Tuesday, March 31, 2009

MLS Quiz #1

Well, the first BestEleven quiz was a moderate success (except I made it too hard, only one 100% so far), so I'll give it another a shot. This time there are ten questions about Major League Soccer. If you are from overseas you will likely find the quiz quite difficult, but if you follow the league closely it shouldn't be too tough. Give it a shot.

Monday, March 30, 2009

MLS Players' Previous European Clubs

This is a listing of all of the European clubs where current MLS players have been senior roster members earlier in their career (including loans).

European Clubs that have had at least three current MLS players:
1860 Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Coventry City, Fulham, Manchester United, Millwall, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End, Queens Park Rangers, St. Pauli, Sunderland

AUSTRIA
Rapid Vienna (Jazic, CHV)
SC Rheindorf Altach (Jaqua, SEA)

BELGIUM
Charleroi (Dalby, COL)

BULGARIA
FC Etar (Dimitrov, CHI)

CROATIA
HNK Hajduk Split (Jazic, CHV)
Hrvatski Dragovoljac (Jazic, CHV)

DENMARK
AGF Aarhus (Barrett, HOU)
Esbjerg fB (Hall, HOU)
Viborg FF (Russell, RSL)

ENGLAND
Arsenal (Ricketts, TOR; Ljungberg, SEA)
Aston Villa (Angel, NY)
Barnet (Dichio, TOR)
Barnsley (Ricketts, TOR)
Birmingham City (Cooke, COL; Kirovski, LA)
Bolton Wanderers (Smith, TOR, Ricketts, LA)
Bradford City (Ricketts, LA)
Bristol City (Brennan, TOR)
Bristol Rovers (Padula, CLB)
Carlisle United (Smith, TOR)
Charlton Athletic (Gibbs, COL)
Chester City (Joy, RSL)
Coventry City (Ricketts, TOR; Guerrero, COL; Huckerby, SJ)
Crystal Palace (Kirovski, LA)
Darlington (Smith, TOR)
Derby County (Dichio, TOR, Lewis, LA)
Everton (McBride, CHI)
Fulham (McBride, CHI; Lewis, LA; Elliott, SJ; Keller, SEA)
Grimsby Town (Thorrington, CHI; Cooke, COL)
Huddersfield Town (Thorrington, CHI; Brennan, TOR)
Kidderminster Harriers (Joy, RSL)
Leeds United (Lewis, LA; Huckerby, SJ)
Leicester City (Keller, SEA)
Lincoln City (Huckerby, SJ)
Manchester City (Cooke, COL; Huckerby, SJ)
Manchester United (Cooke, COL; Cooper, DAL, Kirovski, LA, Beckham, LA)
Middlesbrough (Moreno, DC)
Millwall (Dichio, TOR; Serioux, TOR; Huckerby, SJ; Keller, SEA)
Newcastle United (Huckerby, SJ)
Norwich City (Brennan, TOR; Robinson, TOR; Huckerby, SJ)
Nottingham Forest (Padula, CLB; Olsen, DC; Brennan, TOR; Huckerby, SJ)
Oldham Athletic (Cooper, DAL)
Portsmouth (Robinson, TOR; Miglioranzi, LA)
Preston North End (McBride, CHI; Dichio, TOR; Lewis, LA, Beckham, LA)
Queens Park Rangers (Padula, CLB; Dichio, TOR; Ricketts, TOR; Pickens, COL)
Reading (Convey, SJ)
Rotherham United (Robinson, TOR)
Sheffield United (Robinson, TOR)
Sheffield Wednesday (Robinson, TOR; Cooke, COL)
Shrewsbury Town (Robinson, TOR)
Southampton (Brennan, TOR; Keller, SEA))
Stockport County (Smith, TOR)
Sunderland (Dichio, TOR; Robinson, TOR; Cooke, COL; Holden, HOU)
Swindon Town (Miglioranzi, LA)
Tottenham Hotspur (Ricketts, TOR; Keller, SEA)
Walsall (Padula, CLB; Robinson, TOR)
Welling United (Dichio, TOR)
West Bromwich Albion (Dichio, TOR)
West Ham United (Ljungberg, SEA)
Wrexham (Cooke, COL)
Wigan Athletic (Padula, CLB; Cooke, COL)
Wolverhamton Wanderers (Ricketts, TOR; Robinson, TOR)

