SSTAS - Day 2, 3

Day two was pretty uneventful. Just woke up, went to the rail station, dodged a hurricane, and sat for fourteen hours. The guy next to me watching Stephen King's It, a Spanish bootleg of Battleship, and Friday. All were equally terrifying.

Left Jacksonville at 5pm on the 27th. Arrived in DC at 7am on the 28th. Wolf.

After wandering around for a bit, I decided to check off some sightseeing. Saw the Washington Monument and the WWII monument. It wasn't until I stepped off the trail that I figured out it was Memorial Day, most likely because the cabin was kept at a chill 60 degrees and I was still defrosting.

I took the Metro up to College Park. Well, around the area of College Park. The place they dropped us off was about five miles way from the field and since it was a holiday the bus option was not. So I just decided to walk it instead of dealing with a cab.

After the hour trek, which involved me naively believing a shortcut through brush and a river was a good idea, my soaked shoes and I arrived at the University of Maryland's Biology building where they graciously left a door open for me to squeeze through.

And here I am. Jorts still soaked from the river with shoes drying by the door. I'm trying to type as quietly as I can so Mr. Biologyman doesn't kick me out. Although I am about to leave to see the team practice anyway.

Needless to say, I put the most effort to get to this practice out of anyone in the world.

Looking at Chester, PA tomorrow for the US Open Cup game. (What is hygiene?)

SSTAS - Day 1

(I'm working on the Scotland recap but wanted to get this up first. Enjoy the awful videos!)

Great acronym, huh? Soccer, Subjectively tours American Soccer, indeed!

Drove to Jacksonville to watch the USMNT host Scotland. We found a rather nice homeless-looking guy for $5 parking and that was good enough for us. The traffic was pretty bad, which I suppose if I had to pick between genuine interest in American soccer or no traffic, I'd take the former.

44,000 fans filled the teal Jacksonville Jaguars seats. We were on the northwest end where Howard and Guzan warmed up. Across the field were the American Outlaws in full force, underneath a "JAGUARS DON'T SMOKE" sign. (Wish I could find a picture but you'll just have to take my word on it.)

Before the game I saw Philadelphia was struggling with Toronto. Afterwords I saw that they lost and my hopes for seeing an upset by Rochester only rose even more. It's still a long shot, I know, but I'll support any Rhino-franchise over Philadelphia any day.

Some various comments I heard from the crowd

"Beckerman's hair looking extra nappy today…"

"WHERE'S WALDO???"

"BIKE IT!" - Lady yells before Jones heads it into the goal. (I felt somewhat bad for this particular lady who had continued to yell poor advice to the players throughout the entire match. Not bad for her, just bad for the female population as she was furthering a stereotype that girls don't know anything about sports. I guess that fact that she knew what a bike was was impressive in itself, though.)

The players were greeted with a thunderous applause, one that was only topped by Howard's entrance. There were multiple warmups going on and I was struggling on which one to watch. Howard and Guzan were putting on a nice clinic, both looked very sharp. Then there was Wondo, Onyewu, Gomez, Corona, and Torres collectively juggling a ball. Then they switched to one-touch keep away. On the far side of the field was two team possession. All three drills were fast paced but still creative. Most of all the players looked to be enjoying themselves.

The last drill was a layoff pass atop the 18. Boyd, Torres, and Donovan slotted several past Guzan. Bradley, coincidentally, was not hitting them very clean. Guzan looked hopeless on several of the shots. I wouldn't have guessed five goals from the team though.

Klinsmann was interviewed before the game and he walked us through the roster. Nothing of note except when he said "…and we have one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Tim Howard." One of the loudest cheers I've heard.

Still in warmups, the American Outlaws, who were fantastic for the game, started a nice U-S-A chant right behind Scotland's goal. Scotland's fan embassy started, from the sound of it, "Oh when the Scots go marching in."

