DC United fans on the east coast might need to take a nap on Saturday afternoon to make sure they stay up for the 11pm EST kickoff of the match between the East’s and West’s best, DC United and Chivas USA.

In case you didn’t know, Chivas are pretty good. Their 7-1-1 record is good for 22 points and an eight point cushion on Seattle, who are 2nd in the West. The Goats are not the most potent side offensively. They’re scoring 1.33 goals per contest, a number that plants them firmly in the middle of the league in that statistic. The leading goal scorer is, surprisingly, Paulo Nagamura (3 goals), and they’re not exactly star-laden in the category of attacking players. What’s keeping them in front, as was chronicled earlier this week in MLS Statistical Analysis, is the defense, specifically goalkeeping. In nine matches, Chivas have allowed just three goals, and have not allowed more than one goal in any match. Zach Thornton has faced just 40 shots on his goal this season, just over 4 per game. Again, Chivas are pretty good. That said, United will be buoyed by the fact that US National Team regular Sacha Kljestan will miss this match due to yellow card accumulation.

DC will be looking to extend their five-match unbeaten run in the league on Saturday. Better than the news that Kljestan is out is the news that the DCU infirmary is mostly empty. Midfielders Ben Olsen and Andrew Jacobson are “probable,” and their appears no other news on the injury front to relay. Milos Kocic did not travel, so the likely starting goalkeeper is Louis Crayton. If the Chivas defense is the immovable object, the DCU attack may just be the irresistible force. The offense’s 15 goal tally on the season is the most in MLS, though their goals per game tally (1.67) is only good for 3rd due to having played more games than the other high-scoring teams. In case you haven’t figured it out, focusing on this is better than focusing on the Chivas offense v. DC defense/resistible force v. movable object battle.

In terms of expectations, to say I’m expecting all three points is a far cry from reality. Do I think we have enough offense to get at least one against Thornton and the Chivas defense? Yes. Do we have enough defense to stop Chivas from getting two? I’m not entirely convinced. Would 1-1 be a great result from my perspective? Yes.

We’re back with MLS Statistical Analysis, this time looking at defense and goalkeeping. First we’ll look at defense. Think of it this way, Chivas’ opponents have scored 3 goals. Here’s our data, organized alphabetically by team (games, goals, shots, shots on goal, record, points – I eliminated fouls because the data would be the same) — all stats as of Thursday morning:

From that, this, sorted by PPG (goals per game, shots per game, percentage of shots on goal, percentage of shots that result in goals, percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals, points per game):

Chivas are far and away the premier team in the league in the overall standings, 8 points clear of 2nd place DC United. They’re first overall in points per game allowed, but close on their heels are Chicago and DC. Why? Chicago and DC both are earning a lot of draws and not losing matches (Chicago has 0 losses, DC just 1). The top three teams in this PPG category are the only sides in MLS surrendering less than a point per match.

At the other end of the table, surrendering over 2 points per contest and propping up the overall table, are FC dallas and San Jose. They’re also the only two teams allowing over 1.75 GPG. Hey, Quakes, allowing 2 goals per game is not going to get you to the playoffs.

Here’s how the teams rank in each category, sorted by PPG. Asterisks represent ties.

Chivas are number one in 4 of 6 categories. What jumps out at me about that is that they’re 11th in shots allowed (11.1), but still 1st in goals per game, shots that are goals, and shots on goals that result in goals. That tells me that their defense is not all that solid, but their goalkeeping is. Really? Zach Thornton? More on him in a moment.

Despite being near the bottom in PPG allowed, New York is also evidently getting good goalkeeping. They’re 9th in shots per game allowed (10.8), but 5th or better in goals per game (5th), shots resulting in goals (5th), and shots on goal resulting in goals (3rd). It’s their offense that’s letting them down.

New England is allowing almost 5 SPG more than anyone else(15th, 17.3), but they’re not that often on goal (8th, 43.8%), and when they are on goal, they’re 4th in allowing goals (22.64%).

Now for beloved DC United. Being 3rd in PPG is great, but 10th in GPG (1.44) and 12th in SPG (11.9) is not. That the goalkeeping has been mediocre (6th in both shots resulting in goals [12.15%] and shots on goal resulting in goals [27.08%]). I’m not sure who I should take more of an issue with, the defenders or the goalkeepers. For now, both.

Now, for the goalkeeping, organized by GAA, goals allowed average (games, goals allowed, goals allowed average, shots faced, saves, save percentage, record):

Now there are some statistics that don’t add up, starting with Chivas. Zach Thornton, the only Goats GK to play this year, has faced 40 shots and made 35 saves, yet Chivas have only allowed 3 goals. My only guess is that it means that Thornton was beaten but another Chivas player cleared it off the line on two occasions. At any rate, Thornton’s 87.5 save percentage and paltry 0.33 GAA are the stuff of MVPs, especially when you consider that Chivas are tied for 8th in goals per game (1.33). Offensively they don’t need to score very often if their goalkeeper is playing like he is.

Real Salt Lake have a team goalkeeping save percentage of 53.57, worst in the league by more than 5%. Luckily for them they’re 5th in shots on goal allowed defensively (9.9) and 3rd in percentage of shots allowed on goal (35.44%). Good defense, poor goalkeeping?