FRANCE
FC Lorient (Jacobson, DC; Le Toux, SEA)
Girondins Bordeaux (Celades, NY)
Le Havre (N'Silu, DC)
Montpellier HSC (Padula, CLB)
RC Lens (Cannon, SJ)
Rennes (Le Toux, SEA)

GERMANY
1. FC Köln (Emilio, DC)
1860 Munich (Wolff, KC; Twellman, NE; Purdy, DAL)
Alemannia Aachen (Emilio, DC)
Bayer Leverkusen (Thorrington, CHI; Hejduk, CLB; Donovan, LA)
Bayern Munich (Donovan, LA)
Borussia Dortmund (Casey, COL; Kirovski, LA)
Borussia Mönchengladbach (Keller, SEA)
FSV Zwickau (DeRosario, TOR)
Hamburg SV Amateur (Joy, RSL)
Hannover (Casey, COL; Mathis, RSL)
Hertha Berlin (Sanneh, LA)
Karlsruhe (Casey, COL)
Mainz (Casey, COL)
Nuremberg (Sanneh, LA)
SC Fortuna Köln (Kirovski, LA)
St. Pauli (Gibbs, COL; Kovalenko, LA; Joy, RSL))
VfL Wolfsburg (McBride, CHI)

GREECE
Atromitos Athens (Doe, DC)
Ergotelis (Mathis, RSL)
Skoda Xanthi (Trujillo, CHV)

ICELAND
Breiðablik (Russell, RSL)

ITALY
Lazio (Lopez, KC)
Lecce (Dichio, TOR)
Olbia (Somma, SJ)
Perugia (Somma, SJ)
Pro Vasto (Somma, SJ)
Sampdoria (Dichio, TOR)

NETHERLANDS
ADO Den Haag (Gibbs, COL)
Ajax (Van den Bergh, DAL)
De Graafschap (Johnson, RSL)
Feyenoord (Gibbs, COL)
Heerenveen (Rogers, CLB; Johnson, RSL)
Utrecht (Van den Bergh, DAL)

NORWAY
Aalesund (Noonan, CLB)
Brann (Corrales, SJ)
Bryne FK (Johnson, NY, Torres, DAL)
Fredrikstad FK (Barrett, HOU)
HamKam (Corrales, SJ)
Haugesund (Weaver, SJ)
Odd Grenland (Borchers, RSL)
Rosenborg (Russell, RSL)
Sogndal (Russell, RSL)
Tromsø (Harmse, TOR; Torres, DAL)

POLAND
Lech Poznań (Conrad, KC)

PORTUGAL
Académica Coimbra (Cooper, DAL)
Benfica (Thornton, CHV)
Sporting CP (Kirovski, LA)

RUSSIA
FC Kuban (Jazic, CHV)

SCOTLAND
Aberdeen (Souter, KC)
Buckie Thistle (Souter, KC)
Dundee United (Onstad, HOU)
Ross County (Moffat, CLB)
Elgin City (Moffat, CLB)
Montrose (Joy, RSL)

SERBIA
FK Radnički Jugopetrol (Stepanovic, CHV)
FK Srem (Stepanovic, CHV)
FK Voždovac (Stepanovic, CHV)
Red Star Belgrade (Jakovic, DC)

SLOVAKIA
FC Nitra (Harmse, TOR)

SPAIN
Cádiz CF (Harris, CHV)
Celta Vigo (Celades, NY)
FC Barcelona (Celades, NY)
Racing de Ferrol (Razov, CHV)
Rayo Vallecano (Van den Bergh, DAL; Keller, SEA)
Real Madrid (Celades, NY, Beckham, LA)
Real Valladolid (Blanco, CHI; Guevara, TOR)
Real Zaragoza (Celades, NY)
UD Vecindario (Morales, RSL)
Valencia (Lopez, KC)
Xerez (Sala, DAL)

