Top Ten Most/Least Domestic MLS Teams

Recently, I looked at every team from the past five years in my April 1 column on the subject. I've since gone back and done it for every year and every team, though I'm still not 100% sure that I got every single nationality change. At least those from American to foreign, and vice versa. There's Arturo Alvarez, Jeff Cunningham, Taylor Graham, Pablo Mastroeni, and Preki. Also possibly Martin Vasquez (wasn't capped during 1996 season, though he was called up), but I didn't count him. Based on the percentage of minutes played: Most Domestic MLS Teams 1 KC 2001 88.85% 2 COL 2003 87.99% 3 CHI 2003 87.15% 4 KC 2003 85.32% 5 CLB 2004 84.77% 6 KC 2000 84.21% 7 CLB 2003 84.16% 8 KC 2002 84.05% 9 KC 2007 84.01% 10 KC 2005 83.98% Notice anything? Bob Gansler's KC teams relied heavily on American players. It's interesting that under Peter Vermes, the team has seen a steep drop in their percentage. The drop from 2009 to 2010 was 30 percentage points (79 vs 49), and 2011 is right at the same level as last year. The 2001 Wizards are at the top of the list. They were a lot like the 2000 Wizards, but without Miklos Molnar's minutes. And no Preki, which lead to a much worse record. The only foreign players were Gary Glasgow, Mo Johnston, and Onandi Lowe. Hey, remember when Lowe came in and somewhat took the league by storm for half a year? He racked up the highest fouls suffered per 90 rate of all time. Least Domestic MLS Teams All right, you knew Toronto would dominate the top ten list, so I've expanded it to 14 to include 10 American teams. 1 TOR 2008 22.28% 2 CHV 2005 31.18% 3 TOR 2010 31.24% 4 TOR 2007 32.24% 5 NY 2010 33.29% 6 TOR 2009 36.22% 7 NY 2009 43.92% 8 DAL 2008 45.34% 9 NE 1998 46.88% 10 CHV 2010 47.27% 11 SEA 2009 47.41% 12 SEA 2010 48.55% 13 DAL 2006 49.04% 14 DC 2009 49.07% The least domestic American team is the infamous 2005 Chivas USA expansion side. It was obvious from the preseason results and turmoil that things weren't going to be smooth for them (remember Ramon Ramirez and his nanny?). And to think, people were worried about them fielding a mostly foreign team. Second to them among American teams is last year's New York Red Bulls. This year, they're on track to beat Chivas 2005 as the league's overall domestic percentage continues to decrease. Tim Ream and Juan Agudelo are the only American starters, and for the last two games it was only Ream.

CTL on MLSsoccer.com: domestic/foreign minutes played by team

New MLSsoccer.com column. Didn't get published on the normal day this week, so you might have missed it: Climbing the Ladder: Playing percentages by nationality I'll probably go back and figure out the rest of the years in the near future, though it can be tricky as certain players have changed nationalities (like Jeff Cunningham, domestic since 2002 but foreign before). Previous Columns #1 - Champs usually start hot #2 - Home-field advantage #3 - Hidden milestones of Week 1

CTL on MLSsoccer.com #3 - Hidden milestones of Week 1

It can be read by clicking here. Features notes on the longest amount of time between league games (Adin Brown is up there), new nationalities in MLS, Faryd Mondragon's debut, and more. Previous Columns #1 - Champs usually start hot #2 - Home-field advantage

MLS 2010: Domestic vs Foreign Minutes Played

I noticed a blog post (Down the Byline) where someone worried about the number of American players on Sporting Kansas City for next year, and I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what the percentages were for each MLS team in 2010: Domestic Foreign 1 SJ 75.79% 24.21% 2 LA 67.25% 32.75% 3 HOU 65.44% 34.56% 4 COL 64.74% 35.26% 5 CLB 63.16% 36.84% 6 DAL 61.86% 38.14% 7 PHI 58.08% 41.92% 8 RSL 54.72% 45.28% 9 NE 54.69% 45.31% 10 CHI 54.34% 45.66% 11 DC 52.38% 47.62% 12 KC 49.08% 50.92% 13 SEA 48.55% 51.45% 14 CHV 47.27% 52.73% 15 NY 33.29% 66.71% 16 TOR 31.24% 68.76% San Jose leads the league, while to no one's surprise New York brings up the rear (excluding Toronto, where the percentage is counted using Canadians, see below). A few notes: Includes only regular season matches. For Toronto FC, Canadians are counted as domestic. The TFC breakdown was 31.24% Canadian, 36.19% American, and 32.56% other. Leaguewide, the USA percentage was 55.60%. (EDIT: actually, it's very slightly less because I originally counted Ruben Luna's 48 minutes as domestic) Each player is given one nationality only. If he plays for a specific national team (in a game, not just a camp), then that's it. If a player has more than one nationality (such as by being born somewhere else and moving here), then he's counted as his first one. So for example, Stefani Miglioranzi is counted as Brazilian, and Jesus Padilla is counted as American. You can see a list of every nationality by downloading my MLS Lineup Database. I'd love to go back and do this for each season, but it'd be hard because nationalities can change. For example, Jeff Cunningham from Jamaica to USA. Come to think of it, maybe Teal Bunbury should've counted as foreign for this season (since he would've been considered Canadian until he was capped by the USA)? I counted him as domestic based on his current status.