The starting lineups walked out soon after. I felt bad for players like Fabian Johnson who got meekish cheers but might be our best LB option for Brazil 2014. Even veteran players, like Bocanegra and Cherundolo, got half the cheers that Howard and Donovan received.


The game started sharp and aggressive. Edu was taken down by Scott Brown within three minutes. Edu swung his leg at Brown and luckily missed Brown and a likely yellow card. Brown received physical play for the rest of the match, specifically by Bocanegra (who practically form tackled Brown) and Jones (who, by the looks of it, intentionally tripped Brown on a counter).

Boyd checked to the ball multiple times and, if my memory serves me correctly, looked jittery but still had a better early showing than Agudelo. But if it was it was not by much.

America looked sloppy at the start but a loose ball fell to Donovan's feet for a second time in a play and he roofed another shot that reminded me of the Slovenia goal, one of my all-time favorite US goals. Bradley's goal reminded me of his last minute miss against Paraguay, oddly enough.

In the first ten minutes the fans were plagued with the expectation of a drubbing. Scotland retaliated with a penetrating counter that was marred with an owl goal. While I don't think the cross would have found the back of the net on its intended route, that shouldn't underplay it was still a dangerous string of passes.

The low point of the night was easily when the crowd started the wave. All but the American Outlaws and Scottish core participated for about three revolutions. Nothing more embarrassing than doing the wave although I did use the brief opportunity to stand up instead of cowardly sit down. Forty-five minutes of standing is not bad; I don't understand the reluctance to stand up and watch a game.

I suppose Klinsmann isn't truly treating these five games like a tournament as he used six substitutes. Although you won't find me complaining about it. I love goalie substitutions.

Second half started with an even higher line of defense from America. Torres was the victim of an early tackle and by-passed the helping hand to get up. Instead he scolded the player. I was really impressed by the US's tenacity throughout the night. Not only did they play physical from the first to last minute, they protected their own players, much like the big men in hockey fight for the smaller (more fragile) players.

Scotland tried to posses the ball more in the second half but this only suffocated their quick counter-based attack.

At one point a man announced over the stadium's speakers, "Fans, you are making history tonight by being the largest crowd ever…" *fans roar and do not hear second part* "…to see a US soccer game in the southeastern United States."

The last ten minutes were pretty quiet and the game ended in a "Was it really five to one? Wow."



About six of Scotland's players went over to the 100-150 Scottish crowd and showed their appreciation to them. Multiple US players, mostly subs, oddly enough, went to the American Outlaws and clapped to them. Some even walked to the other side of the field, where I was.


We journeyed back to our homeless man-parked car and helped a lost man figure out he was on the opposite side of the stadium he needed to be on to find his parked car.

Found a place to sleep and topped it off with a delicious American cheeseburger.

Two men were at the hotel desk when we checked in. One had a sweet repeating pattern Scooby Doo tie. I said,
"I like your tie but I had to stare at it for a minute to figure out what it was."
The other man interjected, "Yeah he stares at it a lot too."
The second man, to one up his friend, just yelled "BLEEEEH"

Here's a random corner kick I filmed that resulted in nothing:

USA vs Scotland: Recap, Player Ratings, and Stats

New here and all the jargon a bit overwhelming? Been coming back for some time and the jargon is still overwhelming? Then check out the stat definitions to (hopefully) get a better grasp on things.

The gentlemen put on a shooting clinic against Scotland this past Saturday to start off the unofficial tournament on a pungent note. The gentlemen found the back of the net mostly off well placed crosses and overpowering Scotland's back line. Donovan recorded his third hat trick but it was Jermaine Jones who stood out to me. He continually inserted himself in every play and apparently had turned on a Madden Card or something so he would never run out of stamina. Klinsmann sported a 4-3-3 but it was more of a 4-do-whatever-you-guys-see-fit. The top six all swapped positions at some point. The wingers came into the middle, which opened lanes for the outside backs, and the "midfield" was more of a three CDM set where one or two would press forward with the attacking outside back and three forwards.