SWEDEN
Bodens BK (Torres, DAL)
GAIS (Campos, SJ)
Halmstads BK (Ljungberg, SEA)
Öster (Johnson, SJ)

SWITZERLAND
BSC Young Boys (Echeverry, NY)
FC Basel (Crayton, DC)
FC Concordia Basel (Crayton, DC)
FC Lucerne (Crayton, DC)
FC Schaffhausen (Crayton, DC)
FC Wangen bei Olten (Crayton, DC)
FC Zug 94 (Crayton, DC)
Grasshopper-Club Zürich (Crayton, DC)
Le Mont (N'Silu, DC)
SC Young Fellows Juventus (Crayton, DC)
St. Gallen (Hejduk, CLB)

UKRAINE
Chornomorets Odessa (Vitti, TOR)
Metalurh Zaporizhya (Kovalenko, LA)

Friday, March 27, 2009

Video: USA 2010 World Cup Qualification Locations

This flyover video I've put together shows all ten locations of the USA's CONCACAF 2010 World Cup Qualifying campaign. The video really puts into perspective the immense amount of travel involved for these games, especially for players who have to come over from their clubs in Europe.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

1992-1993 Inaugural Premier League Kits

This post shows one shirt from each of the 22 clubs that were a member of the inaugural edition of the English Premier League in the 1992-93 season. I tried to pick the more interesting (ie. ugly, gaudy, bright) shirts between the home and away selections.

All of these pictures are from my favorite vintage football shirt site, Classic Football Shirts UK. All of the shirts shown here and many more are for sale at that site, including match worn and international shirts. (I have no affiliation with them, I just spend a lot of time looking around on their site).

The shirts are pictured in order of the final 92-93 Premier League Table (with Point Totals).


Manchester United - 84pts



Aston Villa - 74pts



Norwich City - 72pts



Blackburn Rovers - 71pts



Queens Park Rangers - 63pts



Liverpool - 59pts



Sheffield Wednesday - 59pts



Tottenham Hotspur - 59pts



Manchester City - 57pts



Arsenal - 56pts



Chelsea - 56pts



Wimbledon - 54pts



Everton - 53pts



Sheffield United - 52pts



Coventry City - 52pts



Ipswich Town - 52pts



Leeds United - 51pts



Southampton - 50pts



Oldham Athletic - 49pts



Crystal Palace - 49pts



Middlesbrough - 44pts



Nottingham Forest - 40pts

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

2009 MLS New Foreign Born Players

This list shows the new foreign born players that have joined Major League Soccer for the 2009 season (as of 3/25/09).

CHICAGO FIRE
Bulgaria - Stefan Dimitrov
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Baggio Husidic

CHIVAS USA
Sierra Leone - Michael Lahoud
Mexico - Eduardo Lillingston
Mexico - Mariano Trujillo

COLORADO RAPIDS
Guyana - Gregory Richardson

COLUMBUS CREW
Zimbabwe - Stanley Nyazamba

DC UNITED
Croatia - Dejan Jakovic
DR Congo - Ange N'Silu
Costa Rica - Rodney Wallace
Serbia - Milos Kocic

FC DALLAS
Colombia - David Ferreira
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Peri Marosevic

HOUSTON DYNAMO
None

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
Argentina - Santiago Hirsig

LOS ANGELES GALAXY
Trinidad & Tobago - Yohance Marshall
England - Kyle Patterson
Jamaica - Donovan Ricketts

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
None

NEW YORK RED BULLS
Andorra - Albert Celades
Costa Rica - Carlos Johnson

REAL SALT LAKE
Haiti - Jean Alexandre

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Brazil - Pablo Campos

SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Cuba - Osvaldo Alonso
Colombia - John Kennedy Hurtado
France - Sebastien Le Toux
Sweden - Freddie Ljungberg
Colombia - Fredy Montero
Gambia - Sanna Nyassi
DR Congo - Steve Zakuani

