 3 1 2 2.727 Ugo Ihemelu*** 1586 24 23 1 0.057 Gregory Richardson 11 0 0.000 Ross Schunk 4 0 0.000 Scott Palguta 1602 22 23 -1 -0.056 Cory Gibbs 1454 23 25 -2 -0.124 Ty Harden 72 2 -2 -2.500 Jordan Harvey 2380 32 35 -3 -0.113 Omar Cummings 2258 33 36 -3 -0.120 Nick LaBrocca 2201 31 34 -3 -0.123 Pablo Mastroeni 2021 29 32 -3 -0.134 Julien Baudet 769 9 12 -3 -0.351 Pat Noonan*** 757 9 12 -3 -0.357 Conor Casey 1934 28 32 -4 -0.186 Drew Moor*** 675 7 11 -4 -0.533 Kosuke Kimura 1724 23 28 -5 -0.261 Preston Burpo 928 10 16 -6 -0.582 Greg Dalby 232 3 9 -6 -2.328 Mehdi Ballouchy 1991 23 32 -9 -0.407 No Rapids fan will be shocked to see Ballouchy with the worst +/- on the team, -9. It's highly amusing to see Diz at +4 in only 77 minutes, through little or no contribution of his own. Too bad many of the top players here got injured (Peterson, Pickens, Clark) or they probably would've made the playoffs. COLUMBUS (+11) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Eric Brunner 1952 31 17 14 0.645 Danny O'Rourke 2209 36 25 11 0.448 Steven Lenhart 1020 17 7 10 0.882 Gino Padula 2213 33 24 9 0.366 Emmanuel Ekpo 1839 30 21 9 0.440 Eddie Gaven 2276 34 26 8 0.316 Brian Carroll 2184 34 26 8 0.330 William Hesmer 1628 25 18 7 0.387 Chad Marshall 1496 24 17 7 0.421 Robbie Rogers 1624 24 18 6 0.333 Alejandro Moreno 1520 24 18 6 0.355 Jed Zayner 1355 19 14 5 0.332 Frankie Hejduk 1242 18 13 5 0.362 Andy Gruenebaum 826 14 9 5 0.545 Adam Moffat 503 8 4 4 0.716 Emilio Renteria 167 3 3 1.617 G. Barros Schelotto 1706 23 21 2 0.106 Kevin Burns 340 3 2 1 0.265 Duncan Oughton 194 5 4 1 0.464 Pat Noonan*** 166 3 2 1 0.542 Alex Grendi 127 2 1 1 0.709 Jason Garey 691 10 10 0 0.000 Andy Iro 599 9 9 0 0.000 Kenny Schoeni 90 1 -1 -1.000 Cory Elenio 17 1 -1 -5.294 Schelotto has the worst +/- of all the Crew starters. They did play pretty well without him, remember that stretch in the middle of the season? Also, compare Lenhart and Moreno. Did Warzycha make the right moves in game one against RSL? DALLAS (+1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 George John 1142 26 15 11 0.867 Ugo Ihemelu*** 686 19 11 8 1.050 Dario Sala 1109 25 18 7 0.568 Jair Benitez 1079 26 19 7 0.584 Daniel Hernandez 525 13 6 7 1.200 Jeff Cunningham 1823 38 32 6 0.296 Brek Shea 656 16 10 6 0.823 Atiba Harris*** 977 23 18 5 0.461 Dax McCarty 2240 42 39 3 0.121 Heath Pearce 477 9 6 3 0.566 Eric Avila 265 7 5 2 0.679 Marvin Chavez 233 6 4 2 0.773 Alvaro Sanchez 141 3 1 2 1.277 David Ferreira 2472 44 43 1 0.036 Pablo Ricchetti 1738 34 33 1 0.052 Kyle Davies 762 12 12 0 0.000 Anthony Wallace 442 7 7 0 0.000 Peri Marosevic 47 0 0.000 Michael Dello-Russo 162 1 3 -2 -1.111 Bruno Guarda 139 1 3 -2 -1.295 Aaron Pitchkolan*** 45 2 -2 -4.000 Dave van den Bergh 2289 35 39 -4 -0.157 Marcelo Saragosa*** 551 6 10 -4 -0.653 Kenny Cooper 1190 16 21 -5 -0.378 Blake Wagner 699 8 13 -5 -0.644 Steve Purdy 338 2 7 -5 -1.331 Ray Burse 1363 19 25 -6 -0.396 Daniel Torres 722 9 16 -7 -0.873 Andre Rocha 1163 15 23 -8 -0.619 Drew Moor*** 1719 22 32 -10 -0.524 You can easily tell from this list which players featured in the first and second halves of the season. When you combine his minutes with Chivas and Dallas, Harris is at +10 in 1,857 minutes. DC UNITED (-1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Fred 1341 23 18 5 0.336 Luciano Emilio 2001 33 30 3 0.135 Jaime Moreno 1170 22 20 2 0.154 Thabiso Khumalo 357 7 5 2 0.504 Steve Cronin 172 3 1 2 1.047 Christian Gomez 1612 25 24 1 0.056 Louis Crayton 521 9 8 1 0.173 Ange N'Silu 452 8 7 1 0.199 Devon McTavish 427 6 5 1 0.211 Clyde Simms 2368 36 36 0 0.000 Bryan Namoff 2270 38 38 0 0.000 Marc Burch 2114 36 36 0 0.000 Chris Pontius 2035 37 37 0 0.000 Greg Janicki 411 7 7 0 0.000 Brandon Barklage 98 3 3 0 0.000 Danny Szetela 90 1 1 0 0.000 Dejan Jakovic 2018 33 34 -1 -0.045 Josh Wicks 1635 25 26 -1 -0.055 Ben Olsen 1339 19 20 -1 -0.067 Julius James*** 640 8 9 -1 -0.141 John DiRaimondo 45 1 -1 -2.000 Francis Doe 40 1 -1 -2.250 Avery John 344 5 7 -2 -0.523 Rodney Wallace 2201 33 36 -3 -0.123 Milos Kocic 283 5 8 -3 -0.954 Lawson Vaughn 193 1 4 -3 -1.399 Santino Quaranta 1711 26 32 -6 -0.316 Andrew Jacobson 834 13 19 -6 -0.647 Fred and Emilio come out on top of the DC list. Many United fans seem ready to dump both of them and move on. HOUSTON (+10) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Bobby Boswell 2248 34 22 12 0.480 Geoff Cameron 2290 34 23 11 0.432 Stuart Holden 2020 32 21 11 0.490 Andrew Hainault 1425 25 14 11 0.695 Pat Onstad 2380 35 25 10 0.378 Brad Davis 1934 26 17 9 0.419 Brian Ching 1390 22 13 9 0.583 Kei Kamara*** 1605 20 12 8 0.449 Ricardo Clark 1804 25 19 6 0.299 Brian Mullan 1713 23 18 5 0.263 Richard Mulrooney 1197 14 10 4 0.301 Craig Waibel 669 10 6 4 0.538 Dominic Oduro*** 667 13 9 4 0.540 Luis Angel Landin 278 4 2 2 0.647 Cam Weaver*** 263 5 3 2 0.684 Ryan Cochrane*** 245 6 4 2 0.735 Corey Ashe 1124 16 15 1 0.080 Wade Barrett 880 12 11 1 0.102 Mike Chabala 843 13 12 1 0.107 Julius James*** 490 9 9 0 0.000 Ade Akinbiyi 229 2 2 0 0.000 Danny Cruz 107 1 1 0 0.000 Erik Ustruck 40 0 0.000 Chris Wondolowski*** 264 3 4 -1 -0.341 Abe Thompson*** 46 1 2 -1 -1.957 Eddie Robinson 30 1 -1 -3.000 Hard to look bad playing for Houston, though some are barely in the positive like Ashe/Barrett/Chabala. KANSAS CITY (-10) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Michael Kraus 98 3 1 2 1.837 Zoltan Hercegfalvi 220 5 4 1 0.409 Chance Myers 98 2 2 0 0.000 Kevin Souter 59 0 0.000 Kurt Morsink 141 2 3 -1 -0.638 Abe Thompson*** 107 1 -1 -0.841 Matt Marquess 85 1 2 -1 -1.059 Roger Espinoza 566 6 8 -2 -0.318 Jimmy Conrad 1663 21 24 -3 -0.162 Kei Kamara*** 351 3 6 -3 -0.769 Jonathan Leathers 778 8 12 -4 -0.463 Graham Zusi 445 6 10 -4 -0.809 Rauwshan McKenzie 406 1 5 -4 -0.887 Josh Wolff 1926 22 28 -6 -0.280 Santiago Hirsig 1655 17 23 -6 -0.326 Michael Harrington 1365 15 21 -6 -0.396 Adam Cristman 201 6 -6 -2.687 Claudio Lopez 2021 23 30 -7 -0.312 Herculez Gomez 1274 14 21 -7 -0.495 Lance Watson 1244 10 17 -7 -0.506 Matt Besler 1771 19 27 -8 -0.407 Aaron Hohlbein 1540 13 21 -8 -0.468 Davy Arnaud 1705 19 28 -9 -0.475 Kevin Hartman 2171 23 33 -10 -0.415 Jack Jewsbury 1991 20 30 -10 -0.452 Conrad (-3) stands out as the best of the Wizards' regulars. Meanwhile, ouch: Cristman is at -6 in only 201 minutes. LOS ANGELES (+8) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Omar Gonzalez 2354 34 26 8 0.306 Todd Dunivant 1901 28 20 8 0.379 Landon Donovan 1887 29 21 8 0.382 Eddie Lewis 1690 21 13 8 0.426 Gregg Berhalter 2053 27 20 7 0.307 A.J. DeLaGarza 1523 21 14 7 0.414 David Beckham 875 15 8 7 0.720 Donovan Ricketts 1987 27 22 5 0.226 Stefani Miglioranzi 1609 22 17 5 0.280 Edson Buddle 1177 18 13 5 0.382 Alecko Eskandarian*** 213 5 5 2.113 Sean Franklin 1043 14 10 4 0.345 Alan Gordon 975 16 12 4 0.369 Jovan Kirovski 1060 13 10 3 0.255 Chris Birchall 521 6 3 3 0.518 Josh Saunders 395 7 4 3 0.684 Josh Tudela 481 8 6 2 0.374 Leonard Griffin 16 1 1 5.625 Dema Kovalenko 1082 13 13 0 0.000 Chris Klein 961 15 15 0 0.000 Bryan Jordan 377 5 5 0 0.000 Kyle Patterson 124 4 4 0 0.000 Tristan Bowen 1 0 0.000 Mike Magee 1373 17 18 -1 -0.066 Tony Sanneh 524 8 12 -4 -0.687 Looking at this makes me wonder how a healthy Eskandarian would've changed the Galaxy's season. Magee, Klein, and Kovalenko don't come off looking good, while Sanneh was a liability on the field. NEW ENGLAND (-1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Kevin Alston 2087 27 21 6 0.259 Matt Reis 1975 25 20 5 0.228 Emmanuel Osei 1750 23 19 4 0.206 Steve Ralston 1348 20 16 4 0.267 Taylor Twellman 109 5 1 4 3.303 Shalrie Joseph 2072 30 28 2 0.087 Kenny Mansally 1562 20 18 2 0.115 Mauricio Castro 203 3 1 2 0.887 Jeff Larentowicz 2242 27 26 1 0.040 Chris Albright 90 2 1 1 1.000 Nico Colaluca 105 1 1 0 0.000 Stephane Assengue 37 0 0.000 Darrius Barnes 2448 30 31 -1 -0.037 Kheli Dube 1608 16 17 -1 -0.056 Pat Phelan 973 13 14 -1 -0.092 Jay Heaps 1959 26 28 -2 -0.092 Edgaras Jankauskas 567 3 5 -2 -0.317 Sainey Nyassi 1740 19 23 -4 -0.207 Wells Thompson 1523 19 24 -5 -0.295 Chris Tierney 1044 10 16 -6 -0.517 Brad Knighton 473 5 11 -6 -1.142 Michael Videira 418 2 8 -6 -1.292 Amaechi Igwe 596 4 12 -8 -1.208 Playing in that 0-6 demolition at RSL certainly affected some of the bottom players here. But it didn't stop Joseph from finishing in the positive. NEW YORK (-15) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Walter Garcia 81 4 4 4.444 Carlos Johnson 871 11 8 3 0.310 Bouna Coundoul 675 8 7 1 0.133 Khano Smith 449 5 4 1 0.200 Alec Dufty 70 0 0.000 Matthew Mbuta 192 2 4 -2 -0.938 Leo Krupnik 135 2 -2 -1.333 Dominic Oduro*** 58 2 -2 -3.103 Danleigh Borman 1221 12 15 -3 -0.221 Macoumba Kandji 1577 21 25 -4 -0.228 Andrew Boyens 1072 11 15 -4 -0.336 Ernst Oebster 157 4 -4 -2.293 John Wolyniec 710 5 10 -5 -0.634 Juan Pietravallo 174 5 -5 -2.586 Albert Celades 1146 16 22 -6 -0.471 Sinisa Ubiparipovic 1103 14 20 -6 -0.490 Alfredo Pacheco 976 12 18 -6 -0.553 Carlos Mendes 693 5 11 -6 -0.779 Danny Cepero 982 11 19 -8 -0.733 Jon Conway 643 6 14 -8 -1.120 Juan Pablo Angel 1858 23 32 -9 -0.436 Kevin Goldthwaite 1206 14 23 -9 -0.672 Seth Stammler 2023 22 32 -10 -0.445 Dane Richards 1758 18 28 -10 -0.512 Jorge Rojas 1321 12 23 -11 -0.749 Jeremy Hall 1823 20 32 -12 -0.592 Mike Petke 1381 13 27 -14 -0.912 Luke Sassano 989 7 21 -14 -1.274 Nick Zimmerman 726 3 17 -14 -1.736 Yes, Khano Smith was in the positive. That's not a mistake. There's still "hard man" Pietravallo to laugh at, though. Zimmerman, just like his fellow Philadelphia Union expansion draft pick Jacobson for DC, finished last on his team. REAL SALT LAKE (+10) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Jamison Olave 1890 35 20 15 0.714 Nick