Touching on the Revs again, they’re 3rd in team goalkeeper save percentage (75.47%). They’ve allowed the most shots on goal (53), which doesn’t seem so bad when you consider that that number is just 3 more than New York, 14th in that category. But then you realize that those 53 shots have come in two fewer games (7) than New York’s 50 in nine games. If New England keeps allowing shots on goal at this rate, their goalkeepers will have faced 68 shots in nine games. That’s quite a disparity.

Back to DC United. The goalkeeping is 6th in save percentage (68.75), tied for 11th in GAA (1.44). That’s mediocre compared to the rest of the league. Could we have expected more? I’m not sure. It’s good enough, right now, for 1st in the East, but it’s going to have to improve quite a bit for me to think that this team’s defense and goalkeeping is going to be enough to succeed in the postseason, because right now its offense (3rd in GPG) is carrying the load. We’ll look again at all three statistical facets of the game as we approach the midpoint of the season to see who’s improving, who’s stagnant, and who is getting worse.

I did not get to see a minute of the DC United match on Saturday. Instead of our usual recapping here, it’s time for the first installment this year of MLS Statistical Analysis. Here’s the data we’re working with, organized alphabetically by team:

From left to right: games, goals, shots, shots on goal, fouls committed, fouls suffered, and then there’s the record/points. All data as of this past Saturday’s matches.

From that, some more statistics are created:

Sorted by points per game, from left to right: goals per game, shots per game, percentage of shots that are on goal, percentage of shots that result in goals, percentage of shots on goal that result in goals, fouls suffered differential (-40 = committed 40 more fouls than suffered), points per game.

The first thing I notice is that the top four teams in PPG are from the Western Conference. DC United are .01 point per game away from being tied for third. Last year’s MLS Cup finalists are 12th and 13th in PPG.

Five teams are averaging one goal or less scored per match. As expected, the bottom three in PPG comprise 3/5 of those teams. The other two teams, New England and Houston, find themselves in 8th and 3rd in the crucial PPG category. How do you score one goal or less per match and not sink to the bottom of the league? I imagine the answer is defense, but we’ll get to that later this week.

Now we take a look at where the teams rank in the league in these statistical categories, sorted by PPG, with asterisks to indicate a tie:

The two highest scoring teams in the league, Chicago and Real Salt Lake (who I now notice I did not asterisk despite their statistical tie), fall outside the top 5 in PPG. In addition to being tied for the league lead in GPG, RSL leads outright in SPG. This isn’t leading to much success for them in the table. How do you score the most in the league and not at least crack the top five in PPG? Again, I imagine the answer is defense. At the top of the table is Chivas, the only MLS team with more than 15 points (22 to be exact), yet the only offensive category here in which they lead the league is fouls committed. Right behind them in PPG, and proving immediately that fouling doesn’t necessarily equate to winning, is Seattle and their 14th ranked fouls committed total. New York and Dallas are 1st and 2nd in fouls suffered, and 13th and 15th in PPG. Does getting fouled equate to losing? Probably not, but in the case of New York it’s fun to imagine.

Back to Seattle, they’re tied for 12th in terms of shots per game (9.7), but 2nd in shots that result in goals (14.71%) and 1st in shots on goal resulting in goals (43.48%). That means that they don’t shoot the ball often, but they make them count. On the other end of the spectrum, FC Dallas are 2nd in shots per game (12.9), but dead last in shots resulting in goals (6.8%) and shots on goal resulting in goals (17.07%). You could say that they shoot often, but ineffectively.

And now we look at DC United, 1st in the East in PPG and 5th overall. Excepting the fouling categories, United are 6th or better in every other category. Stunningly, they’re first in the league in shots that result in goals. Even Pontius Excitement can’t drag down that statistic. There isn’t much to disprove this team’s potency in the offensive end, though I feel like there will be some holes in the defensive statistics that will make us understand maybe why they aren’t getting more wins instead of settling for draws.

Tonight sees DC United travel to Kansas City, Kansas to face the Wizards. Having just played on Saturday, it’s a match on short rest, and we know that we can’t expect to see all of the familiar faces in the starting lineup. Fred, Ben Olsen, and Marc Burch all stayed home from the trip, With that in mind, I’d expect to see the following lineup:

GK: Kocic
D: Namoff, Janicki, Jakovic
M: Wallace, Simms, Gomez, Jacobsen, Pontius
F: Emilio, Quaranta

Avery John is a possibility in the back, pushing Jakovic to the middle for Janicki, and Jaime Moreno would be the first attacking option off the bench.

The Wizards are in 4th in the East and 7th overall, with 10 points from 7 matches. They’re 2-0-1 at home, the loss coming in the season opener to Toronto. United, tied for 1st in the East and tied for 3rd overall, have won two consecutive matches in the league, and are undefeated in their last three. Their only loss this season has come on the road (2-1 at Real Salt Lake).