TORONTO FC
Gambia - Emmanuel Gomez
Gambia - Amadou Sanyang
Argentina - Pablo Vitti
Jamaica - O'Brian White
Switzerland - Stefan Frei


Steve Zakuani (SEA) and Ange N'Silu (DC) are the first DR Congo born players to join MLS.
Gregory Richardson (COL) is the first Guyana born player.
Albert Celades (NY) is the first Andorra born player.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Google Earth Video: South Africa 2010 Stadiums

This video shows a fly over of Stadiums and sites that will be used in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This is my first attempt at creating a Google Earth video and there are a few minor things that didn't turn out quite like I expected (zoom levels, labels positions, etc.) and I don't really know how to fix them yet (I'm still learning). Nevertheless, the video is still an interesting bird's eye view of the 10 stadiums/sites that will be used during the World Cup in 2010.



The Second Stadium (Nelson Mandela Stadium) is under construction and under the words Mandela and Stadium.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Soccer Club Geography Quiz

I put together this tricky quiz to test your knowledge of world club locations. It consists of four short multiple choice questions and only takes about a minute to complete. This is the first Best Eleven quiz and I'm using it to gauge the interest in this type of post. I can create a quiz about any soccer subject that comes to mind. Good idea? Terrible idea? Please let me know if there is interest by taking the quiz or leaving a quick comment.



3/23@1:10PM - This is proving to be a tricky quiz. So far "ram" from Barcelona has the best score with 2 out of 4 right in 1 min 11 sec. I'm not sure why but it seems to work for some people and not others.

3/23@8:30PM - Top score so far is 50% in 39 seconds by Chalky from the UK

3/23@11:30PM - Last update for today, Jacob from South Carolina had the best score, 3 out of 4 in 43 seconds. Nice one Jacob.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Top League Strike Rates: England, Spain, Germany, and Italy

These are the top 08/09 strike rates in the biggest four leagues in Europe. (minimum of 15 matches played, stats as of 3/20/09)


GPG - Player (Club) - Goals/Matches Played

1.133 - Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg) - 17g/15
1.059 - Vedad Ibisevic (TSG Hoffenheim) - 18g/17
0.885 - Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) - 23g/26
0.864 - Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid) - 19g/22
0.826 - David Villa (Valencia) - 19g/23
0.750 - Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 18g/24
0.708 - Patrick Helmes (Bayer Leverkusen) - 17g/24
0.706 - Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) - 12g/17
0.667 - Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina) - 12g/18
0.655 - Marco Di Vaio (Bologna) - 19g/29
0.654 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan) - 17g/26
0.625 - Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) - 15g/24
0.625 - Diego Milito (Genoa) - 15g/24
0.609 - Thierry Henry (Barcelona) - 14g/23
0.600 - Alvaro Negredo (Almeria) - 15g/25
0.600 - Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina) - 15g/25
0.571 - Giuseppi Rossi (Villarreal) - 12g/21
0.571 - Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) - 12g/21
0.565 - Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart) - 13g/23
0.565 - Eden Dzeko (VfL Wolfsburg) - 13g/23
0.563 - Fernando Torres (Liverpool) - 9g/16
0.563 - Luca Toni (Bayern Munich) - 9g/16
0.563 - Diego (Werder Bremen) - 9g/16
0.550 - Andriy Voronin (Hertha BSC) - 11g/20
0.539 - Raul (Real Madrid) - 14g/26
0.539 - Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid) - 14g/26
0.536 - Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea) - 15g/28
0.524 - Kaka (AC Milan) - 11g/21
0.522 - Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld) - 12g/23
0.520 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) - 13g/25
0.519 - Alexandre Pato (AC Milan) - 14g/27




Stats compiled from Statbunker

Thursday, March 19, 2009

MLS Sister Clubs

This is The Best Eleven's unofficial list of MLS "Sister" clubs around the world using comparable season average attendance figures from the 2007/2008 season.