Rimando 2070 38 26 12 0.522 Nat Borchers 2367 40 29 11 0.418 Andy Williams 736 19 8 11 1.345 Will Johnson 2054 36 26 10 0.438 Tony Beltran 1728 30 20 10 0.521 Chris Wingert 2169 40 31 9 0.373 Fabian Espindola 1377 24 15 9 0.588 Kyle Beckerman 1928 31 24 7 0.327 Clint Mathis 1767 28 21 7 0.357 Yura Movsisyan 1548 25 18 7 0.407 Ned Grabavoy 701 16 10 6 0.770 Robbie Findley 1559 29 25 4 0.231 Javier Morales 1833 25 22 3 0.147 Luis Miguel Escalada 94 4 1 3 2.872 Raphael Cox 177 3 1 2 1.017 Ian Joy 7 0 0.000 Kyle Reynish 6 0 0.000 Tino Nunez 1 0 0.000 Jean Alexandre 54 1 -1 -1.667 Chris Seitz 312 3 5 -2 -0.577 Rachid El Khalifi 165 2 4 -2 -1.091 Pablo Campos*** 353 5 8 -3 -0.765 David Horst 86 1 4 -3 -3.140 Robbie Russell 1286 17 22 -5 -0.350 Russell looks awful compared to the rest of the regulars. Nobody will remember that now, though. But how do you play that much time on a +10 team and up -5? On the other hand, Williams really came on at the end of the season, didn't he? That's an amazing number for that amount of playing time. SAN JOSE (-15) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Andrew Weber 180 4 3 1 0.500 Ryan Cochrane*** 171 4 3 1 0.526 Davide Somma 4 0 0.000 Antonio Ribeiro 496 5 6 -1 -0.181 Ramon Sanchez 838 11 13 -2 -0.215 Chris Wondolowski*** 823 10 12 -2 -0.219 Quincy Amarikwa 587 9 11 -2 -0.307 Cornell Glen 436 6 8 -2 -0.413 Andre Luiz 431 4 6 -2 -0.418 Bobby Burling*** 562 6 9 -3 -0.480 Michael Zaher 744 12 16 -4 -0.484 Pablo Campos*** 601 7 11 -4 -0.599 Brandon McDonald 1509 20 25 -5 -0.298 Aaron Pitchkolan*** 573 8 13 -5 -0.785 Jason Hernandez 1333 17 24 -7 -0.473 Simon Elliott 1225 15 22 -7 -0.514 Darren Huckerby 1001 12 19 -7 -0.629 Cam Weaver*** 471 5 12 -7 -1.338 Ramiro Corrales 2057 26 34 -8 -0.350 Shea Salinas 1236 13 21 -8 -0.583 Ryan Johnson 2197 32 41 -9 -0.369 Nick Garcia*** 1071 14 23 -9 -0.756 Kelly Gray 632 5 14 -9 -1.282 Eric Denton 794 8 18 -10 -1.134 Bobby Convey 2134 27 38 -11 -0.464 Chris Leitch 2458 31 44 -13 -0.476 Arturo Alvarez 1826 23 37 -14 -0.690 Joe Cannon 2441 29 45 -16 -0.590 Nobody ended up looking good here, it seems. McDonald leads the starters. Not beginning the season with Denton and Gray in the back line would've helped. SEATTLE (11) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Kasey Keller 2286 35 22 13 0.512 James Riley 2100 31 19 12 0.514 Jhon Kennedy Hurtado 2137 32 21 11 0.463 Tyrone Marshall 1898 31 20 11 0.522 Brad Evans 2006 30 20 10 0.449 Freddie Ljungberg 1691 27 17 10 0.532 Fredy Montero 2013 29 21 8 0.358 Nate Jaqua 1998 30 22 8 0.360 Osvaldo Alonso 1886 26 18 8 0.382 Sebastien Le Toux 1300 21 13 8 0.554 Zach Scott 408 8 2 6 1.324 Steve Zakuani 1805 23 18 5 0.249 Nathan Sturgis 368 6 3 3 0.734 Roger Levesque 259 5 2 3 1.042 Sanna Nyassi 247 4 1 3 1.093 Patrick Ianni 933 11 9 2 0.193 Tyson Wahl 797 12 10 2 0.226 Leo Gonzalez 887 10 9 1 0.101 Stephen King 386 6 6 0 0.000 Ben Dragavon 2 0 0.000 Peter Vagenas 640 8 9 -1 -0.141 Chris Eylander 90 2 -2 -2.000 Just imagine what Zakuani's number would be if he finished all the good chances he had. TORONTO (-8) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Nick Garcia*** 1085 17 16 1 0.083 Johann Smith 47 1 1 1.915 Danny Dichio 746 11 11 0 0.000 Amadou Sanyang 297 2 2 0 0.000 Fuad Ibrahim 204 3 3 0 0.000 Lesly Fellinga 137 3 3 0 0.000 Gabe Gala 3 0 0.000 Greg Sutton 135 1 2 -1 -0.667 Stefan Frei 2241 34 37 -3 -0.120 Chad Barrett 2055 29 32 -3 -0.131 Marvell Wynne 1836 28 31 -3 -0.147 Ali Gerba 494 6 9 -3 -0.547 O'Brian White 440 6 9 -3 -0.614 Carl Robinson 1717 25 29 -4 -0.210 Nana Attakora 1638 22 26 -4 -0.220 Kevin Harmse 805 13 17 -4 -0.447 Emmanuel Gomez 487 3 7 -4 -0.739 Rohan Ricketts 316 4 8 -4 -1.139 Brian Edwards 270 2 6 -4 -1.333 Amado Guevara 1999 30 35 -5 -0.225 Pablo Vitti 1610 22 27 -5 -0.280 Marco Velez 780 10 15 -5 -0.577 Sam Cronin 2309 31 37 -6 -0.234 Julian de Guzman 450 4 10 -6 -1.200 Jim Brennan 2428 34 41 -7 -0.259 Adrian Serioux 2187 31 38 -7 -0.288 Dwayne De Rosario 2390 35 44 -9 -0.339 Now I know Garcia was a flop for TFC. But the numbers don't lie, they actually had a positive GD with him out there. Of course, his secret was to play so bad that he didn't start in the final game in NY and have those five goals count against him. Unadjusted League Leaders Per 90 Minutes (1,000 minutes minimum) Obviously these will be filled with players from the best and worst teams, but let's see the results anyway. Top 25 Per 90 11v11 Min Plus/Minus 1 Steven Lenhart CLB 0.882 1020 10 2 George John DAL 0.867 1142 11 3 Justin Braun CHV 0.719 1127 9 4 Jamison Olave RSL 0.714 1890 15 5 Andrew Hainault HOU 0.695 1425 11 6 Eric Brunner CLB 0.645 1952 14 7 Mariano Trujillo CHV 0.645 1395 10 8 Fabian Espindola RSL 0.588 1377 9 9 Jair Benitez DAL 0.584 1079 7 10 Brian Ching HOU 0.583 1390 9 11 Dario Sala DAL 0.568 1109 7 12 Sebastien Le Toux SEA 0.554 1300 8 13 Freddie Ljungberg SEA 0.532 1691 10 14 Nick Rimando RSL 0.522 2070 12 15 Tyrone Marshall SEA 0.522 1898 11 16 Tony Beltran RSL 0.521 1728 10 17 James Riley SEA 0.514 2100 12 18 Kasey Keller SEA 0.512 2286 13 19 Stuart Holden HOU 0.490 2020 11 20 Atiba Harris CHV/DAL 0.485 1857 10 21 Bobby Boswell HOU 0.480 2248 12 22 Jhon Kennedy Hurtado SEA 0.463 2137 11 23 Eduardo Lillingston CHV 0.453 1191 6 24 Brad Evans SEA 0.449 2006 10 25 Danny O'Rourke CLB 0.448 2209 11 Bottom 25 Per 90 11v11 Min Plus/Minus 1 Mike Petke NY -0.912 1381 -14 2 Jorge Rojas NY -0.749 1321 -11 3 Arturo Alvarez SJ -0.690 1826 -14 4 Kevin Goldthwaite NY -0.672 1206 -9 5 Darren Huckerby SJ -0.629 1001 -7 6 Marcelo Saragosa DAL/CHV -0.624 1154 -8 7 Andre Rocha DAL -0.619 1163 -8 8 Jeremy Hall NY -0.592 1823 -12 9 Joe Cannon SJ -0.590 2441 -16 10 Shea Salinas SJ -0.583 1236 -8 11 Drew Moor DAL/COL -0.526 2394 -14 12 Chris Tierney NE -0.517 1044 -6 13 Simon Elliott SJ -0.514 1225 -7 14 Dane Richards NY -0.512 1758 -10 15 Lance Watson KC -0.506 1244 -7 16 Herculez Gomez KC -0.495 1274 -7 17 Sinisa Ubiparipovic NY -0.490 1103 -6 18 Chris Leitch SJ -0.476 2458 -13 19 Davy Arnaud KC -0.475 1705 -9 20 Jason Hernandez SJ -0.473 1333 -7 21 Albert Celades NY -0.471 1146 -6 22 Aaron Hohlbein KC -0.468 1540 -8 23 Bobby Convey SJ -0.464 2134 -11 24 Jack Jewsbury KC -0.452 1991 -10 25 Seth Stammler NY -0.445 2023 -10 Steven Lenhart & Mike Petke are first and last for 2009. Now, what if I adjust the per 90 stat by comparing it to the plus/minus for each team? For example, the Crew played 2,544 full strength minutes and had a +11 differential. So the team's per 90 stat is 0.389. If you subtract that from Lenhart's 0.882, he gets an adjusted total of 0.493. This allows us to see who really stood out compared to the team's overall performance. Adjusted League Leaders Per 90 Minutes (1,000 minutes minimum) See explanation in the previous paragraph. In order to get adjusted per 90s for the eight qualifying players who played for two teams, I first got their adjusted totals with each team. Then I multiplied the adjusted per 90s by the minutes played for each of two teams, added them together, then divided by the number of total minutes. So for example, Ugo Ihemelu had the following adjusted totals: DAL: 1.013 in 686 minutes COL: 0.166 in 1,586 minutes (1.013*686) + (0.166*1,586) ÷ (686 + 1,586) = 0.422 That explains that. Top 25 Adjusted Per 90 Per 90 Team Per 90 1 George John DAL 0.830 0.867 0.036 2 Justin Braun CHV 0.606 0.719 0.113 3 Jair Benitez DAL 0.547 0.584 0.036 4 Jacob Peterson COL 0.546 0.437 -0.109 5 Mariano Trujillo CHV 0.532 0.645 0.113 6 Dario Sala DAL 0.532 0.568 0.036 7 Steven Lenhart CLB 0.493 0.882 0.389 8 Ugo Ihemelu COL/DAL 0.422 0.357 9 Atiba Harris CHV/DAL 0.412 0.485 10 Fred DC 0.370 0.336 -0.034 11 Danleigh Borman NY 0.348 -0.221 -0.570 12 Macoumba Kandji NY 0.341 -0.228 -0.570 13 Eduardo Lillingston CHV 0.340 0.453 0.113 14 Jamison Olave RSL 0.337 0.714 0.377 15 Andrew Hainault HOU 0.317 0.695 0.378 16 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 0.312 0.275 -0.037 17 Steve Ralston NE 0.304 0.267 -0.037 18 Kevin Alston NE 0.296 0.259 -0.037 19 Matt Pickens COL 0.285 0.175 -0.109 20 Matt Reis NE 0.265 0.228 -0.037 21 Jeff Cunningham DAL 0.260 0.296 0.036 22 Eric Brunner CLB 0.256 0.645 0.389 23 Jimmy Conrad KC 0.252 -0.162 -0.415 24 Colin Clark COL 0.249 0.140 -0.109 25 Emmanuel Osei NE 0.242 0.206 -0.037 Bottom 25 Adjusted Per 90 Per 90 Team Per 90 1 Robbie Russell RSL -0.727 -0.350 0.377 2 Marcelo Saragosa DAL/CHV -0.700 -0.624 3 Andre Rocha DAL -0.655 -0.619 0.036 4 Drew Moor DAL/COL -0.522 -0.526 5 Chris Tierney NE -0.480 -0.517 -0.037 6 Ante Jazic CHV -0.473 -0.360 0.113 7 Ray Burse DAL -0.433 -0.396 0.036 8 Kenny Cooper DAL -0.415 -0.378 0.036 9 Mike Magee LA -0.368 -0.066 0.302 10 Mike Petke NY -0.343 -0.912 -0.570 11 Dema Kovalenko LA -0.302 0.000 0.302 12 Corey Ashe HOU -0.298 0.080 0.378 13 Mehdi Ballouchy COL -0.297 -0.407 -0.109 14 G. Barros Schelotto CLB -0.284 0.106 0.389 15 C.J. Brown CHI -0.282 -0.319 -0.037 16 Santino Quaranta DC -0.281 -0.316 -0.034 17 Wells Thompson NE -0.259 -0.295 -0.037 18 Brandon Prideaux CHI -0.239 -0.275 -0.037 19 Javier Morales RSL -0.230 0.147 0.377 20 Julius James HOU/DC -0.224 -0.080 21 Dave van den Bergh DAL -0.194 -0.157 0.036 22 Jorge Rojas NY -0.180 -0.749 -0.570 23 Arturo Alvarez SJ -0.175 -0.690 -0.515 24 Sainey Nyassi NE -0.170 -0.207 -0.037 25 Steve Zakuani SEA -0.167 0.249 0.417 Compared to the rest of their teammates, George John and Robbie Russell come out looking best and worst. I think it's exciting to look at this in adjusted form, because you get results like Danleigh Borman and Mac Kandji at 11th and 12th in the top 25. They may have had negative numbers themselves, but they were much better than the average Red Bull.