Branco Boskovic - 1st Montenegrin MLS Player & 94th Nationality

DC's new DP came on as a second half sub against in the losing effort against Seattle last night. As a result, he & Montenegro became the 94th "soccer nationality" to play an official game for an MLS team. That's the 5th country added to list this year, after Australia (Danny Allsopp), Estonia (Joel Lindpere), India (Sunil Chhetri), and Latvia (Raivis Hscanovics). More info: MLS Player Nationalities

World Cup Rosters, Igor Kostrov, Jamar Beasley

1) Edgar at football-rankings.info has posted stats for the 2010 World Cup preliminary rosters. He's posted a list of the most represented clubs/countries, as well as top ten lists of the youngest/oldest players (Marcus Hahnemann - 3rd oldest) and more. Great stuff, and I'm glad he did the work so I don't have to! I previously had broken down the 2002 squads. You can see that here. I thought I had done it for 2006 as well, but I can't find it so maybe I didn't. 2) Kansas City waived Igor Kostrov in preparation for the signing of Jamar Beasley. This is a very interesting move for a couple of reasons. First of all, Kostrov was waived without playing a game, which greatly disappoints me because now I won't get to cross Moldova off the list of MLS player nationalities (I'm only those who actually play in a competitive game). They could've at least let him get a couple minutes in the Open Cup qualifier. 3) J.Beasley's (assumed) signing is also interesting, because now he can fill his car with all the latest porn dvds he's very close to the record for longest time between MLS stints. He last played at the end of 2001 with Chicago, so that's a 9 year gap. Unfortunately, he's unlikely to have the all time mark, because there's another player with an equal 9 year gap: Eddie Lewis. It's necessary to go back and look at the actual dates to separate them: Eddie Lewis 8.901 1999-10-06 2008-08-30 Jamar Beasley ??? 2001-10-17 ??? Lewis went 8.901 years between MLS games, and I don't believe anyone has gone longer. If Beasley signs and plays this weekend, he'll only be at 8.597. So unless he doesn't get into a match until the middle of September, he'll have to settle for second best.