26,009 - LA Galaxy
Birmingham City, 26,101
Palermo, 25,541
Stade Rennes, 26,194
Heerenveen, 25,022
Beşiktaş J.K., 26,249
Club Brugge, 26,368
Racing Club {Argentina}, 26,000

20,120 - Toronto FC
Portsmouth, 19,914
Juventus, 20,930
Espanyol, 20,256
Caen, 20,008
Real Sociedad, 20,129
Independiente, 20,625

19,835 - DC United
Reading, 19,724
Torino, 19,226
Racing Santander, 19,400
Mainz, 19,800
Vitesse Arnhem, 19,818
Zenit St. Petersburg, 19,906
FC København, 19,455
Rosenborg BK, 18,957
Shakhtar Donetsk, 19,747
Huracán {Argentina}, 19,250

17,580 - NE Revolution
Coventry City, 17,573
Catania, 17,606
Recreativo Huelva, 17,875
Sochaux, 17,601
Guimaraes, 17,836
Lech Poznan, 18,010

17,034 - Chicago Fire
Valladolid, 16,678
FC Augsburg, 17,234

16,939 - Houston Dynamo
Watford, 16,876
Almeria, 16,677
SK Brann, 16,954
SC Freiburg, 16,541

16,179 - Real Salt Lake
Bristol City, 16,276
Recreativo Huelva, 16,142
AZ Alkmaar, 16,477
Braga, 16,043
Galatasaray, 16,307
Brøndby IF, 16,069

15,928 - NY Red Bulls
Crystal Palace, 16,031
Udinese, 15,672
Hansa Rostock, 15,524
Heart of Midlothian, 15,930
Roda JC, 15,811
FK Rubin Kazan, 16,033
Bursaspor, 16,225
Tigre {Argentina}, 16,000
Bloem Celtic {South Africa}, 15,571

15,114 - Chivas USA
Swansea City, 15,094
Parma, 15,247
Mallorca, 15,125
SC Freiburg, 15,450
Viking FK, 15,379
Wisła Kraków, 14,967
AIK {Sweden}, 15,535
Gimnasia La Plata, 15,000

14,622 - Columbus Crew
Watford, 14,595
Metz, 14,485
VfL Osnabrück, 14,500
NAC Breda, 14,626
CSKA Moscow, 14,266
SK Rapid Wien, 14,336
San Martín de San Juan {Argentina}, 14,500

13,713 - San Jose Earthquakes
Queens Park Rangers, 13,959
VfL Osnabruck, 13,725
Valenciennes, 14,222
Hibernian, 13,884
Lokomotiv Moscow, 13,783
SV Austria Salzburg, 13,900
Kaizer Chiefs {South Africa}, 13,892

13,659 - Colorado Rapids
Swansea City, 13,520
Reggina, 13,147
AJ Auxerre, 13,680
Amkar Perm {Russia}, 13,453
Denizlispor, 13,491

13,024 - FC Dallas
Preston North End, 12,843
Bologna, 13,036
MSV Duisburg, 12,668
Dinamo Moscow, 12,766
Trabzonspor, 12,957
Vålerenga, 12,700
Górnik Zabrze {Poland}, 13,059
Zorya Luhansk {Ukraine}, 12,536
Queensland Roar, 12,432
Olimpo de Bahía Blanca {Argentina}, 13,000
Black Leopards {South Africa}, 12,364

10,686 - KC Wizards
Atalanta, 10,673
Levante, 11,134
TUS Koblenz, 10,582
AS Monaco, 10,078
Sparta Rotterdam, 10,183
Luch-Energiya Vladivostok, 10,607
Sivasspor, 10,827
KAA Gent, 10,690
AGF Aarhus, 9,827
Maccabi Tel-Aviv, 10,031
Ålesunds FK, 10,363
FC St. Gallen, 10,022
Banfield {Argentina}, 11,000
Orlando Pirates {South Africa}, 10,035




Sources:
MLSnet
ESPN Soccernet
European Football Statistics

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

MLS Goal Celebration Videos

Chicago Fire


DC United


Toronto FC




I'm a bit short on time this week. If I get a minute I'll try to add a few more videos. I know there are many passionate supporters around the league that deserve to be in this post. Don't Forget, Thursday Night is the MLS Opener: New York @ Seattle at 9PM EST on ESPN2.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

MLS Opening Game Results since 1996

MLS opening day is Thursday night with the Seattle Sounders playing their first ever game against New York. I put together an opening game results chart before last season (I can't believe I've been doing this for over a year now), and this is the updated version to include the 2008 first game results.