World Cup Rating Systems Compared

First, let me be the millionth person to say what an amazing draw for the USA. It's about as good as we could've hoped, and for the first time actually we're a favorite to advance. What exactly are the odds of us advancing after this lucky draw? Well, it depends on who you ask. It seems like everybody has a national team rating system these days, so let's take a look at how each of them rate our chances. Indeed, Voros McCracken, Soccer Power Index (Nate Silver), and the Castrol FIFA World Cup Predictor all have the USA as the second best team in the group. However, the odds for advancement differ (64%, 48%, 73% respectively). In addition, we're also favored to advance if you use the FIFA rankings or the ELO ratings. Here are the odds for every team using each of the three projections: Odds for Advancement Voros SPI Castrol France 69.1% 60.0% 59.0% Uruguay 54.8% 62.0% 61.5% Mexico 56.6% 40.0% 49.5% South Africa 19.5% 38.0% 30.0% Argentina 79.4% 77.0% 79.1% Nigeria 40.6% 58.0% 47.3% Greece 46.0% 36.0% 46.1% South Korea 34.1% 29.0% 27.6% England 89.7% 82.0% 90.2% USA 64.4% 48.0% 73.0% Slovenia 30.2% 35.0% 21.0% Algeria 15.7% 35.0% 15.9% Germany 76.3% 65.0% 74.4% Serbia 51.2% 49.0% 47.9% Australia 45.9% 41.0% 48.2% Ghana 26.6% 45.0% 29.5% Netherlands 79.3% 72.0% 79.8% Denmark 49.9% 40.0% 49.5% Cameroon 33.6% 63.0% 32.3% Japan 37.3% 25.0% 38.5% Italy 83.6% 83.0% 84.3% Paraguay 67.8% 78.0% 73.3% Slovakia 43.9% 32.0% 38.8% New Zealand 4.8% 8.0% 3.6% Brazil 90.8% 84.0% 91.7% Portugal 58.7% 55.0% 52.4% Côte d'Ivoire 45.3% 57.0% 50.5% North Korea 5.2% 4.0% 5.4% Spain 88.0% 84.0% 88.1% Chile 44.2% 57.0% 40.2% Switzerland 38.2% 29.0% 36.9% Honduras 29.7% 30.0% 34.7% The teams each one have advancing that the others don't: Voros Greece, Mexico SPI Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire Castrol Australia I noticed one of the things SPI does is factor in a World Cup continent home field advantage, so that's why it has African teams higher. Here's a chart of who each thinks will advance without percentages, including FIFA and ELO as well (using the higher ranked teams): Advancement Chart Voros SPI Castrol FIFA ELO France yes yes yes yes yes Uruguay yes yes Mexico yes yes yes South Africa Argentina yes yes yes yes yes Nigeria yes yes Greece yes yes yes South Korea England yes yes yes yes yes USA yes yes yes yes yes Slovenia Algeria Germany yes yes yes yes yes Serbia yes yes yes yes Australia yes Ghana Netherlands yes yes yes yes yes Denmark yes yes yes (tie) Cameroon yes yes Japan yes (tie) Italy yes yes yes yes yes Paraguay yes yes yes yes yes Slovakia New Zealand Brazil yes yes yes yes yes Portugal yes yes yes yes Côte d'Ivoire yes North Korea Spain yes yes yes yes yes Chile yes yes yes yes yes Switzerland Honduras Voros and Castrol also have odds for winning the entire tournament. I didn't see that for SPI (yet). Odds for Winning Voros Castrol Algeria 0.0% 0.0% Argentina 6.6% 7.5% Australia 1.0% 1.3% Brazil 23.9% 23.6% Cameroon 0.6% 0.4% Chile 0.7% 0.5% Côte d'Ivoire 1.1% 1.5% Denmark 1.6% 1.5% England 9.9% 10.4% France 5.0% 2.6% Germany 5.7% 5.8% Ghana 0.1% 0.2% Greece 0.7% 0.8% Honduras 0.3% 0.3% Italy 3.9% 3.6% Japan 0.7% 0.7% Mexico 2.0% 1.3% Netherlands 10.7% 10.1% New Zealand 0.0% 0.0% Nigeria 0.6% 1.1% North Korea 0.0% 0.0% Paraguay 1.5% 1.5% Portugal 3.5% 1.8% Serbia 1.3% 1.1% Slovakia 0.1% 0.1% Slovenia 0.1% 0.0% South Africa 0.1% 0.3% South Korea 0.3% 0.2% Spain 14.4% 16.1% Switzerland 0.5% 0.4% Uruguay 1.9% 2.7% USA 1.2% 2.4% Only four teams differ by more than one percentage point. Voros has France and Portugal higher, while Castrol has Spain and the USA higher.