Scotland had no apparent answer to America's attack as they were exposed for the entire game. Scotland had a feisty counter attack but went to more of a possessive game that showed no results in the second half.

Most of the defense were only tested with over the top balls that, except for the own goal, they handled well. That's why their numbers are so low with little to comment on.

(Want more behind the scenes stuff? Check out SSTAS Day 1 and figure out what could ever make that acronym.)

Player Ratings

+8 - Jones - (13...10.5/2.5...90') - I was personally more impressed with Jones than Donovan. He's really connecting the back four to the guys up top in a counter attack. And he can run forever.

+8 - Donovan - (12...10/2...90') - There were spells where he was MIA for a bit. That happens on the wing though. Showed a willingness to track back, especially against such a wide Scotland. More importantly his performance after bluntly saying he had lost his fire


+7 - Bradley - (11…9/2…90') - What a goal. Controlled the middle of the middle as well as Jones did. I imagine all the Bradley haters two years ago and chuckle to myself.

 +5 - Cherundolo - (8…6.5/1.5…90') - The entire back four weren't tested that much. Cherundolo being Mr. Reliable as always. May not find the same luxury against Neymar.

+4.5 - Johnson - (7.5…6/1.5…73') - Future of the LB hopeful did well. Not tested a lot either.

+3 - Cameron - (8…5.5/2.5…90') - The only problem I have on the own goal is that Cameron is just aimlessly running back. He's expecting a shot, not another pass, which is why it bounces off of him.

+3 - Bocanegra - (6…4.5/1.5…63') - Low action but I can't remember the last time Bocanegra was subbed out for the USMNT...

+3 - Howard - (4…3.5/0.5…71') - Good punch.

+2.1 - Gomez - (2.5…2.3/0.2…27') - I love the pace he plays with and the pass to Donovan to set up Jones' goal was improv at its best.

+2 - Boyd - (7…4.5/2.5…63') - Looked to shoot and a lot of them grazed the general area of the goal. Promising.

+1.5 - Torres - (7.5…4.5/3…68') - Didn't look comfortable on the outside but the CM field is kind of full at the moment. I do like him on free kicks though.

+1.4 - Onyewu - (2…1.7/0.3…27') - Did well.

+1.4 - Beckerman - (2…1.7/0.3…27') - Also did well.

+1 - Corona - (2…1.5/0.5…22') - Ran around.

+0.5 - Guzan - (0.5…0.5/0…19') - Huge biceps.

+0 - Edu - (6…3/3…63') - His strength is in his defense and that was average while he dropped easy passes along the way.

+0 - Castillo - (1…0.5/0.5…17') - Not crazy about him. A very skiddish player.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

(working on the rest...)

I took USA's and Scotland's FIFA 12 ratings and averaged out the team's over ratings. So it looked something like this:

(player rating1 * minutes played) + …. + (player ratingX * minutes played)
Then divide the sum by (90 * 11), the total number of minutes played by everyone.

It's the same formula to figure out your GPA, for all you future scholars out there. Player = Course, Minutes = Credit

(paste spreadsheet)

USA - 72.96
Scotland - 71.54
(+1.42)

Typically for every two points a team has over another they can expect a positive goal differential. So USA was looking at a +.71 goal differential, according to FIFA 12. With home field advantage we could probably throw another full point on the raw differential. So +1.42 becomes +2.42, which leads to a +1.21 goal differential in a match up.

Soccer Subjectively tours American Soccer - Summer 2012

This summer I'll be traveling the luxurious East Coast for two weeks. I'll journey from Jacksonville, FL to Toronto and then back down to Tampa. The plan is to attend four USMNT games and hopefully catch a couple of other surprises.

