I was reading a piece on the Kansas City Wizards 2009 season and this line jumped out at me.
When your top scorer only scores 11 goals, you most likely will have trouble.
Being a numbers person, that led me to look up MLS’s top scorers for 2009(no, I don’t have that stuff memorized). Decide for yourself what it means for a team to have a top scorer with eleven goals.
| 2009 | Goals – Team Leaders | ||||
| Team | GP | Goals | Playoffs | Team Goals | |
| Jeff Cunningham | DAL | 28 | 17 | N | 50 |
| Conor Casey | COL | 24 | 16 | N | 42 |
| Juan Pablo Angel | NY | 25 | 12 | N | 27 |
| Guillermo Barros Schelotto | CLB | 24 | 12 | Y | 41 |
| Landon Donovan | LA | 25 | 12 | Y | 36 |
| Robbie Findley | RSL | 27 | 12 | Y | 43 |
| Fredy Montero | SEA | 27 | 12 | Y | 38 |
| Dwayne De Rosario | TOR | 28 | 11 | N | 37 |
| Ryan Johnson | SJ | 30 | 11 | N | 36 |
| Josh Wolff | KC | 27 | 11 | N | 33 |
| Luciano Emilio | DCU | 27 | 10 | N | 43 |
| Eduardo Lillingston | CHV | 25 | 8 | Y | 34 |
| Brian Ching | HOU | 19 | 8 | Y | 39 |
| Kheli Dube | NE | 26 | 8 | Y | 33 |
| Brian McBride | CHI | 22 | 7 | Y | 39 |
What does this tell us in relation to the statement above? Well for one thing, the top scorer on 4 teams that made the playoffs scored 8 or fewer goals. So having a top scorer with 11 isn’t in itself a problem. The Wiz obviously had problems this year, but an 11 goal top scorer is not relevant in the discussion of why they failed to make the final dance.
Not a soccer story, but a very interesting read for those with an eye on the future of sports, especially a young MLS entering adulthood.
Wright Thompson, writing for ESPN’s Outside the Lines
Ten years ago, it was cheaper to go to a baseball game than to a movie in half of the big league markets (take away parking at the game, and it was cheaper in every market). Today, there isn’t a single city in America where it costs less to go to a major league game than to a movie. Everywhere we turn, we see examples of the collapsing middle class. This is where that issue lives in the world of sports, and it has predictable consequences.
“The lower the income,” Luker says, “the less they’re enjoying sports.”
His August poll discovered a third of Americans are less interested in sports because of the declining economy. That’s bad news, made worse by a problem he first noticed in 2004 and which has continued since: For the first time, the largest number of sports fans aren’t 12- to 17-year-old boys. The baby boomers are the group that shows the greatest increase in a love of sports, and they’ll be dying soon.
“We have the first true sustained evidence of less interest in sports than there was 10 years ago,” he says. “It won’t happen overnight. It will take a generation. But in general, sports will not be what it is today. We’re burning out the love of sports.”
And oh by the way… in 2009 Major League Baseball saw a 6.6% decline in attendance while MLS had a 2.6% decline in average attendance, with a 4.4% increase in actual attendance due to the addition of Seattle.
This ESPN article by Tom Farrey on the NCAA looking at playing-with-pros rules has sparked a pretty good discussion on the possible effects on all levels of the US soccer pyramid.
Brant Parsons reports that the Mexican National team will play 3 of its 8 World Cup tune up matches in the US. More bucks for SUM(and MLS).
Speaking of bucks and the World Cup, FIFA announced the amounts that the 32 World Cup finalists will receive. Here is the Guardian’s article outlining the payouts. US Soccer will earn a minimum of $9 million with $1 million paid up front to cover preparation expenses. Additionally, clubs will be compensated for the use of their players during the World Cup to the tune of $1,600 per player per day beginning 15 days before the start of the tourney until one day after the player’s participation ends. The overall prize money is 61% higher than for the 2006 World Cup.
Have you read any of Freddie Ljungberg’s articles on ESPNSoccernet? Terrific stuff.
Related posts:
The Freddie Ljundberg article should be mandatory reading for every US/MLS soccer fan. COLLEGE SOCCER COACHES SHOULD BE FORCED TO MEMORIZE IT. When Freddie retires I want him coaching the USMNT !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ljundbergs ESPN column and his blog are great.
IF MLS goes to a second DP, you are going to see a lot more Ljundberg types running around.
When you think about it, it is the perfect move. He is making over a million dollars ( probably more this year with the Sounders rolling in it ), he could star in EPL, obviously, but he would not be playing for a team that has ANY chance of winning.
We are very lucky to see a player of his quality, he struggled with health issues this year, but he had some games this year that were lights out awesome.
I feel sorry for the American stars that haven’t made the big bucks yet ( Holden ) having to make that choice.
Henry anyone ?
Great piece. I really enjoyed the discussion and interesting links. I ran into Holden last night in Houston. Good guy. Still non-committal on his future.
Conor Casey wasn’t in the MLS playoffs.
nelsonc: absolutely correct. Gotta proof more closely. Thanks.
The FMF likes scheduling games in the US because they can sell out stadiums at $30 a ticket, which they can’t do at home.
Ever wonder why the Gold Cup is always held here? It’s not for the USNT’s benefit, it’s for El Tri‘s benefit.