MLS Player Nationalities - Completing the List

93 down, 115 to go. Here are the remaining nationalities, listed by March 2010 FIFA ranking: Countries Left 11 Greece UEFA 14 Egypt CAF 24 Norway UEFA 27 Algeria CAF 29 Slovenia UEFA 35 Turkey UEFA 43 Gabon CAF 52 Burkina Faso CAF 56 Tunisia CAF 61 Benin CAF 62 Saudi Arabia AFC 65 Macedonia UEFA 67 Bahrain AFC 70 Cyprus UEFA 71 Zambia CAF 81 Iraq AFC 83 Albania UEFA 84 China AFC 85 Guinea CAF 87 Moldova UEFA 90 Iceland UEFA 94 Kuwait AFC 95 Uzbekistan AFC 96 Oman AFC 97 Syria AFC 97 Qatar AFC 99 Congo CAF 101 Libya CAF 102 Jordan AFC 102 United Arab Emirates AFC 104 Thailand AFC 105 North Korea AFC 107 Rwanda CAF 108 Yemen CAF 109 Tanzania CAF 110 Azerbaijan UEFA 112 Namibia CAF 114 Kenya CAF 118 Georgia UEFA 119 Vietnam AFC 120 Antigua & Barbuda CONCACAF 121 Sudan CAF 124 Luxembourg UEFA 125 Faroe Islands UEFA 127 Singapore AFC 129 Kazakhstan UEFA 130 Tajikistan AFC 131 Fiji OFC 132 Swaziland CAF 134 Turkmenistan AFC 137 Barbados CONCACAF 138 Indonesia AFC 139 Maldives AFC 140 Hong Kong AFC 141 Myanmar AFC 141 Suriname CONCACAF 143 Equatorial Guinea CAF 144 Chad CAF 146 New Caledonia OFC 147 Malaysia AFC 148 Lesotho CAF 149 Lebanon AFC 151 Liechtenstein UEFA 151 Kyrgyzstan AFC 153 Pakistan AFC 154 Madagascar CAF 155 Vanuatu OFC 157 Sri Lanka CAF 158 Malta UEFA 158 Bangladesh AFC 160 Nepal AFC 160 Nicaragua CONCACAF 162 Netherlands Antilles CONCACAF 163 Chinese Taipei AFC 163 Eritrea CAF 165 Niger CAF 167 Philippines AFC 168 Mauritania CAF 170 Solomon Islands OFC 171 Cambodia AFC 172 Mongolia AFC 174 Comoros CAF 175 Seychelles CAF 176 Mauritius CAF 177 Somalia CAF 177 Cayman Islands CONCACAF 177 Laos AFC 180 Samoa OFC 181 Macau AFC 182 Cook Islands OFC 182 Belize CONCACAF 182 Bahamas CONCACAF 185 Dominica CONCACAF 187 Tonga OFC 188 Dominican Republic CONCACAF 189 Brunei AFC 190 Djibouti CAF 191 Afghanistan CAF 192 St. Lucia CONCACAF 192 Guinea-Bissau CAF 192 Tahiti OFC 195 British Virgin Islands CONCACAF 196 Bhutan AFC 196 Guam AFC 198 Aruba CONCACAF 199 US Virgin Islands CONCACAF 200 Timor-Leste CAF 201 Andorra UEFA 202 San Marino UEFA 202 Anguilla CONCACAF 202 Montserrat CONCACAF 202 American Samoa OFC 202 Central African Republic CAF 202 Papua New Guinea OFC Sao Tome & Principe CAF I only count one nationality per player, the one that they play international soccer with. If the player is not an international, then I go by their first nationality: the country they were born in. Countries Filled First player listed below. This includes all competitions, not just the regular season. This isn't necessarily permanent. If a country only has one player, and they decide to play for a different national team, then they could be taken off this list. Angola 1999-08-11 Fernandes, Fernando Argentina 1996-04-06 Gori, Mario Armenia 1996-04-13 Karapetyan, Harut Australia 2010-03-27 Allsopp, Danny Austria 2004-04-03 Herzog, Andreas Belarus 2005-10-12 Gotsmanov, Sasha Belgium 1999-04-25 Kalonji, Nansha Bermuda 2005-05-07 Smith, Khano Bolivia 1996-04-06 Etcheverry, Marco Suarez, Juan Berthy Bosnia 1996-04-06 Fazlagic, Said Botswana 2002-09-22 Selolwane, Dipsy Brazil 1996-04-13 Welton Bulgaria 2000-03-18 Stoitchkov, Hristo Burundi 2009-08-18 Habarugira, David Cameroon 1996-04-13 Ekeme, Samuel Canada 1996-04-13 Aunger, Geoff Watson, Mark Yallop, Frank Cape Verde 1998-04-11 Jair Chile 1996-04-06 Mella, Victor Colombia 1996-04-13 Valderrama, Carlos Costa Rica 1996-04-13 Hamlett, Denis Cote d'Ivoire 2007-04-07 Oka, Arsene Croatia 1996-05-08 Hunjak, Goran Cuba 2004-06-12 Martinez, Rey Angel Czech 1998-03-24 Kubik, Lubos Denmark 2000-03-25 Molnar, Miklos DR Congo 2007-07-11 Mupier, Mira Ecuador 1996-04-13 Hurtado, Eduardo El Salvador 1996-04-06 Diaz Arce, Raul England 1996-04-13 Butterworth, Ian Estonia 2010-03-27 Lindpere, Joel Ethiopia 1998-05-22 Mohammed, Dahir Finland 2004-04-03 Valakari, Simo France 2005-04-16 Djorkaeff, Youri Gambia 2007-09-04 Nyassi, Sainey Germany 2000-03-26 Matthaus, Lothar Ghana 1996-09-21 Ken-Kwofie, Louis Grenada 2003-03-23 Joseph, Shalrie Guatemala 1996-04-06 Rodas, Jorge Guyana 2009-03-21 Richardson, Gregory Haiti 1996-07-11 Tardieu, Patrick Honduras 1997-04-19 Cruz, Arnold Hungary 1997-04-12 Urbanyi, Istvan India 2010-04-14 Chhetri, Sunil Iran 1996-04-13 