World Cup 2010 Draw Preview

The seeding formula and pots have been released by FIFA. They've decided to use only the October 2009 FIFA ranking and nothing else to determine the seven seeded teams. I'm a bit disappointed, if only because the work of people like Edgar and myself has been for nothing this cycle. The big news is that the change means that the Netherlands will be seeded instead of France. You have to wonder exactly when this decision was made. It's convenient from a PR standpoint that France is left out after the Thierry Henry handball. I'm sure if they had any doubts about changing it, that made the decision clearer. Looking back, it's obvious that FIFA was a lot higher on using FIFA rankings since the formula for them was changed after the 2006 World Cup. They've been used heavily for seeding in World Cup qualifying. However, even if they were going to only use one month's ranking, it wasn't announced that they would the October rankings instead of November until November 20th, when the November ranking came out. That's also two days after World Cup qualifying (and France vs Ireland) ended. If they had used the November ranking instead of the October one, then France would have been seeded with England missing out. The reason given for using October over November was that "...using the November 2009 edition would create an uneven situation, specifically for the European Zone, where the play-offs involving the eight best runners-up led to an imbalance in the number of qualification matches played between the teams." Fair enough, but four years ago (as part of the more complex formula) they used the November rankings which did take into account the playoffs. Just like the seeding of the UEFA playoffs, it looks shady. Why not decide these things before the competition starts? Even if there's no conspiracy, FIFA's behavior gives people reason to believe that there might be. Because unlike the small changes to the formula in 2002 and 2006, this time the makeup of the seeded teams is affected by them. EDIT: Apparently the seeds were chosen by "feeling." What a joke. In other words, they decided which teams they wanted to seed and then picked a format based on that. The other big announcement is that just like four years ago, Africa and South America will be grouped together in one pot, with Asia and North America in the other (plus New Zealand). It would've been much better for the USA's chances to have been grouped with Africa rather than Asia. In that scenario, there was a 33% chance of drawing South Africa and a good chance of an easy Asia/Oceania team from the fourth pot. Now, we're guaranteed to draw an African or South American team, and the chance of drawing the hosts is only 1/8. As an American fan, here's what I would most and least like to see happen in Friday's draw. Oh, and if you decide to watch it live (noon Eastern, ESPN), remember that they have a ton of ceremonial stuff before they actually get down to business. Pot 1 - Seeded Teams Argentina Brazil England Germany Italy Netherlands South Africa Spain We want South Africa, it's as simple as that. They're the weakest team by far, even with the advantage of hosting. Besides, we already beat them in South Africa in a friendly this cycle, and we also got a point against South Korea in 2002. As for the others, I don't think it matters too much. We have gotten results against Spain and Italy in competitive games in the past four years, but I'm not sure I have a preference here other than avoiding Brazil. On paper, the Netherlands are probably the second worst team. So the chance of a good draw from this pot is 12.5%, while the other 87.5% is an average draw. Pot 3 - African/South American Teams Algeria Cameroon Chile Cote d’Ivoire Ghana Nigeria Paraguay Uruguay Algeria has to be the best choice, with Cote d'Ivoire and the South American teams the ones to avoid. Though I didn't look at it before writing that, Voros' national team rankings agree, placing Algeria way below the others. I'm not sure though, the African teams may be stronger due to the home continent advantage. So maybe the CONMEBOL trio are more desirable. Unfortunately, as mentioned above we can't draw an Asian team. Due to that grouping, this pot is pretty even in strength. The team we get here should matter the least when it comes to the odds of advancing. Pot 4 - European Teams Denmark France Greece Portugal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Switzerland This is what it all comes down to. The USMNT's chances of advancing are greatly determined by what happens here. This matters more than anything else that's happened since the 2006 World Cup ended. A draw of France or Portugal would certainly make things very, very difficult and would be a nightmare. There's a 25% chance of that happening. The main goal is to avoid those two teams (75% chance). However, if at all possible it'd be nice to draw Slovakia or Slovenia (25%) chance. We should be favored over either of them regardless of what happens in friendlies. Of the other four teams, I would prefer Greece or Switzerland over Denmark or Serbia. However, they don't stand out like the others as good or bad draws. Goals & Possible Outcomes Our goals should be in this order: 1. Draw South Africa. 2. Avoid France/Portugal. 3. Draw Slovakia/Slovenia. You could also hope to draw Algeria and not say, Chile or Ivory Coast. But that's not as important. Possible Outcomes: 3.1% - Dream draw - South Africa, ???, Slovakia/Slovenia 6.2% - Very good - South Africa, ???, Denmark/Greece/Serbia/Switzerland 21.9% - Good - Other seeded team, ???, Slovakia/Slovenia 3.1% - Decent - South Africa, ???, France/Portugal 43.8% - Average - Other seeded team, ???, Denmark/Greece/Serbia/Switzerland 21.9% - Nightmare - Other seeded team, ???, France/Portugal An average draw is the most likely by far. As you can see, the odds of a really great draw are slim. I'm not expecting that, I just want to avoid the worst.

Kansas City Wizards - Best Goals 2009 Compilation

Final Record: 8-13-9 (33 pts) Goals: 10) Zoltan Hercegfalvi 9) Davy Arnaud 8) Josh Wolff 7) Davy Arnaud 6) Davy Arnaud 5) Josh Wolff 4) Josh Wolff 3) Davy Arnaud 2) Claudio Lopez 1) Claudio Lopez Note: Only goals scored in the 2009 regular season were considered. Arnaud's Seattle goal was low due to the fact that it probably should've been saved. That was the game where Kasey Keller was red carded and replaced in the net by pool keeper Ben Dragovan, remember? That was also the first Sounders loss. Another goal that I had questions about was from the final match day, the Kei Kamara diving header against DC. I was going to include it, but it really looks like either an own goal by Rodney Wallace or maybe it took a deflection off him. I couldn't tell due to the lack of a good camera angle. Don't forget to subscribe to the CTL Youtube Channel! Further Viewing Kansas City Wizards - Best Goals 2008 Kansas City Wizards - Best Goals 2007 Kansas City Wizards - Best Goals 2006 (audio disabled) Other 2009 Goal Comps Chicago Fire New York Red Bulls

Updates

I've updated a few posts in the past few days: Played for 5+ MLS Teams - There are now 25 players in this club, including 6 new ones in the 2009 season. Includes a list of the teams for each player, as well as the date the 5 team mark was set. Where We Stand All Time - The list of all time team W-L-D records has been updated (of course, shootouts are counted as draws). The top ten coaches and top ten overall goalscorers (not just regular season) goalscorers have also been updated. You'll never guess which coach is now in the top ten. 2010 Superdraft Order - It's finalized now with the completion of the 2009 season. Well, except for the always secretive conditional picks. The eight playoff teams are slotted in based on their postseason performances, so RSL will have the last pick in each round as champions. I've always thought that rule (patterned after the NFL) makes little sense. A team's real strength should be based on the regular season results, right? Just because a team succeeds in the playoffs doesn't mean they're the best team; it's a small sample size. Then again, maybe these leagues want the teams who went further in one year to have a disadvantage the next. I still feel like RSL should be drafting seven spots higher. Multiple Teams, One Season - A list of all the players who've played for more than one team in a single season. There were 17 for 2009, which is exactly average. Did you know that the Ugo Ihemelu for Drew Moor trade was the first time a player has played for both Colorado and Dallas in the same season? There are now only five combinations of the original 9 MLS teams left who haven't done that. MLS Sporcle Quizzes - Two new ones from me. First, can you name the leaders in games played for each MLS team (all competitions)? Second, can you name the players protected every year in the past four MLS expansion drafts (2006-09)?

Missing Out (Post 2009 Update)

What follows is a list of the men who have played the most games in the MLS regular season without playing in an MLS Cup, updated through the 2009 season. Most Regular Season Games Played Without Playing in an MLS Cup (includes games through 2009 season) Games Prev Rank 1 Cunningham, Jeff 317 2 2 Kreis, Jason 305 1 3 Chung, Mark 284 3 4 Mastroeni, Pablo 257 5 5 Kotschau, Ritchie 244 4 6 Clark, Mike 221 6 7 Rhine, Bobby 212 7 8 Brown, Chris 197 8 8 Denton, Eric 197 12 10 McBride, Brian 194 15 11 Pareja, Oscar 189 10 12 Clark, Ricardo 181 22 13 Valderrama, Carlos 175 13 14 McKinley, Ivan 174 14 15 Maisonneuve, Brian 172 15 15 Pause, Logan 172 N/A 17 Dunseth, Brian 171 17 18 Washington, Dante 170 18 19 Burns, Mike 169 19 20 Chronopoulos, Ted 162 20 21 Warzycha, Robert 160 21 22 Farrer, Richard 158 23 23 Eck, Ted 156 24 24 Rodriguez, Jorge 155 25 25 Santel, Mark 154 N/A Active MLS players in bold. Prev rank refers to their ranking after the 2008 season. Jeff Cunningham passed Jason Kreis for the top spot on August 1, 2009. That was also the game where he scored four goals (a "beaver trick") against Kansas City in a 6-0 win. Previously, Kreis held the record from July 4, 2006 until August 1, 2009. Before that, it was held by Mark Chung. Cunningham is in the same company as fellow athletes Gary Anderson (NFL), Dale Ellis (NBA), Mike Gartner (NHL), and Rafael Palmeiro (MLB), who all currently hold the distinction in their respective leagues. If there's going to be a challenge to Cunningham any time in the near future, it will have to come from Pablo Mastroeni. He's still two full seasons behind, though. Other big news: two MLS veterans saw their first MLS Cup action on Sunday and fall off the list: Kyle Beckerman and Edson Buddle. They were 9th and 12th in last year's ranking, and would've been 7th and 9th this year. Logan Pause makes his debut in 15th place. Meanwhile, because of the two dropoffs, the retired Mark Santel comes back into the top 25. Who else could make the top 25 in the coming years? Active MLS players Outside the Top 25 Guevara, Amado 153 Lewis, Eddie 150 Thomas, Shavar 150 Alvarez, Arturo 147 Busch, Jon 147 Boswell, Bobby 138 Oughton, Duncan 133 Simms, Clyde 133 Quaranta, Santino 132 Moor, Drew 131 Barrett, Chad 124 Rolfe, Chris 123 Stammler, Seth 121 Convey, Bobby 115 Segares, Gonzalo 108 Kljestan, Sacha 104 Ballouchy, Mehdi 102 Bornstein, Jonathan 102 Saragosa, Marcelo 102

