Player Development
Soccer Potpourri
Quick Note
-
Take Me Out to the Ballgame, my weekly MLS attendance report, will not post on Monday after Week 8 as I will be otherwise occupied. I will post it along with Week 9 sometime around April 29 or 30.
-
MLS
- Through 7 games Sporting KC have yet to yield a 2nd half goal
- Through 5 games New England have yet to yield a 1st half goal
- Through 7 games Dallas has conceded 7 goals, all in the 2nd half and 6 in the final 15 minutes
- MLSSoccer: MLS introduces intra-league loan system for first time in league history
- Graham Parker: Can MLS escape the violent side of soccer’s globalization?
- Kyle McCarthy: Recent revelations about the top Mexican earners obscure the financial differences between Liga MX and MLS
- Dave Zeitlin: Is the Philadelphia Union’s Amobi Okugo the future of the US national team defense?
- medium.com: Perception versus reality in Major League Soccer – Thanks to Drew Epperly for pointing me to this.
- Earl Reed: Quantifying early 2013 MLS season ugliness
Interesting Reads
Read the rest of this entry »
Soccer Potpourri
Starters
- It appears we are headed to a repeat of Monterrey v Santos Laguna in the finals of the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League after both Mexican clubs won on the road at MLS representatives Los Angeles and Seattle. Monterrey is seeking to cement its place as a regional power as it vies for its 3rd consecutive CCL title.
As for MLS, it seems the league still has a way to go before it can compete(and win) consistently vs top LigaMX clubs.
MLS
- L.E. Eisenmenger: DC United leads MLS in community soccer development
- Howard Hamilton: Which path to success in MLS?
- J Hutcherson: What Seattle Lost
Interesting Reads
Soccer Potpourri
MLS
- Will Parchman: A statistical look at MLS Week 1
- MLSSoccer.com: MLS announces partnership with French Football Federation
- Kyle McCarthy: Buying or selling? MLS seeks the best of both worlds
- SI.com: MLS fills spring training void left by MLB teams in Tucson
- Earl Reed: The Designated Player Rule: How Is It Working?
- Steve Goff: Major League Soccer’s second generation
- Matthew Doyle: Why we often miss the point when we talk formations
- Alex Labidou: Five observations from MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s press conference
- Tropics of Meta: An MLS Moment: What the Chivas USA Controversy Tells US About the State of US Soccer
Interesting Reads
Soccer Potpourri
MLS
- Kyle McCarthy: Squaring up to the difficulties of cutting ties with a Designated
- LA Galaxy: LA Galaxy create Academy Alliance – No favoritism towards the Galaxy here. MLS teams are finding their way in developing their organization’s development model. Here is LA’s vision.
- Shin Guardian: MLS 2013: A Technical Evaluation of Strength of Schedule
- Hot Time in Old Town: Goal Scoring From A Positional Perspective
- All Things Football: MLS Salary Analysis
Interesting Reads
- Simon Kuper: Why I’ve fallen out of love with football
- Doherty Soccer: Comparing USL-Pro and NASL Schedules from 2012 and 2013
- Soccer Newsday: New Directions for NASL, USL PRO & NPSL
- SoccerLens: The resurrection of a footballing genius: Ronaldinho
- All About Angles: FIFA Works ‘Just Like a Little Mafia’
- Will Parchman: American Soccer in 1985: The End of the Beginning – Part 1 of a 3 part series
- Sporting Intelligence: Barcelona No1 for producing players for clubs in Europe’s elite leagues
The Dark Side
- David Conn: Europol’s match-fixing bombshell leaves football authorities in the dark
- Grantland: Soccer’s New Match-Fixing Scandal
The Business of Soccer
- Owen Gibson: Premier League vote on controlling wage inflation on a knife-edge
- Guardian: Majority of Premier League clubs vote to introduce spending controls
- David Conn: New Premier League rules derived from self-interest, not fair play
Soccer Potpourri
Player Development
Interesting Reads
- Tom Dunmore: When American Soccer Moved West
- Jonathan Wilson: The Question: Has 4-2-3-1 lost its gloss?
- 3FOUR3: Quality Pro Player Development or Recreation? People don’t know the Difference.