Noamouz, Arash Ireland 1996-04-20 Keegan, Paul Israel 2005-04-02 Melamed, Guy Italy 1996-04-13 Galderisi, Giuseppe Jamaica 1996-04-14 Butler, Altimont Japan 2007-07-10 Kimura, Kosuke Latvia 2010-04-10 Hscanovics, Raivis Liberia 1997-08-15 Shannon, Musa Lithuania 2009-07-04 Jankauskas, Edgaras Malawi 2003-10-01 Geddes, Jorge Mali 2002-08-10 Kante, Daouda Mexico 1996-04-13 Campos, Jorge Montenegro 2010-07-15 Boskovic, Branko Morocco 2006-04-02 Ballouchy, Mehdi Mozambique 1997-03-29 Conde, Chiquinho Netherlands 1996-08-29 de Vries, Raimo New Zealand 1999-05-23 Elliott, Simon Nigeria 1996-04-06 Emenalo, Michael Iroha, Ben Northern Ireland 2002-03-23 Morrow, Steve Palestine 2000-04-08 Asad, Shaker Panama 1999-03-20 Dely Valdes, Jorge Paraguay 2008-07-01 Marmol, Lider Peru 1998-03-21 Tamashiro, Jerry Poland 1996-06-19 Warzycha, Robert Portugal 1998-04-04 Rocha, Carlos Puerto Rico 1996-07-21 Villegas, Petter Romania 2003-05-14 Zotinca, Alex Russia 2002-06-01 Simutenkov, Igor Scotland 1996-05-02 Johnston, Mo Senegal 2000-04-01 Diallo, Mamadou Serbia 1996-05-11 Vuckovic, Bojan Sierra Leone 2000-03-25 Conteh, Abdul Thompson Slovakia 1996-04-13 Weiszmann, Richard South Africa 1996-04-13 Khumalo, Doctor McKinley, Ivan South Korea 2003-03-16 Myung-Bo, Hong Spain 2000-07-15 Morales, Jose Luis St. Kitts 2006-04-02 Harris, Atiba St. Vincent 1997-04-26 Hendrickson, Ezra Sweden 1998-03-21 Eriksson, Jan Ravelli, Thomas Switzerland 1997-05-04 Sutter, Alain Togo 2005-04-16 Ibrahim, Abbe Trinidad 1996-04-13 Wise, Evans Turks & Caicos 2002-03-23 Glinton, Gavin Uganda 2000-07-08 Byaruhanga, Peter Ukraine 1999-04-03 Kovalenko, Dema Uruguay 1996-04-13 Paz, Adrian USA 1996-04-06 Agoos, Jeff Baicher, Jeff Bravo, Paul Causey, Jeff Dayak, Troy Doyle, John Harkes, John Lee, Thor Liner, Tom Martin, Tim Medved, Shawn Williams, Richie Wynalda, Eric Venezuela 1996-04-13 Savarese, Giovanni Wales 2004-04-17 Dorman, Andy Zimbabwe 1996-04-13 Takawira, Vitalis Updates 4/27/2010: As usual, there's been a number of new players coming into the league this season from all over the world. It's pretty exciting to see these players come in when it gets a big reaction in their home country - just look at the media coverage for India's Sunil Chhetri, now with the Kansas City Wizards. Or, how about the reaction from the Estonian fans over NY's signing, Joel Lindpere? But what's interesting, besides the reaction, is that those two are both the first MLS players in league history from India and Estonia. Two more big countries were knocked off the list recently as well: Australia (Danny Allsopp) and Latvia (Raivis Hscanovics). I think that's all the new nationalities for this season so far, right? I'm only counting those who have played an official game. Those four now make the MLS all time total number of nationalities 93, out of 208 FIFA members. Here is where I'll post which countries are taken off the list when it happens. I expect the next one to get knocked off will be Moldova, thanks to the Wizards' Igor Kostrov. If the Red Bulls' academy signing Giorgi Chirgadze gets healthy, then Georgia could follow. 7/16/2010 Montengro is off the list as DP Branko Boskovic gets into the DC-SEA match during the second half. This is actually a tricky case depending on how you count Refik Sabanadzovic (the former KC Wizards player, 1998-99), who is apparently considered a Bosnian who born in Montenegro. However, it was Yugoslavia when he was born, and he played for the Yugoslavian national team. Serbia is considered to be the same national team as Yugoslavia by FIFA, so I count him as Serbian. Also, a while ago KC waived Igor Kostrov which will deprive us the opportunity to see Moldova filled. Georgian Giorgi Chirgadze remains injured. 8/11/2010 Yura Movsisyan, who always considered himself Armenian despite being born in neighboring Azerbaijan, has been capped by the Armenian national team. Harut Karapetyan was the first Armenia player in MLS, so he's not breaking any new ground there. However, Movsisyan was the only Azerbaijani player, which means that Azerbaijan is now back on the needed list of nationalities and we're back to only 93. On another note, Greek player Nikos Kounenakis was signed by KC, which means that the highest ranked country missing could soon be filled.