Expansion Draft Lists Out

I've spent the last hour or so updating the Wikipedia page, so check that out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_MLS_Expansion_Draft The MLS press release has some errors on the Generation Adidas graduates. However, it appears that all of the following players have graduated: Alston, Kevin Beltran, Tony Gonzalez, Omar Hall, Jeremy Igwe, Amaechi Nyarko, Patrick Seitz, Chris Wallace, Anthony Wallace, Rodney Zakuani, Steve Zayner, Jed I've confirmed this based on protected lists and team press releases (all except for Zayner, who's certainly not gonna get a 5th year). EDIT: MLS has issued an updated press release which confirms the above list, except for Zayner. Really, they've going to give him a 5th year? Surely that's another mistake. I know he was injured, but... How does that differ from the list I was predicting? Well, it seems that Stefan Frei has been given another year, which is very surprising. I know Nick Rimando started all year in 2000 and didn't graduate, but Brad Guzan did and he's the only comparable player since then. At least I'm pretty sure Guzan did, I have him listed as doing so but I can't find the source. Frei really should've graduated, since he clearly established himself as the starter and played 90% of the season. MLS did graduate Chris Seitz, I guess due to the fact that he is a lock to make the roster and also that he's had three years. How you graduate Seitz and not Frei mystifies me. Also graduating are 2007 draftees Amaechi Igwe and Anthony Wallace, which is another surprise. Apparently due to the larger senior roster (or smaller developmental roster), they're going to get these guys out earlier. But tell me how this makes sense: Igwe and Wallace have played 1,196 and 826 minutes in three seasons respectively. They graduated, yet Roger Espinoza has played 1,169 and 635 minutes in his two years and didn't. So I have to believe that the third year is what did it. Overall, I missed 26 out of 165 protected players from my final preview the other day. Two of those were due to Seitz and Frei. EDIT: Here's my predictions on who Philadelphia will take. These things are always really tough to analyze; who would've guessed Jarrod Smith last year for example? If I can get more than three right, I'd be ecstatic. I expect Philadelphia will take more veteran and expensive players this year because they haven't signed anyone yet. At this point last year Seattle already had committed to $800,000 against the cap with Keller, Ljungberg, and Le Toux. So I don't think it's too unrealistic that they could take somebody like Luciano Emilio or Amado Guevara (who SBI and Goal.com both seem to expect will be taken). (2010 age in parentheses) CHI - Gonzalo Segares (27) - Even if there's only a 25% of him staying, it's worth the risk. It's not like all ten picks will end up on the roster anyway. Why not take the chance? CHV - Shavar Thomas (29) - Solid defender. CLB - Alejandro Moreno (30) - Won't score a lot, but it's not just about the goals. Every year his team ends up being good. COL - Greg Dalby (24) - Cheap player who was very highly regarded coming out of college. Hasn't gotten a real opportunity to show his potential. DC - Devon McTavish (25) - Versatile player can fill in at several positions. HOU - Eddie Robinson (31) - Former Best XI player coming off a big injury. KC - Herculez Gomez (28) - Cheap attacking player. Maybe him and Convey on the left and right side of midfield? LA - Josh Saunders (29) - A better choice to start than Jon Conway. Also the most popular expansion draft prediction by every fan out there since Sunday. NE - Amaechi Igwe (22) - Another young player who hasn't gotten much time. Assistant coach John Hackworth is familiar with him from the U17s. 100k salary might be a turn off, but they could negotiate it. SJ - Bobby Convey (27) - Almost too perfect of a story, right? Surely must improve in 2010. Total salaries: ~ $974,000

MLS 2009: Red Card Data & Situational Goal Differences

Did you notice the stat ESPN gave about David Beckham on the MLS Cup broadcast last night? I sure did. They noted that the Galaxy's goal differential was +10 when he was on the field during the 2009 season. The team as a whole was only +5, though I don't recall if the ESPN stat was for regular season only or not (EDIT: It included the playoffs as well, he was +7 for the regular season). Plus/minus is a stat that has been used in hockey for a long time, and it's starting to pick up steam in basketball as well. It's come up from time to time on soccer sites as well, but not too much. I'm planning to look into the plus/minus data for each player MLS in 2009, and one thing I needed to deal with are the red cards. That's why this summer I went through MLS history and figured out all the necessary red card data, with the view of possibly looking at all seasons at some point. Also, I want to use only full strength, 11 on 11 situations for the analysis. I'm also going to adjust for each team's goal difference, so each player will be compared to the average for the team (I'll post the non-adjusted number as well). Players will also have their playing time taken into account, like I did with the MLS Team Ages post. But this post isn't about plus/minus. I mentioned having to get the red card data for 2009, and I've done that. So while I've yet to figure out the plus/minus, I have some interesting stuff to post: I wanted to show how teams have done this year with their goal differences, and not just the normal ones seen on MLSnet. How does their GD look when you take out all non-full strength situations? First, let's look at the historical red card numbers for the entire league (which I believe I didn't actually post in my previous look on the subject). All data in this post is regular season only: MLS Red Cards Per Game, 1996-2009 Reds Games Per Game 1996 29 160 0.181 1997 37 160 0.231 1998 60 192 0.313 1999 54 192 0.281 2000 54 192 0.281 2001 45 158 0.285 2002 44 140 0.314 2003 38 150 0.253 2004 35 150 0.233 2005 42 192 0.219 2006 44 192 0.229 2007 54 195 0.277 2008 59 210 0.281 2009 81 225 0.360 Total 676 2508 0.270 Yes, 2009 had the highest sending off rate in league history. MLS is missing two red cards in their historical data the last time I checked, both in 1997. I've added both. Also, MLS has sometimes counted in their MLSnet statistics red cards given to coaches. I don't count those, only ones given to players. Reds given to players on the bench or after the final whistle are counted, however. Four such cards are included in the 2009 data below (though they don't impact the minutes at all). Now let's look at this past year. How many did each team get, and what about the minutes played in each situation? 2009 MLS Red Cards & Situational Minutes Played For Against 11v11 10v10 1 up 1 down 2 up 2 down CHI 4 6 2460 31 116 93 0 0 CHV 7 9 2386 29 153 125 7 0 CLB 7 3 2544 8 7 141 0 0 COL 2 9 2467 0 190 37 6 0 DAL 5 6 2472 2 63 163 0 0 DC 4 3 2611 0 44 45 0 0 HOU 8 7 2380 62 167 91 0 0 KC 6 10 2171 0 467 55 0 7 LA 7 7 2382 11 139 168 0 0 NE 4 6 2448 21 105 126 0 0 NY 8 3 2370 1 76 253 0 0 RSL 7 5 2388 53 59 200 0 0 SEA 8 4 2376 34 94 196 0 0 SJ 1 2 2621 0 70 9 0 0 TOR 3 1 2646 0 0 48 0 6 "For" means a red card given to that team. So Chicago received 4 red cards (Robinson, Soumare, Thorrington 2), while benefiting from 6 called against the opposition. Man, the Wizards played about 20% of their season up or down a man (or two). That stands out. I know they had that streak with a bunch of consecutive games with ejections for either team in the middle of the year (including the Superliga). As mentioned above, four red cards were given to players not in the match at the time: 6/6 - Luciano Emilio, DC vs NY (bench) 6/13 - Mike Petke, NY @ TOR (after final whistle) 8/6 - Brad Davis, HOU @ DAL (bench) 9/12 - Carlos Johnson, NY vs KC (after final whistle) Here's the most interesting thing: MLS 2009: Goals For/Against in Various Situations Overall 11v11 10v10 1 up 1 down GF GA GF GA GF GA GF GA GF GA CHI 39 34 31 32 0 0 7 1 1 1 CHV 34 31 31 28 2 0 1 0 0 3 CLB 41 31 39 28 1 0 0 0 1 3 COL 42 38 35 38 0 0 7 0 0 0 DAL 50 47 44 43 0 1 5 1 1 2 DC 43 44 42 43 0 0 1 0 0 1 HOU 39 29 35 25 0 1 3 2 1 1 KC 33 42 23 33 0 0 10 5 0 4 LA 36 31 34 26 0 0 1 1 1 4 NE 33 37 30 31 0 1 1 0 2 5 NY 27 47 25 40 0 0 0 1 2 6 RSL 43 35 41 31 0 0 0 0 2 4 SEA 38 29 35 24 0 0 2 0 1 5 SJ 36 50 33 48 0 0 3 1 0 1 TOR 37 46 37 45 0 0 0 0 0 1 So here's how the GD's compare, overall and 11 v 11: overall 11v11 GD GD CHI 5 -1 CHV 3 3 CLB 10 11 COL 4 -3 DAL 3 1 DC -1 -1 HOU 10 10 KC -9 -10 LA 5 8 NE -4 -1 NY -20 -15 RSL 8 10 SEA 9 11 SJ -14 -15 TOR -9 -8 The two teams that jump out are Chicago and Colorado. Both go from positive to negative when you only consider full strength situations. On one hand, it means they took advantage of their man up situations. But it also means that they didn't impress at full strength. It's pretty surprising to me to see the Fire with a negative GD in full strength situations. Meanwhile, LA-NE-NY all look better. I know red cards are a part of soccer, but it's interesting to isolate the data like this. Thoughts?

Least Deserving Champions in 60 Years

Real Salt Lake is the first American sports team to win a championship with a losing record in 60 years. In the history of the major four leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), and also MLS and the NASL, only two teams have accomplished that. Both were in the NHL: 1949 Toronto Maple Leafs (22-25-13) 1938 Chicago Black Hawks (14-25-9)

New York Red Bulls - Best Goals 2009 Compilation

Final Record: 5-19-6 (21 pts) Goals: 10) Jorge Rojas 9) Macoumba Kandji 8) Dane Richards 7) Albert Celades 6) Juan Pablo Angel 5) Juan Pablo Angel 4) Juan Pablo Angel 3) John Wolyniec 2) Dane Richards 1) John Wolyniec Note: Only goals scored in the 2009 regular season were considered. NY didn't give me a lot of material to work with, but it does make it easier to finish the video. Watching it makes me so thankful that Red Bull Arena will open next year and the NFL lines will be gone. I can already see the idiots on Youtube complaining in my head before I even post it. Don't forget to subscribe to the CTL Youtube Channel! Further Viewing New York Red Bulls - Best Goals 2008 New York Red Bulls - Best Goals 2007 New York Red Bulls - Best Goals 2006 (audio disabled) Other 2009 Goal Comps Chicago Fire