Team
W
D
L
Points
Kansas City Wizards7
3
3
24
San Jose/Houston Dynamo
5
4
4
19
Columbus Crew 5
3
5
18
FC Dallas
4
6
3
18
DC United
5
2
6
17
Los Angeles Galaxy
4
5
4
17
New York Red Bulls 4
5
4
17
Chicago Fire
4
4
3
16
New England Revolution3
5
5
14
Colorado Rapids 2
5
6
11
Chivas USA
2
1
1
7
Real Salt Lake
0
3
1
3
Toronto FC
0
0
2
0
"New" San Jose
0
0
1
0

I've counted the Shootout Results as Draws




This chart shows the average points per opening game:


Team
Avg. Points per Game
Kansas City Wizards
1.85
Chivas USA
1.75
San Jose/Houston Dynamo 1.46
Chicago Fire
1.46
FC Dallas
1.39
Columbus Crew
1.39
Los Angeles Galaxy
1.31
DC United
1.31
New York Red Bulls
1.31
New England Revolution 1.08
Colorado Rapids
0.85
Real Salt Lake
0.75
Toronto FC
0.00
"New" San Jose
0.00



Here's the opening game matchups for this season:

NY@SEA
CLB@HOU
CHI@DAL
TOR@KC
COL@CHV
NE@SJ
DC@LA

Monday, March 16, 2009

The College Years of US National Team Players

These pictures show many past and present US players when they were in their college/university playing days (and when Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel still had hair).




Eric Wynalda - San Diego State




Oguchi Onyewu - Clemson




Taylor Twellman - Maryland





Brian McBride - St. Louis University





Kasey Keller - University of Portland





Frankie Hejduk - UCLA





John Harkes, Jeff Agoos, Claudio Reyna - University of Virginia





Brad Friedel - UCLA





Benny Feilhaber - UCLA





Cobi Jones - UCLA





Brian Ching - Gonzaga





Paul Caligiuri - UCLA





Jonathan Bornstein - UCLA





Carlos Bocanegra - UCLA





Alexi Lalas - Rutgers



For some reason a Clint Dempsey at Furman picture is eluding me, so I have instead posted this youtube clip of Deuce and his buddies messing around on the Furman campus pitch.










Autographed pictures for sale at Timeless Legends
Other Pics from: Scarlet Knights, Virginia Sports, UCLABruins.CSTV, Portland Pilots, GoZags, UMTerps, SignOnSanDiego, ClemsonTigers.CSTV

Friday, March 13, 2009

eBay: Original Jorge Campos Goalkeeper Shirt For Sale

{3/20/09 UPDATE} Ends at 4:00PM EST Today

Wow, an original Jorge Campos goalkeeper jersey from the early 90's is for sale on eBay right now. Check it out.


Vintage 1993 Jorge Campos Shirt

Videos: Diving - Simulation

Here's some cheating, awful, shameful, disgraceful, and idiotic, diving and simulation footage from recent seasons. IMO, if a player is caught on tape doing this junk, there should be a ban for a few games, even if the game time refs missed it (yes, even if it's C. Ronaldo, Drogba, Henry, etc..)

At least dives this bad have the advantage of being really funny to watch.