Tentative Schedule

USL Professional Division :: US Open Cup :: USMNT Training Session

International Friendly :: World Cup Qualifier

May 26th - USMNT vs. Scotland - Jacksonville, FL

May 28th - USMNT training session - College Park, University of Maryland

May 29th - Rochester Rhinos at Philadelphia Union - Chester, PA

May 30th - USMNT vs. Brazil - Washington DC

May 31st - Charleston Battery at Pittsburgh Riverhounds - Pittsburgh, PA

June 2nd - USMNT training session?

June 3rd - USMNT at Canada - Toronto, Canada

June 5th - US Open - 4th Round?

June 7th - USMNT training session?

June 8th - USMNT vs. Antigua and Barbuda - Tampa, FL

A lot of things up there. The gist:
- Three USMNT friendlies + their first WC Qualifier

- Before each USMNT game they sometimes have an open training session to the public

- The US Open Cup is going on right now. (You can view the US Open Cup bracket here.)

- Despite no promotion/relegation, there is still a pyramid of leagues in America

The third tier is the USL Pro Division, which houses the Rochester Rhinos, Charleston Battery, and Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The Rochester Rhinos defeated the Brooklyn Italians 3-0 in the second round of the US Open Cup. Unfortunately the two clubs with the coolest names ever could not both advance to face Philadelphia in the third round. I saw the Philadelphia Union tie FC Dallas 1-1 in Frisco and am positive there's a chance for an upset as the Union are not very good. The Union were missing MacMath and Adu but I'm hopeful Philadelphia will continue it's city's poor sports history.

The Charleston Battery are another formidable force in the USL Pro. They sit third in the league, behind Rochester (standings here). Both Charleston and Rochester advanced in the Cup last year. Rochester fell to the Chicago Fire 1-0 in the third round and Charleston lost to Orlando City SC, currently in first place in the USLPD, in the second round.

I might get lucky and sneak into some other games but who knows with traveling. Either way I'll try to write often but I think we all know how blogs go.

Reviewing Klinsmann - Top Ten Missed Players for Summer 2012

Klinsmann is getting closer to finalizing his tournament-style roster. Trying not to bore you to death, I'll skip the details and give you the lump summary: this is a great roster that's geared towards a 4-2-3-1 by the looks of it. The fact that we have complaints about who wasn't called up and still are glad with the 27 men called in is a great sign. But because we love drama, we might as well talk about who didn't get called in. These are ten men who weren't called in that the public were crying for. Not strictly my option but as we know nothing is completely bias-free.

Furious Omissions

Players not on the roster that people are most upset about. I think.

1. Timmy Chandler - 1. FC Nuremberg - Germany.1

Why he didn't make it: drama drama drama
What his future holds: Did I mention there was a lot of drama? Well optimistically he'd fall nicely into a position that's wide open for the taking. Germany has apparently made it clear they have no plans for him (couldn't find a link but I'll trust the reports) and Chandler has shown his support in the past (here, here, and here). So as level-headed as I can be I'll meekly say he'll be ready to go come World Cup, barring injury or lack of fitness.

2. Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - England.1

Why he was left out: I wouldn't have put Lichaj this high if the outside back wasn't so thin. Cherundolo is elderly (33), Fabian Johnson may end up in the midfield (although unlikely), Chandler's out, mixed-reviews on Castillo (although a lot of positives are out there), and Morales is young (still at zero caps). On top of all of that, nothing really conclusive has been released on why Lichaj was left out. Rumor has it he's trying to take some time off to stay in-form for Aston Villa. He ended on a very strong note with a lackluster Aston Villa after he overcame knee (?) injuries in the season. He got involved in the attack several times (picking up goals and assists in the short span) and defensive was sound albeit not great.
What his future holds: He'll turn 24 in November so it's not like he missed his only shot. At the end of 2004, centuryman Bocanegra was 25 and had only 10 caps to his name. (Lichaj is sitting at eight at the moment.) I would really be surprised if he missed the World Cup because he's like a better Spector (just in my opinion, Internet!). A transfer may be in the cards as well but everything is speculation at this point.