Expansion Draft 2009 - Final Protected Lists Preview

Time to revisit my projections for the last time. Who will be available for the Philadelphia Union to select? The rules were announced recently, and they're exactly the same as the past few drafts. The following players should graduate from Generation Adidas status: Alston, Beltran, Frei, Gonzalez, Hall, Nyarko, Wallace, Zakuani, and Zayner. I would be extremely shocked if any of them didn't graduate, or if any other GA players did. See this post for further info on how minutes played affects GA status and graduation. I'll also be updating the Wikipedia article on the 2009 MLS Expansion Draft. What normally happens is, MLS only releases the lists of exposed players. So you have to do a little work to figure out who actually was protected, including figuring out GA statuses. So next week I'll be updating that page for everyone's convenience. I'll be sure to post my predictions for who will be selected by Peter Nowak and Philly when the lists are final. In the following post, "changes" refers to how my projections have changed since the last time I posted them. Previous Projections August 21 - Eastern Conference August 22 - Western Conference September 17 - Preview #2 CHICAGO Protected Available Exempt Mike Banner Cuauhtemoc Blanco Baggio Husidic Jon Busch C.J. Brown Wilman Conde Calen Carr Peter Lowry Stefan Dimitrov Patrick Nyarko Andrew Dykstra Marco Pappa Justin Mapp Logan Pause Brian McBride Dasan Robinson David Myrie Gonzalo Segares Brandon Prideaux John Thorrington Chris Rolfe Tim Ward Austin Washington Daniel Woolard Changes: Lowry for Blanco. I feel extremely confident on 8 of these players. The other three are Lowry, Pappa, and Segares. Lowry should be protected because of his potential and low salary (developmental player). Segares is out of contract, but he's not a lock to leave and he's a highly valuable player. I still think he merits protection. That's not unprecedented, NE did it with Parkhurst last year. Pappa is complicated because of his loan situation, which is up after the season. It seems likely that he'll be back though, and if so he's an important member of the team. The Fire will have to protect at least one of either Pappa or Segares, and he's probably more likely. I still think there's actually a chance Mapp could be protected despite the high salary. He was a Best XI player only a few years ago, though I suppose the cheap Woolard might be a smarter choice. CHIVAS USA Protected Available Exempt Jonathan Bornstein Justin Braun Yamith Cuesta Chukwudi Chijindu Jorge Flores Jon Conway Maykel Galindo Jim Curtin Sacha Kljestan Maicon Santos Michael Lahoud Kevin Harmse Jesse Marsch Ante Jazic Paulo Nagamura Dan Kennedy Jesus Padilla Eduardo Lillingston Shavar Thomas Gerson Mayen Zach Thornton Lance Parker Ante Razov Marcelo Saragosa Bojan Stepanovic Claudio Suarez Carey Talley Mariano Trujillo Sasha Victorine Cesar Zamora Changes: Cuesta/Flores/Padilla for Braun/Lillingston/Trujillo. The biggest change is Preki leaving. Who knows how that will affect the Chivas list, which was already one of the hardest teams to predict. I feel Bornstein/Galindo/Kljestan/Lahoud/Thornton are locks. They also need three international players, which is complicated by the fact that Galindo/Jazic/Saragosa/Trujillo all hold green cards and that Padilla is an American. So they must protect at least three out of Cuesta/Harmse/Lillingston/Nagamura/Santos/Stepanovic/Thomas. That's even messier when you realize that Nagamura is out of contract and Cuesta/Santos are on loans. I'd say Nagamura probably still deserves protection, and Thomas might be the best bet of the group. I'll go out on a limb and pick Cuesta as the third international despite the loan, since he started in the playoffs and he's only 20. Who gets the last three spots? Padilla will probably play a bigger role next year, and Flores has potential (even though he wasn't protected a year ago). Marsch has been a key player for the team despite his age. It might be wise to to protect him because of the former Fire connection with Nowak. This does leave off a couple of notable players. Braun is a decent bet to end up on a the list, but he was a Preki signing and he hasn't exactly lit up the back of net. COLORADO Protected Available Exempt Mehdi Ballouchy Julien Baudet Ciaran O'Brien Conor Casey Preston Burpo Rob Valentino Colin Clark Steward Ceus Omar Cummings Greg Dalby Cory Gibbs Facundo Diz Jordan Harvey Ty Harden Kosuke Kimura Michael Holody Nick LaBrocca Pat Noonan Pablo Mastroeni Scott Palguta Drew Moor Jacob Peterson Matt Pickens Ross Schunk Jamie Smith Changes: Kimura for Smith. I've been following what Jason of View From The Couch is projecting, so as a result I've included Kimura. However, I just can't put Baudet or Smith in the eleven. They both make over $150,000 and were brought in by Gary Smith, which means that the odds of either being selected are virtually zero. Jason also excludes Gibbs, which I can't agree with no matter what Gary Smith thinks of Cory. Even if they're plan on going into 2010 without him, he could bring something in a trade. Palguta or Peterson could have an outside shot at making the list, too. COLUMBUS Protected Available Exempt G. Barros Schelotto Kevin Burns Eric Brunner Cory Elenio Brian Carroll Jason Garey Emmanuel Ekpo Alex Grendi Eddie Gaven Andy Gruenebaum William Hesmer Frankie Hejduk Chad Marshall Andy Iro Danny O'Rourke Steven Lenhart Gino Padula Adam Moffat Robbie Rogers Alejandro Moreno Jed Zayner Duncan Oughton Emilio Renteria Kenny Schoeni Changes: Gaven/Zayner for Hejduk/Moreno. After the playoffs and the Denmark game, does anybody still want Hejduk to be protected? I've been reading the Crew forum on Bigsoccer, and they certainly don't. Zayner is much more likely to be selected by Philadelphia. Gaven was left off the list last season, but he's played well and could be selected despite his $173,250 salary. He belongs in the eleven this year. Lenhart and Moreno split time up top, so be leaving both off they'll still have at least one next year. Lenhart is probably the last man left off. If they're higher on him than Zayner, then they could make that switch. DALLAS Protected Available Exempt Jair Benitez Ray Burse Eric Avila Marvin Chavez Daniel Hernandez Bruno Guarda Jeff Cunningham Steve Purdy Josh Lambo Kyle Davies Pablo Ricchetti Peri Marosevic David Ferreira Andre Rocha Brek Shea Atiba Harris Daniel Torres Anthony Wallace Ugo Ihemelu Blake Wagner George John Dave van den Bergh Dax McCarty Heath Pearce Dario Sala Changes: Chavez/Sala for Ricchetti/van den Bergh. Ricchetti burned his bridges and is gone. Buzz at 3rd Degree suggests Harris over van den Bergh for the final spot, so I've made that change as well. VDB's inclusion is the only possible change I could see. DC UNITED Protected Available Exempt Marc Burch Ely Allen Dejan Jakovic Brandon Barklage Julius James John DiRaimondo Thabiso Khumalo Luciano Emilio Bryan Namoff Fred Chris Pontius Christian Gomez Santino Quaranta David Habarugira Clyde Simms Andrew Jacobson Danny Szetela Greg Janicki Rodney Wallace Avery John Josh Wicks Milos Kocic Devon McTavish Jaime Moreno Ange N'Silu Ben Olsen Tiyiselani Shipalane Lawson Vaughn Steve Cronin Changes: Burch/Khumalo for Fred/Moreno. With Olsen's retirement and Soehn's departure, it seems like change is in the air at DC United. If you're going to leave off Emilio and Gomez, then you might as well leave off Fred and Moreno as well. Khumalo is included because of the need for three internationals. The issue here could be "no trade" clauses. If designated player Emilio were to have one, for example, then he would take away a domestic player spot (as a green card holder). HOUSTON Protected Available Exempt Corey Ashe Wade Barrett Danny Cruz Bobby Boswell Ricardo Clark Geoff Cameron Ryan Cochrane Mike Chabala Tyler Deric Brian Ching Tally Hall Brad Davis John Michael Hayden Andrew Hainault Luis Angel Landin Stuart Holden Richard Mulrooney Brian Mullan Pat Onstad Dominic Oduro Eddie Robinson Cam Weaver Abe Thompson Erik Ustruck Craig Waibel Changes: Chabala/Weaver for Clark/Landin. Clark is leaving on a free transfer and Landin was a huge disappointment. Based on their playing time down the stretch, Chabala and Weaver seem next in line and they're both cheap. Barrett/Mulrooney/Onstad were already left unprotected a year ago, so I'd expect that to happen again. Holden's out of contract too, but you could at least picture him staying (or maybe not). If I were Nowak and Holden were unprotected, I'd take him. Why not take that chance even if it's really slim? KANSAS CITY Protected Available Exempt Davy Arnaud Adam Cristman Roger Espinoza Matt Besler Herculez Gomez Chance Myers Jimmy Conrad Aaron Hohlbein Michael Harrington Michael Kraus Kevin Hartman Eric Kronberg Zoltan Hercegfalvi Jonathan Leathers Santiago Hirsig Matt Marquess Jack Jewsbury Rauwshan McKenzie Kei Kamara Kurt Morsink Claudio Lopez Boris Pardo Josh Wolff Kevin Souter Lance Watson Graham Zusi Changes: Hartman for Watson. Seems pretty cut and dry. Down the Byline suggests Zusi instead of Wolff. Could he or Watson make the list instead of an older player? LOS ANGELES Protected Available Exempt David Beckham Todd Dunivant Tristan Bowen Gregg Berhalter Alecko Eskandarian Chris Birchall Alan Gordon Edson Buddle Leonard Griffin A.J. DeLaGarza Bryan Jordan Landon Donovan Jovan Kirovski Sean Franklin Chris Klein Omar Gonzalez Eddie Lewis Dema Kovalenko Yohance Marshall Mike Magee Stefani Miglioranzi Donovan Ricketts Kyle Patterson Tony Sanneh Josh Saunders Julian Valentin Changes: Berhalter/Kovalenko for Dunivant/Eskandarian. Bruce Arena protected Kovalenko back in 2006 when he was with NY, so I now expect the same thing to happen again. Along with Kovalenko, Berhalter has been huge down the strech and he seems a more likely choice than Dunivant, who can be replaced by DeLaGarza. NEW ENGLAND Protected Available Exempt Kevin Alston Chris Albright Nico Colaluca Darrius Barnes Stephane Assengue Amaechi Igwe Jay Heaps Gabriel Badilla Shalrie Joseph Mauricio Castro Jeff Larentowicz Kheli Dube Kenny Mansally Edgaras Jankauskas Sainey Nyassi Brad Knighton Emmanuel Osei Pat Phelan Steve Ralston Bobby Shuttleworth Matt Reis Wells Thompson Taylor Twellman Chris Tierney Michael Videira Changes: None. Larentowicz is out of contract, but as I mentioned above, they still protected Parkhurst last year. The big question is whether or not they'll protect Twellman. He's been injured for over a year and has one of the league's highest salaries. I think that it's still the smart move to do so. Kheli Dube (likely the 12th man in the pecking order) is clearly not on the same level even at his best. NEW YORK Protected Available Exempt Juan Pablo Angel Danleigh Borman Bouna Coundoul Andrew Boyens Kevin Goldthwaite Albert Celades Jeremy Hall Danny Cepero Carlos Johnson Walter Garcia Macoumba Kandji Leo Krupnik Ernst Oebster Carlos Mendes Dane Richards Matthew Mbuta Luke Sassano Mike Petke Seth Stammler Jorge Rojas Sinisa Ubiparipovic John Wolyniec Nick Zimmerman Changes: Boundoul/Johnson for Celades/Cepero. Boundoul won the starting keeper job down the stretch, while Celades announced his retirement. Without Celades, they'll need to protect another foreign player, so I selected Johnson over Rojas. REAL SALT LAKE Protected Available Exempt Kyle Beckerman Jean Alexandre Alex Nimo Tony Beltran Pablo Campos Chris Seitz Nat Borchers Raphael Cox Fabian Espindola Rachid El Khalifi Robbie Findley Nelson Gonzalez Will Johnson Ned Grabavoy Javier Morales David Horst Jamison Olave Clint Mathis Nick Rimando Yura Movsisyan Robbie Russell Tino Nunez Chris Wingert Kyle Reynish Andy Williams Changes: Russell for Campos. 10 players are stone cold locks. Russell is the exception. Will it be him, Campos, Grabavoy or maybe Alexandre who completes the list? We'll see what Kreis is thinking. Russell was protected a year ago so I think that tilts it in his favor. SAN JOSE Protected Available Exempt Arturo Alvarez Bobby Burling Quincy Amarikwa Ramiro Corrales Joe Cannon Simon Elliott Bobby Convey Mike Graczyk Cornell Glen Darren Huckerby Jason Hernandez Chris Leitch Ryan Johnson Brandon McDonald Andre Luiz Aaron Pitchkolan Shea Salinas Antonio Ribeiro Ramon Sanchez Jamil Roberts Chris Wondolowski Andrew Weber Michael Zaher Changes: Wondolowski for McDonald. As I've said before, no matter how much some people want Convey out of SJ and think he would be a perfect fit, I don't think he'll be unprotected. He has too much talent, it's too perfect of a scenario with the Philly hometown kid coming home, and also he holds value in a trade if they go that route. SEATTLE Protected Available Exempt Osvaldo Alonso Terry Boss Brad Evans Evan Brown Leo Gonzalez Chris Eylander Jhon Kennedy Hurtado Michael Fucito Patrick Ianni Taylor Graham Nate Jaqua Stephen King Kasey Keller Roger Levesque Freddie Ljungberg Sebastien Le Toux Fredy Montero Tyrone Marshall James Riley Lamar Neagle Steve Zakuani Sanna Nyassi Zach Scott Nathan Sturgis Peter Vagenas Tyson Wahl Changes: None. I suppose Le Toux, Levesque, and Nyassi have an outside chance, possibly at the expense of Riley. TORONTO Protected Available Exempt Nana Attakora Jim Brennan Fuad Ibrahim Chad Barrett Brian Edwards Sam Cronin Lesly Fellinga Julian de Guzman Gabe Gala Dwayne De Rosario Nick Garcia Stefan Frei Ali Gerba Emmanuel Gomez Amado Guevara Amadou Sanyang Carl Robinson Adrian Serioux Pablo Vitti O'Brian White Marvell Wynne Changes: None. What was a nightmare to project when I first did this back in August now seems easy. The high-priced Guevara/Robinson/Vitti should be unselectable and easy to exclude. Meanwhile, Garcia played his way off.