Caution: LOUD VOLUME








Spoof




Thursday, March 12, 2009

Closest Proximity Clubs in the English Leagues

These are the Closest Proximity Clubs in the English Premiership, Championship, League One, and League Two. (In the same league, by car, 10 miles or less)

Mileage - Clubs

1 - Liverpool - Everton
2 - Chelsea - Fulham
4 - Arsenal - Tottenham
4 - Aston Villa - West Bromwich Albion
4 - Sheffield United - Sheffield Wednesday (Championship)
5 - Manchester United - Manchester City
8 - Bolton - Wigan
8 - Bury - Rochdale (League Two)
9 - Arsenal - Chelsea
9 - Leyton Orient - Millwall (League One)
10 - West Ham - Tottenham



Here are a few "cross-league" closest proximity clubs. This list is likely incomplete since I went off the top of my head. Feel free to fill me in on some nearby League clubs that I may have missed.

Mileage - Clubs

1 - Nottingham Forest to Notts County
3 - Aston Villa - Birmingham City
4 - Queens Park Rangers - Fulham - Chelsea - Brentford
5 - Bristol City - Bristol Rovers
5 - Charlton Athletic - Millwall
6 - Liverpool - Tranmere Rovers
6 - Port Vale - Stoke City
6 - Leyton Orient - West Ham United
8 - Oldham Athletic - Manchester City
8 - Stockport County - Manchester City
8 - Rotherham United - Sheffield Wednesday
8 - Wolverhampton Wanderers - Walsall
9 - Burnley - Accrington Stanley
10 - Leeds United - Bradford City

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Soccer Players with International Names

Having watched Petr Cech, Jason Scotland, Stephen Ireland, and Matt Jordan play in recent weeks, I randomly wondered if there were other soccer players around the world with a country or a national identity in their name. It turns out there are quite a few and the funny thing is, besides Stephen Ireland and Petr Cech, most of these players with a "nation-name" wouldn't qualify to play internationally for the country in their name.


Player Name - Club (Club Nation)

Hamlet Armenian - South Melbourne (Australia)

Xavier Andorra - CD Binefar (Spain)

Mahmoud Reza Bahraini - Shamoushak (Iran)

Biko Brazil - KFC Dessel Spor (Netherlands)

Bulgária - Colinas (Brazil)

Omri Canada - Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)

Petr Cech - Chelsea FC (England)

Bruno China - Leixões (Portugal)

Jamie England - Chelmsford City (England)

Tommy English - Durham City AFC (England)

Tony Finn - AFC Wimbledon (England)

Ryan France - Hull City (England)

Rob French - Ebbsfleet United (England)

Antonio German - QPR (England)

Gael Germany - AC Arles (France)

Lloyd Irish - Yeovil Town (England)

Stephen Ireland - Manchester City (England)

Vincenzo Italiano - Chievo (Italy)

Matt Jordan - Montreal Impact (Canada)

Mexico Leututu - Leone Lions (American Samoa)

Dmytro Moldovan - Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

Daniel Montenegro - Independiente (Argentina)

Ken Oman - Bohemians (Republic of Ireland)

Dutch Ranyawa - F.C. AK (South Africa)

Danilo Portugal - Vitoria FC (Brazil)

Jason Scotland - Swansea City (England)

Senegal - Londrina Esporte Clube (Brazil)

Israel Sesay - Los Angeles Galaxy (USA)

Samuel Slovák - ŠK Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)

Toby Spain - Penrhyncoch F.C. (Wales)

Serdar Sudan - A.dermirspor (Turkey)

Yemen Taş - Kartalspor (Turkey)

Adrian Trinidad - Perth Glory (Australia)

Wayne Turk - Salisbury City (England)

Gary Wales - Kilmarnock (Scotland)

Andy Welsh - Yeovil Town (England)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Canadian Soccer Players in Europe - Interactive Map

Here is an interactive google map showing all the Canadians playing top flight soccer in Europe. I've also included second division players in England and Germany.


View Larger Map



March 2009 Version

Monday, March 9, 2009

MLS: Biggest Pay Raises and Pay Cuts from 2008 to 2009

These are Major League Soccer's top pay raises (min $35,000) and all of the pay cuts that have taken place from the 2008 season to the 2009 season. I used the 9/7/08 and 3/2/09 "guaranteed compensation" salary information from the MLS Player Union website.