(Edit: Klinsmann recently spoke on multiple players' absence from the 27 called in, specifically Lichaj. "[Playing time] came in too late for him, but it’s good that he broke in [at Aston Villa]. If you look at certain positions, who are they kind of front-runners. Look at the central midfielder position. Michael Bradley, a Jermaine Jones, a Maurice Edu, a Kyle Beckerman." Ives didn't do a great job of providing context but I think he's saying Lichaj should have had more playing time. Not positive. Either way I'll give Klinsmann the benefit of the doubt here.)

3. Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Belgium.1

Why he was left out: I never heard anything following this leak of a pretty weak quote on Klinsmann slashing the Belgium league, "I only look at the top leagues, and Belgium isn't one of them." Regardless, Kljestan is victim of some odd combination. Poor history with the USMNT but recent success, especially the trophy part, will leave you with mixed reviews. So needless to say a lot of people are upset on the omission but an equally lot are not surprised. It most likely came down to tough competition for the primarily center defensive mid. Beckerman, Bradley, Edu, Jones, and Williams... Could Klinsmann left one off for Kljestan? Ehh. Very debatable.
What his future holds: At 26, he's nearing his peak of play. Bradley seemed to show promise in Kljestan and Klinsmann played him against Italy sooo... who knows. Things could definitely fall his way or he could be the biggest snub come 2014.

Annoyed Omissions

Players not on the roster that no one is really going berserk over but enough comments to make some waves. As much waves as a random tweetist could.

4. Brek Shea - FC Dallas - MLS

Why he was left out: Kind of being a punk lately, and his form, if FC Dallas' standings weren't enough to verify this, has dropped. I said a year and a half ago his service looked spotty and I still stand by it. The Olympics saw the same energetic Shea making solid runs only to squander service into traffic.
What his future holds: Klinsmann still likes him, “We have watched Brek during the last few months, and given his performances and some of the other issues we felt he should be on the standby list. He’s still a young player with a lot of talent, and also a lot to learn.” Still 22, he has plenty of time to craft his skill

5. Freddy Adu - Philadelphia Union - MLS

Why he was left out: Unfortunately he's lumped in with Shea on recent suspensions despite them being wildly different. Seems a little too optimistic when he plays but then again he's one of the few American CAMs that is creatively optimistic when he plays. Probably needs to get more of a solid footing in Philadelphia before he challenges Brazil and other nations though.
What his future holds: I think he'll fair well in the MLS. The defenses don't really seem to have an answer for him at this rate and he wants to be better by the looks of it. Internationally, ehhh... a cloudy future. I don't expect him to live up to the once absurd hype but I would be shocked if he didn't reach 30 caps.

6. Benny Feilhaber - New England Revolution - MLS

Why he was left out: Well the Revolution are pretty bad but Feilhaber is a 74 on FIFA 12 for a reason. The Brazilian really shows a vision and command on the field that is a nice trait to have at the international level. But again, the midfield position is pretty stacked for the US.
What his future holds: Personally, after Lichaj, Feilhaber was my most disappointed omission. He performed well against Venezuela and clearly really appreciated his time on the field with a real furor for the goalmouth. His time may be running out with the US but even Wondo and Beasley have been given second chances so nothing is final.

7. Tim Ream - Bolton Wanderers - England.1 England.2

Why he was left out: Klinsmann wanted to give him some rest, apparently. Ream got swept up in a whirlwind to Bolton to the point where he even missed his honeymoon. Guzan passed on last year's Gold Cup for his wedding so personal lives do exist for these players, thank goodness. Still, the CB call ups are pretty nice and his play was up-and-down for Bolton this season.
What his future holds: Ream and Klinsmann stay in touch and I'm confident that Klinsmann is confident in Ream. The Championship will help Ream's play as the league is still very fast and physical.