2010 World Cup Seeding News & Analysis

World Cup Qualifying is completed is completed. I've updated the 2010 World Cup Eliminations Timeline, which tells you exactly which date each team was eliminated and in what order. That won't require another update until June. But the real exciting news is that with all the qualifiers completed, we can now focus on the World Cup seeds and the draw. The seeds will be announced on December 2nd, and the draw is two days later. Edgar has the final seeding ranking, so check that out. If the formula doesn't change (a big if), France will have the final seed over Portugal. A couple major things I want to point out: 1) FIFA have decided this time around to use the October 2009 FIFA ranking as part of the formula instead of November 2009. The reason given is because they wanted to exclude the playoff games. As Edgar points out, it was considered fair last time to include them, so how is anything different now? While it doesn't appear to change the actual seeds, it's another shady decision at the last second. 2) Other possibilities: Of course, there's the possibility that FIFA might change the formula. They always seem to do so, albeit only slightly. Last time, they only used the two previous World Cups instead of three. If FIFA decided to reduce it to only include one previous World Cup (2006), then Portugal would be seeded at the expense of England. What if they only used those October FIFA rankings, and discarded past World Cup performance totally? Then France would miss out, and the Netherlands would be seeded instead. I don't know if the odds of that are good, but they've used the rankings in qualifying for seeding, and they made a big show of changing it after Germany 2006. It seems like they trust it more now. What if they decided to only use the October FIFA ranking and not any from the past two years, but still used the past two World Cup performances? No change. Although, if you use only the October ranking and only Germany 2006 performances, then again Portugal would replace England. 3) What should American fans be hoping for in the draw? The seeded pot will always be tough. Which seeded team we get is not really the key to a successful draw. The biggest thing is avoiding the top teams in the Euro pot. Here it is: Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland There is a huge disparity in the quality of those teams. Netherlands and Portugal would be instant death; if we get one of those two plus a seeded team, then there's only a very slim chance of advancing to the round of 16. Avoiding those two is the biggest goal of the draw, and there's a 75% chance of that. Denmark seems like the third best team, and we just saw what they can do against us. Serbia is probably 4th. Either of those teams would be tough as well. The other four teams I would consider to be a good draw. Slovakia and Slovenia would be a dream draw. The other hugely important part is what FIFA decides to do with the third and fourth pots. Last time, CONCACAF was paired with AFC, and the other pot was CAF/CONMEBOL/OFC. This time, you could still have AFC/CONCACAF (plus New Zealand) and CAF/CONMEBOL. But you could also have AFC/CONMEBOL and CAF/CONCACAF, like in 2002. The numbers add up to 8 either way. We'll see what they do. It would be better for the US if we were paired with CAF. Asian teams should be easier than African teams, especially on their home continent, so we want the chance to draw one. We'd also then have a 1/3 shot of drawing South Africa, which should be the easiest seed despite the home field advantage. Either way they do it, I feel it's important to avoid the CONMEBOL teams, which are stronger than African or Asian teams. You have a 37.5% chance of getting one, although it's less if CAF/CONMEBOL are paired, since South Africa can't be drawn with another African team. Or they could simplify all this and seed all four groups the same way they seed the top one, which is something I'd like to see.