Surprises? RSL standout Javier Morales took a $40,000 paycut while Khano Smith and Ugo Ihemelu received $70,000 pay raises from last season. Kenny Cooper got a $25,000 raise, but as a top striker, his salary of $108,000 still seams very low compared to other forwards, including his teammate, Jeff Cunningham, who will be paid $267K in 2009. Heck, even Toronto's Chad Barrett received a $140K pay raise and is set to make over $200K this season.

It's good to see that pretty much all of last seasons Lowest Paid/Top Performers got a decent salary bump for this season, especially Colorado's Nick LaBrocca (+$59K) and Omar Cummings (+$40K).

It's been mentioned elsewhere many times, but, Kansas City pulled off a great move by signing now-non-DP Claudio Lopez for $640K less than last season.

Bobby Boswell is finally getting paid. What was he making the last couple of seasons as a top defender in the league? $33,000. He got a bump to $150K. Nice one Monsieur Boswell.

CHICAGO FIRE
+$276,924 - Cuauhtemoc Blanco
+$196,000 - Brian McBride
+$55,000 - Justin Mapp
+$35,000 - Bakary Soumare

-$15,711 - CJ Brown

CHIVAS USA
+$75,000 - Sacha Kljestan

-$111,000 - Ante Razov
-$27,125 - Ante Jazic (from LA)
-$22,500 - Sasha Victorine

COLUMBUS CREW
+$400,000 - Guillermo Barros Schelloto
+$172,000 - Chad Marshall
+$35,000 - Robbie Rogers

COLORADO RAPIDS
+$79,500 - Ugo Ihemelu
+$59,600 - Nick LaBrocca
+$57,000 - Colin Clark
+$40,750 - Omar Cummings

-$17,500 - Pablo Mastroeni

FC DALLAS
+$49,650 - Marcelo Saragosa

DC UNITED
+$97,000 - Clyde Simms
+$39,500 - Francis Doe
+$37,500 - Santino Quaranta

-$10,000 - Ben Olsen

HOUSTON DYNAMO
+$117,000 - Bobby Boswell

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
+$121,875 - Davy Arnaud
+$84,125 - Jack Jewsbury

-$640,000 - Claudio Lopez

LOS ANGELES GALAXY
+$52,008 - Eddie Lewis

-$140,000 - Jovan Kirovski (from SJ)
-$4,701 - Stefani Miglioranzi (from CLB)


NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
+$125,000 - Shalrie Joseph
+$69,992 - Taylor Twellman

NEW YORK RED BULLS
+$204,250 - Juan Pablo Angel
+$103,500 - Dane Richards
+$73,695 - Khano Smith

-$1,500 - Terry Boss

REAL SALT LAKE
+$92,500 - Jamison Olave

-$40,000 - Javier Morales

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
+$55,938 - Nick Garcia
+$37,000 - Ryan Johnson

-$22,244 - Joe Cannon

TORONTO FC
+$141,227 - Chad Barrett
+$137,250 - Amado Guevara

-$47,504 - Rohan Ricketts
-$45,000 - Danny Dichio
-$15,000 - Carl Robinson


TOP 5 PAY RAISES
$400,000 - Guillermo Barros Schelloto (CLB)
$276,924 - Chauhtemoc Blanco (CHI)
$204,250 - Juan Pablo Angel (NY)
$196,000 - Brian McBride (CHI)
$172,000 - Chad Marshall (CLB)


TOP 5 PAY CUTS
-$640,000 - Claudio Lopez (KC)
-$140,000 - Jovan Kirovski (LA from SJ)
-$111,000 - Ante Razov (CHV)
-$47,504 - Rohann Ricketts (TOR)
-$45,000 - Danny Dichio (TOR)

Friday, March 6, 2009

Google Earth MLS Stadium Snapshots

These Google Earth snapshot pictures show all of the currently used MLS stadiums in relation to the downtown areas of their respective cities. It might be obvious, but there seems to be at least some correlation between a close-to-downtown stadium location and strong MLS attendance when looking at the snapshots of the strongly attended teams in Seattle (based on presale), Toronto, DC, and Houston.

Click Pictures to Enlarge