"Aw Man" Omissions

Players that are fan favorites but they're not there for a reason.

8. Mix Diskerud - Gent - Belgium.1

Why he was left out: Unsatisfactory Olympic play, in short.
What his future holds: Still bright as his blue eyes.

9. DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - Mexico.1

Why he was left out: The comment "A lot of scorers and wing players already on the roster that would likely start over Beasley," would probably come up but there's Dempsey, Donovan... Zusi? Corona? Not buying it but here we are.
What his future holds: The century cap mark may be tougher than we thought...

10. A different MLS keeper

Why they were left out: Well the current three are obviously better.
What the future holds: A lot of young talent, even outside of Hamid and Johnson. Ryan Meara, my personal favorite despite playing for New York, has shown a lot of promise as well as a growing Zac MacMath. Tally Hall not too shabby as well.

Depth Chart

A bigger picture, with some personal input, on where we stand with the callups. (If you were to ever make fun of me this would be the way to do it.) I'll put a number next to each category on how many we can expect to see on the final 23.  

Bold means the player made the 27. 

Strikethrough means they were mentioned above. 

Italics means they were not mentioned but I wouldn't be terribly upset if they somehow ended up in the World Cup.

Notes for players I thought deserved them. Some of them are doubled (*) up on multiple categories because we just don't know!

 Goalies (3)
Tim Howard
Brad Guzan
Nick Rimando
Ryan Meara
About a dozen other keepers

Outside Backs (3-4)
Steve Cherundolo
Timmy Chandler 
Eric Lichaj
Michael Parkhurst*
Fabian Johnson*
Edgar Castillo
Jonathan Spector (2)
Alfredo Morales (6)
Zach Loyd
Heath Pearce

Center Backs (4-5)
Carlos Bocanegra
Oguchi Onyewu
Michael Parkhurst*
Geoff Cameron
Zak Whitbread (1) 
Clarence Goodson
Tim Ream
Omar Gonzalez (2)
AJ DeLaGarza
Chad Marshall
Perry Kitchen (3)
Michael Orozco Fiscal
George John

CDM  (3-4)
Michael Bradley*
Jermaine Jones
Kyle Beckerman
Sacha Kljestan
Danny Williams*
Maurice Edu
Jeff Larentowicz
Ricardo Clark

Center Mids (2-4)
Stuart Holden (2) 
Jose Torres
Michael Bradley*
Benny Feilhaber
Joe Corona (6)
Freddy Adu
Mix Diskerud
Dilly Duka (2)
Brad Evans
Alejandro Bedoya
Dax McCarty

Wingers (3-5)
Clint Dempsey*
Landon Donovan
DaMarcus Beasley
Fabian Johnson*
Graham Zusi
Danny Williams*
Brek Shea
Robbie Rogers (2)
Joe Gyau (3)
Josh Gatt (3)

Strikers (3-4)
Clint Dempsey*
Jozy Altidore
Chris Wondolowski
Herculez Gomez
Terrence Boyd (6)
Juan Agudelo
Evgeni Starikov (4)
Edson Buddle
CJ Sapong
Kenny Cooper (5)

(1) - The quiet ex-Norwich center back is looking for a new home but can't stay healthy for five seconds. Wouldn't be a bad addition.
(2) - Walking wounded honorable mentions. Rogers/Spector still not match fit, I suspect. Holden and Gonzalez out for a whiiiile. The Crew seem to not be rushing Duka back to the field. Probably a safe bet.
(3) - Young guns sections. I could see any of these guys on par with Corona, Agudelo as far as respective skill goes. Gyau not getting a lot of buzz but he's got a strong future with the senior circuit.
(4) - Gone MIA. Last time I checked he was good :{ /
(5) - Go MLS.
(6) - Rumors flying that these dual-nationalists were called in to convince them to play for America. Not sure if I really buy into it as all have shown strong interest already. (Morales and Boyd hold German citizenship while Corona holds Mexican.)