208 to 1: World Cup 2010 Eliminations Timeline

UPDATE: The World Cup field is set. No more updates on this post until June. Yes, we know now who qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. In the future, it will be easy to look at the qualifying standings to see how things turned out. However, one thing that can't easily be determined from a simple glance at the standings is exactly when each team fell out of contention. It's fairly obvious if you look at the schedule for a minute or two, but that takes some effort. So what I set out to do is to make a list of exactly when each team was officially eliminated, and here it is. You'll see the overall order of each team to the left of their name, counting down from 208 (the number of FIFA members, hence this post's title). The number to the right of the team is their order of elimination within their region. Order of Elimination March 30, 2007 206 (tie). Brunei Darussalam (AFC-44th, tie) 206 (tie). Laos (AFC-44th, tie) 206 (tie). Philippines (AFC-44th, tie) The only three FIFA members not to enter qualifying. May 25, 2007 204. Papau New Guinea (OFC-11th) Were listed as participating in qualifying but apparently "failed to meet the official accreditation" (Wikipedia) before qualifying started. August 7, 2007 205. Guam (AFC-43rd) Withdrew immediately after the AFC preliminary draw. August 29, 2007 203. American Samoa (OFC-10th) First team out during South Pacific Games. August 31, 2007 201 (tie). Central African Republic (CAF-52nd, tie) 201 (tie). São Tomé and Príncipe (CAF-52nd, tie) These two CAF members withdrew before the preliminary round. September 1, 2007 199 (tie). Cook Islands (OFC-8th, tie) 199 (tie). Tahiti (OFC-8th, tie) September 3, 2007 198. Samoa (OFC-7th) 197. Tonga (OFC-6th) September 7, 2007 196. Solomon Islands (OFC-5th) Only four teams remained after the first round of OFC qualifying (aka the South Pacific Games). The first tiebreaker during qualifying is goal differential, and I have Samoa being eliminated before Tonga because of it. Allow me to explain: With one match in the round robin remaining and the second spot to advance still undecided, Vanuatu has 6 points, Samoa 6, and Tonga 3. Samoa has completed all their games with a +1 goal differential; Vanuatu (+17) and Tonga (-1) face each other in the final match. A Tonga win would mean a three way tie, but it is impossible for Samoa's goal differential to be tops in that scenario. September 13, 2007 195. Bhutan (AFC-42nd) Also withdrew from qualifying. October 15, 2007 194. Macau (AFC-41st) October 26, 2007 193. Afghanistan (AFC-40th) October 28, 2007 191 (tie). Mongolia (AFC-38th, tie) 191 (tie). Timor-Leste (AFC-38th, tie) 190. Myanmar (AFC-37th) 189. Nepal (AFC-36th) 187 (tie). Bangladesh (AFC-34th, tie) 187 (tie). Palestine (AFC-34th, tie) 186. Chinese Taipei (AFC-33rd) 184 (tie). Maldives (AFC-31st, tie) 184 (tie). Pakistan (AFC-31st, tie) 183. Malaysia (AFC-30th) 182. Cambodia (AFC-29th) 181. Vietnam (AFC-28th) 180. Sri Lanka (AFC-27th) 179. Kyrgyzstan (AFC-26th) October 30, 2007 178. India (AFC-25th) First round of Asian qualifying. I'm basing the order on the starting times of the matches as well as the time zones of the host countries. Extra time is taken into account too. There are not really any ties here, but I have no way of knowing which games ended first. I would also be unaware if any games were delayed or anything like that, so keep that in mind. November 16, 2007 177. Somalia (CAF-51st) November 17, 2007 176. Comoros (CAF-50th) 175. Guinea-Bissau (CAF-49th) These three lost in the preliminary round of African qualifying. November 18th, 2007 174. Tajikistan (AFC-24th) 173. Yemen (AFC-23rd) 172. Indonesia (AFC-22nd) 171. Hong Kong (AFC-21st) Four teams gone in the small second round of Asian qualifying. March 25, 2008 170. Eritrea (CAF-48th) Withdrew after the group stage was drawn. March 26, 2008 168 (tie). Turks and Caicos Islands (CONCACAF-34th, tie) 168 (tie). U.S. Virgin Islands (CONCACAF-34th, tie) 167. Dominica (CONCACAF-33rd) 166. Aruba (CONCACAF-32nd) 165. Montserrat (CONCACAF-31st) 164. Saint Kitts and Nevis (CONCACAF-30th) 162 (tie). Anguilla (CONCACAF-28th, tie) 162 (tie). Nicaragua (CONCACAF-28th, tie) 161. Dominican Republic (CONCACAF-27th) March 30, 2008 160. British Virgin Islands (CONCACAF-26th) 159. Cayman Islands (CONCACAF-25th) First round of North American qualifying done. June 7, 2008 158. Turkmenistan (AFC-20th) 157. Lebanon (AFC-19th) June 14, 2008 156. Jordan (AFC-18th) 155. Thailand (AFC-17th) 154. Singapore (AFC-16th) 153. China (AFC-15th) 152. Oman (AFC-14th) 151. Kuwait (AFC-13th) 150. Puerto Rico (CONCACAF-24th) June 18, 2008 149. Bahamas (CONCACAF-23rd) June 20, 2008 148. St. Vincent and the Grenandines (CONCACAF-22nd) June 21, 2008 146 (tie). Fiji (OFC-3rd, tie) 146 (tie). Vanuatu (OFC-3rd, tie) 145. Seychelles (CAF-47th) 142 (tie). Belize (CONCACAF-19th, tie) 142 (tie). Grenada (CONCACAF-19th, tie) 142 (tie). St. Lucia (CONCACAF-19th, tie) June 22, 2008 140 (tie). Iraq (AFC-11th, tie) 140 (tie). Syria (AFC-11th, tie) 139. Mauritania (CAF-46th) 138. Djibouti (CAF-45th) 137. Niger (CAF-44th) 135 (tie). Mauritius (CAF-42nd, tie) 135 (tie). Tanzania (CAF-42nd, tie) 134. Barbados (CONCACAF-18th) 133. Guyana (CONCACAF-17th) 132. Antigua and Barbuda (CONCACAF-16th) 131. Bermuda (CONCACAF-15th) 130. Netherlands Antillles (CONCACAF-14th) 129. Panama (CONCACAF-13th) AFC and CONCACAF are now getting into the heart of their qualification methods. Iraq is the first of the reigning confederation champions to be eliminated. I wonder how many such teams have failed to qualify throughout the history of WCQ? Can't be too many. June 28, 2008 128. Lesotho (CAF-41st) September 6, 2008 127. New Caledonia (OFC-2nd) 126. Namibia (CAF-40th) 124 (tie). Equatorial Guinea (CAF-38th, tie) 124 (tie). Liberia (CAF-38th, tie) 123. Burundi (CAF-37th) September 7, 2008 122. Botswana (CAF-36th) New Zealand became the champion of Oceania and also advanced to the Confederations Cup. They'll now wait a year to play their next qualifiers. Also, South Africa was eliminated from the qualifying competition on this date. Of course, they're still guaranteed a spot in the World Cup. September 12, 2008 121. Ethiopia (CAF-35th) Kicked out of the competition by FIFA, in one of the rare instances where they actually followed through on their threats. October 11, 2008 120. Congo DR (CAF-34th) 119. Zimbabwe (CAF-33rd) 115 (tie). Angola (CAF-29th, tie) 115 (tie). Cape Verde (CAF-29th, tie) 115 (tie). Libya (CAF-29th, tie) 115 (tie). Madagascar (CAF-29th, tie) 114. Sierra Leone (CAF-28th) 113. Swaziland (CAF-27th) 112. Senegal (CAF-26th) 110 (tie). Chad (CAF-24th, tie) 110 (tie). Congo (CAF-24th, tie) 109. Canada (CONCACAF-12th) Angola and Cape Verde were hard to figure out because of the second placed teams advancing. I believe they were officially eliminated at the same time, when groups 5 & 7 were settled. Angola becomes the first team from the 2006 World Cup to be eliminated. Meanwhile, Canada surprisingly is the first CONCACAF team out in the semifinal round. Who would've thought that a year after their great 2007 Gold Cup? October 12, 2008 108. Uganda (CAF-23rd) 107. Gambia (CAF-22nd) We're now done with the second round of African qualifying. First of all, I'm really glad that both Angola and South Africa failed to advance. It makes things a whole lot simpler (due to these qualifiers also counting for the 2010 Nations Cup). Of the final 20 teams, in the previous round 10 were #1 seeds. The only two to miss out were Angola and Senegal. 5 were #2 seeds (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Zambia), 4 were #3 seeds (Gabon, Malawi, Rwanda, and Sudan), and 1 was a #4 seed (Kenya). I have to say I'm disappointed to see The Gambia out. They were my surprise pick for a first time qualifier, due to their youth successes recently. Then, seeing some of their players move to MLS only made me more interested in their fate. They played really well, finishing second ahead of Senegal, so they have nothing to be ashamed of. If they're disappointed, they certainly aren't showing it; the president of the country has declared today a public holiday due to the away draw against Senegal. October 15, 2008 106. Cuba (CONCACAF-11th) 104 (tie). Haiti (CONCACAF-9th, tie) 104 (tie). Suriname (CONCACAF-9th, tie) October 19, 2008 103. Jamaica (CONCACAF-8th) 102. Guatemala (CONCACAF-7th) Semifinal round of North American qualifying ends. The hex is set. April 1, 2009 101. United Arab Emirates (AFC-10th) 100. Malta (UEFA-53rd) 99. San Marino (UEFA-52nd) After a near-six month break (by far the longest in the process) we finally can eliminate a couple more teams. The first European casualties are here, and now the number of teams remaining is reduced to double digits. June 6, 2009 98. Georgia (UEFA - 51st) 97. Andorra (UEFA - 50th) 96. Albania (UEFA - 49th) June 10, 2009 95. Qatar (AFC - 9th) 94. Iceland (UEFA - 48th) 93. Kazakhstan (UEFA - 47th) 92. Liechtenstein (UEFA - 46th) 91. Peru (CONMEBOL - 10th) June 17, 2009 90. Uzbekistan (AFC - 8th) 89. Iran (AFC - 7th) Four teams have qualified from Asia, along with the Europe's first, the Netherlands. Iran becomes the second 2006 World Cup team to be eliminated. That's certainly a more shocking elimination than Angola. August 12, 2009 88. Azerbaijan (UEFA - 45th) September 5, 2009 87. Rwanda (CAF - 21st) 86. Armenia (UEFA - 44th) 85. Moldova (UEFA - 43rd) 83 (tie). Guinea (CAF - 19th, tie) 83 (tie). Malawi (CAF - 19th, tie) 82. Estonia (UEFA - 42nd) 79 (tie). Cyprus (UEFA - 39th, tie) 79 (tie). Faroe Islands (UEFA - 39th, tie) 79 (tie). Montenegro (UEFA - 39th, tie) September 6, 2009 76 (tie). Mali (CAF - 16th, tie) 76 (tie). Benin (CAF - 16th, tie) 76 (tie). Sudan (CAF - 16th, tie) African teams in the final round are beginning to drop, as Ghana and Brazil both punched their ticket to the finals. We've gotten to the point now where you can pretty much say, it's either this time or that team for that spot. I'd say of the remaining teams, a good 20 or so have virtually no shot at qualifying. September 9, 2009 75. Belgium (UEFA - 38th) 74. Belarus (UEFA - 37th) 73. Luxembourg (UEFA - 36th) 71 (tie). Macedonia (UEFA - 34th, tie) 71 (tie). Scotland (UEFA - 34th, tie) 69 (tie). Finland (UEFA - 32nd, tie) 69 (tie). Wales (UEFA - 32nd, tie) 68. Saudi Arabia (AFC - 6th) 67. Bolivia (CONMEBOL - 9th) 66. Trinidad & Tobago (CONCACAF - 6th) The Saudis became the third 2006 qualifier to be eliminated this cycle, in heartbreaking fashion by Bahrain. It was funny, because I watched them score around the 90th minute to take the lead. Then, one of their players decided to not to take the ball to the corner a minute later, instead trying to score again. I was thinking it was nice to actually see a player try to go at goal for once in that situation, and of course it costs them. AFC qualifying is now completed. Later on in the day, Trinidad became the 4th 2006 team to fail this time around. Of the other eliminations, Scotland is the only notable one. The others have had no chance for a while now. October 10, 2009 65. Zambia (CAF - 15th) 64. Burkina Faso (CAF - 14th) 62 (tie). Morocco (CAF - 12th, tie) 62 (tie). Togo (CAF - 12th, tie) 61. Turkey (UEFA - 31st) 60. Bulgaria (UEFA - 30th) 57 (tie). Lithuania (UEFA - 27th, tie) 57 (tie). Poland (UEFA - 27th, tie) 57 (tie). Romania (UEFA - 27th, tie) 56. Austria (UEFA - 26th) 54 (tie). Colombia (CONMEBOL - 8th) 54 (tie). El Salvador (CONCACAF - 5th) October 11, 2009 52 (tie). Kenya (CAF - 10th, tie) 52 (tie). Mozambique (CAF - 10th, tie) It was a weekend of many eliminations, but only Colombia looked to have any real hope of making it (and even that was a longshot). At this point, 19 teams have qualified. The dates of qualification can be found on Wikipedia (link). Many of the 32 teams left alive fighting for a berth have only a microscopic chance. We should see another 10 eliminations on Wednesday, and only one (one of Argentina/Ecuador/Uruguay) should give us any drama. Some teams are only alive based on crazy scenarios; what are the odds of Andorra, Luxembourg, Malta, or San Marino getting a result? October 14, 2009 51. Croatia (UEFA - 25th) 49 (tie). Israel (UEFA - 23rd, tie) 49 (tie). Latvia (UEFA - 23rd, tie) 47 (tie). Czech Republic (UEFA - 21st, tie) 47 (tie). Northern Ireland (UEFA - 21st, tie) 44 (tie). Hungary (UEFA - 18th, tie) 44 (tie). Norway (UEFA - 18th, tie) 44 (tie). Sweden (UEFA - 18th, tie) 42 (tie). Ecuador (CONMEBOL - 6th, tie) 42 (tie). Venezuela (CONMEBOL - 6th, tie) None of the crazy scenarios came to pass, so these eliminations were expected. Ecuador will be disappointed at losing to an already qualified Chile. Looks like all the big names will once again make it after Argentina scraped through. All that's left now is African qualifying and the playoffs. For the remaining 9 spots, it's going to be one of two teams: Algeria/Egypt, Cameroon/Gabon, Nigeria/Tunisia, Bahrain/New Zealand, Costa Rica/Uruguay, and the four UEFA playoffs. November 14, 2009 41. Bahrain (AFC - 5th) 40. Tunisia (CAF - 9th) 39. Gabon (CAF - 8th) November 18, 2009 38. Egypt (CAF - 7th) 37. Ukraine (UEFA - 17th) 35 (tie). Bosnia & Herzegovina (UEFA - 15th, tie) 35 (tie). Russia (UEFA - 15th, tie) 34. Ireland (UEFA - 14) 33. Costa Rica (CONCACAF - 4th) After two years, qualification has finished. It started in Samoa with the 2007 South Pacific Games, and ended with Uruguay defeating Costa Rica on aggregate. There are currently 32 teams remaining, broken down by confederation below. 4-AFC 6-CAF 3-CONCACAF 5-CONMEBOL 1-OFC 13-UEFA

Chicago Fire - Best Goals 2009 Compilation

Final Record: 11-7-12 (45 pts) Goals: 10) Chris Rolfe 9) Marco Pappa 8) Cuauhtemoc Blanco 7) Chris Rolfe 6) Peter Lowry 5) Patrick Nyarko 4) Brian McBride 3) Peter Lowry 2) Chris Rolfe 1) Brian McBride Note: Only goals scored in the 2009 regular season were considered. Finally getting around to doing this, albeit a little later than usual. One down, fourteen to go...plus the overall best goals comp. Don't forget to subscribe to the CTL Youtube Channel! Further Viewing Chicago Fire - Best Goals 2008 Chicago Fire - Best Goals 2007 Chicago Fire - Best Goals 2006 (audio disabled)