- Christian Science Monitor: SOCCKET energy-generating soccer ball powers up poor villages
- Guardian: The export of commercial US football talent is gathering pace
- theScore: The State of Analytics: Tactics and the metaphysics of football
The Business of Soccer
- SoccerLens: Agent Fees: Are Premier League clubs getting value for money?
- Independent: The parachute payments to clubs relegated from the Premier League can be a lifesaver – but is it fair to all the other teams?
- Futbol Focus: FIFA Discuss New Global Player Exchange To Revolutionize Current Transfer System
Soccer Potpourri
MLS
- MLS Cup: Match Stats
- US Soccer Players: Fixing US soccer’s ‘donut hole’
- Jason Davis: Taking advantage of transfer season in MLS
- Jonah Freedman: Is MLS turning into the EPL? Not quite yet
The Dark Side
Interesting Reads
Soccer Potpourri
MLS
- WV Hooligan: Making Sense of the Generation Adidas Program
- Brent Latham: The Chivas model doesn’t work in the United States
- Dan Loney: After Everyone’s Gone – MLS 1.0 is within measurable reach of its end
- The Lowry Lowdown: Insight on Trades as a Professional Footballer
The Business of Soccer
- Owen Gibson: Premier League TV deal in danger of perpetuating ‘a culture of greed’
- James Riach: Premier League clubs discuss plans to curb spending on player wages
- ESPN FC: Arsenal sign £150m deal with Emirates
Interesting Reads
- Michael Lewis: This writer did not want to cover soccer in the first place
- Dave Laidig: NASL: Recent History & Near Future
- Jonathan Wilson: Why are more goals being scored?
- Spirit of Mirko: CAF Club Coefficients
- SoccerLens: The Rise of the Hybrid Formation
- Bill Archer: Just Say No to Serbia
- Barney Ronay: NextGen is that rarest of things in football – a genuinely good idea
Soccer Tiers
I don’t normally dedicate an entire post to one writer, but I usually enjoy Will Parchman’s stuff and this didn’t disappoint. Good as a refresher for long time US soccer fans and a good intro to those new to the sport.
- Will Parchman: Examining the USSF pyramid
The Fifth Tier
The Fourth Tier
The Third Tier
The Second Tier
The Great Tie-In
Soccer Potpourri
MLS
- MLSSoccer.com: How much is a consistent lineup worth?
- J Hutcherson: Major League Soccer’s mixed message
- Tony Edwards: Styles of Play
- US Soccer Players: MLS and the Transfer Window
- ESPNSoccernet: NBA’s Sixers owners in on MLS team
- Alex Labidou: Thierry Henry admits MLS is a tough sell to America’s young premier athletes
Interesting Reads
Read the rest of this entry »
Soccer Potpourri
MLS
- J Hutcherson: The Era of Soccer Specificity
- MLSSoccer.com: Church of Bielsa comes to MLS in 2012
- Philly Soccer Page:
The great allocation money chase - The Bent Musket: The Tribalism of MLS
- Tony Edwards: Tony presents a little potpourri of his own
- MLSSoccer.com: How advanced stats are changing our game
- MLSSoccer.com: Can soccer analytics explain art of game?
- MLSSoccer.com: MLS stats gurus take on the salary cap
- MLSSoccer.com: How valuable is possession anyway?
- Matthew Doyle: Picking the perfect MLS All-Star squad
Interesting Reads
- Guardian: China soccer match-fixing: former football chief and top players jailed
- Independent: Euro 2012: The intelligent person’s guide to football tactics
- Will Parchman: The Fair Trade Way
Player Development
- Barcelona: Barcelona announce huge expansion in US youth camps
- Shin Guardian: Toting The Old Ball ‘N’ Chain: Player Development In America
- Shin Guardian: More Conclusions In Progress: The State Of The Homegrown Program
The Business of Soccer
- Guardian: English Premier League lands £3bn TV rights bonanza from Sky and BT
- David Conn: High-fiving at bloated new Premier League TV deal would be a mistake
- David Conn: How football has kept the Murdoch empire afloat
Tournaments
- Copa Libertadores: Boca Juniors v Corinthians for the Title
- US Open Cup: US Open Cup – It’s all MLS into the Semis
- EURO 2012: EURO 2012 Down to the Wire