And lastly, here's an interesting and hopeful piece from the MLS on who should be on Klinsmann's radar.

Get to Know Your... Player Ratings

The 1-10 player rating scale in review for a soccer game isn't adequate enough. You don't know how often the player was involved in the game. Then there are problems with rating a player who played one minute flawlessly versus another player who played 90 uninspired minutes. Arguably its largest flaw is that it's incredibly unoriginal and boooring.

A better idea would be a +/- scoreline, similar to the one found in hockey. Then the simple reader will know how much each player contributed. You would be able to see how productive he was but also how he hurt the team. A really great performance would be around +4 while a Bornstein-in-the-Gold-Cup performance would be around a -4 or less.

Sooo how do I do this?

Great quest! Basically all you need is to come up with two numbers for every player. We'll keep the 1-10 rating but we also need an involvement rating for every player (keep reading!). You can use this platform if you'd like. It should open in Microsoft Excel and look something like this:

First you have to divvy up involvement points to the players. Let's imagine a big pie of involvement points. (Deliciously mathematic, I know.) Now slice that pie to all the deserving players. Well obviously some players are going to get bigger slices than others.
 

Imagine the pie has 100 points for all the players. To know how much each player gets, an expected involvement points can be found from adding up all the minutes they played then dividing it by ten. For example, a player with 70 minutes played should have around 7 involvement points. The expected points adds up to 99, 11 players playing 90 total minutes divided by 10 (11 * 90 / 10 = 99).

Next, tweak the expected points to the actual involvement points. If a player was really involved, add him some more points. If he wasn't, take some away. Just make sure it adds up to 100 for consistency's sake.

Then we'll bring the 1-10 player ratings back in. In the % column give each player a percent grade out of 100 (but then divide it by 100). Imagine this as a "How success were they?" percentage. Don't be afraid to be too exact. If you think they were slightly better than 70%, give then a 71 or 72! The more accurate the better.

Then you're done! You can sort by the +/- to see who really impacted the team.

The read out on the right is "x1 - First Last x2 (x3...x4/x5...x5)".

• X1 is a players' +/-. x4 minus x5. It gauges the positive/negative impact the player had on the game.
• (x3 - x4 = x1)
• "What?" Keep reading!
• X2 is the successful percentage.
• X3 is the involvement rating, a total percent of impact on game. The average full game player has around 9% (100% divided by 11 players). If a player is really involved for ninety minutes, he may end up closer to 13, in contrast to a player who did nothing good or bad with an involvement rating of 0.
• X4 is positive impact. It is a portion of the X3 and represents the player's positive impact on the game. A player that goes "14...14/0" did phenomenal while a scoreline of "9...5/4" would be around average.
• X5 is negative impact. It makes up the other half of X3 and is the negative influence the player had on the game. There isn't a set position that garners the most negative points although defenders will likely take a hit with giving up a costly goal.
• X6 is minutes played. Pretty simple!

Bob10's readout is "+6.4 - bob10 - 90% [8...7.2/0.8...70']". This means that bob10 had a great game. Not only was he successful 90% of the time but he exceeded his expected involvement points (7) with 8. Bob12 and Bob9 didn't have awful games but didn't break 0. They probably had some slip ups but nothing tragic.


Ta da!

Get to Know Your... Numbers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10! That's it! Basically.

Like we said in explaining the Subjective Point Graphs, there are three threats we track. (Tongue twister.)

• Threat of a ball played
• Threat of possession of the ball
• Threat of a shot

The more dangerous these are the higher points they get. Holding the ball at midfield? Not dangerous. Slotted pass across the goal mouth? Very dangerous.

Let's look at the USMNT in 2012

"Whoa! A lot of numbers! Tuning out..." Can't blame you. But if you're still awake here's the lowdown.

Easy as that math class you failed in high school! (I failed Algebra and Calculus so I can relate.)