The key for United tonight is going to be how the bench players fill in for the starters. Coming off the bench for 30 minutes and performing is not as difficult as starting and playing well for 60 to 90 minutes. The true test of depth for this team is nights like this when we know we’re going to be missing multiple starters and guys that don’t usually get a lot of minutes are plugged in. When all is said and done, I’m expecting at least a point out of this match.

With DC United’s comeback 2-1 win over FC Dallas in the books, the Four Fs looks closer…

Forward
While it’s hard to quibble too much with two second half goals, that this team ever trailed in this match is troubling. Similar to the New England match, DC United had outplayed its opponent, and still found themselves needing to score to level the match. Yes, Ben Olsen rescued them in stoppage against the Revs, and Jaime Moreno rescued them Saturday night, but should the team have required rescuing in either case? Coming from behind to salvage points feels great in the stands and while watching on TV, but it’s maddening from an overall perspective. There are only so many times DC can get away with it, and one of these matches they just aren’t going to be able to do it, at which point we’ll be left blaming the finishing, poor crosses, or Rod Dyachenko for the loss. In truth, this team does need to increase its finishing proficiency, especially when dominating the match, or else these 1-0 deficits that have been turning into 1-1 draws and 2-1 wins are going to become 1-0 and 2-0 losses.

First Off The Bench
It was a virtuoso performance by Jaime Moreno that brought DC United back from the depths. He’s healthy again, he was definitely rested after not playing in New York, and he was without question the man of the match. I felt like I was watching blond #9 Jaime again, and that feeling is one I’d like to have more often. While we can’t expect this from Jaime on a weekly basis, we should soak up his performance on Saturday night and hold it as one of his best ever considering the circumstances in which it came (the deficit, the win, that he isn’t exactly a spring chicken anymore).

Flank Play
Could the insertion of Christian Gomez as a second half sub be something we see a little more often? He was one of the game changing players from my perspective, brought in to hold the ball a little more, distribute it a little more wisely, and he also has a little experience playing the position. We’ve visited the issue over whether it’s wise to start Ben Olsen, Moreno, and Gomez all at once because you’re locking yourself in to subbing all or some of them before the initial kickoff. Yes, while Santino Quaranta and Chris Pontius have proved at least servicable in the central attacking midfielder role, it’s evident that they don’t bring as much to the table as Gomez. That said, it may be worth it, especially against the lesser competition of MLS, to try to rest Gomez for a match here and there and only bring him off the bench if necessary.

Final Score
The troubling lack of finishing and wasting of possession aside, it’s still a win and three points in the most crucial column of all. We shouldn’t be jumping up and down for joy, but perhaps a bound or two could be allowed because this team is tied for first in the East and tied for third overall in MLS. I’ll just leave it at that.

Saturday night, DC United faces a tied-for-last-overall FC Dallas team for the second time this year. The difference, of course, is that this match matters in the scheme of the MLS season. That isn’t to say that the US Open Cup qualifier didn’t matter, but progress toward the playoffs is more important than progress in the USOC.

FC Dallas sit on 4 points from 6 matches and are tied with Los Angeles for last in the Western Conference, though the Galaxy have played one less match. The most dangerous player on the side is forward Kenny Cooper, he of 4 goals, representing 66% of his team’s output. Other recognizable attacking players are Jeff Cunningham (104 goals all time), and Dave van den Bergh, former Red Bull. All together it isn’t a roster that inspires a lot of fear, and that’s part of the potential problem.

Still riding high coming off of their 3-2 comeback win at the death at Giants Stadium, DC United are mid-table, but have only suffered one loss all year. Some of the injured from last weekend (Gomez, N’Silu) are off of the injured list, and Jaime Moreno is probable. The pressure to stop the aforementioned Cooper is going to fall mostly to whoever the starting center back is for United, likely Dejan Jakovic. Thankfully Cooper isn’t fleet afoot. Does Moreno move into the starting lineup? Does Ben Olsen need anymore rest? Does Avery John see any time on the pitch?

One thing’s for sure, we could be in for another rainy night at RFK. Bring your sandwich bags!

I was there, in the stands in Giants Stadium, and now I’m back. There is a lot to do to catch up around here, and here’s what’s on the coming agenda:

- Preview of DC United v. FC Dallas
- Four Fs of DC United v. FC Dallas
- Analysis of Washington Freedom to this point
- MLS Statistical Analysis 2.1a and 2.1b, just like last year’s offense and defense & goalkeeping, before the whole domain snafu.
- Completion and release of Quarter Volley Local Soccer Calendar

Watch this space.

DC United fought back from a 1-0 deficit to earn a 1-1 draw in the dying moments of the game against the visiting New England Revolution. The Four Fs look deeper.

Forward
It stings a little to come away from this match with just a point. I felt that DC United were the better side in the first half and overall, and that feeling is stronger when seeing that United outshot the Revs 20-4, and Louis Crayton only faced two shots on goal. Of course, sadly, he only saved one of those aforementioned shots on goal, and that put DC behind. I was concerned that the team was not going to be able to recover, outplaying their opposition and still finding themselves behind. I’m glad to have been wrong, as the team, buoyed by the fire of Ben Olsen (more on him in a moment), fought back to salvage the point, and nearly took home all three if not for Fred going just wide from distance and Jakovic’s diving header being blocked by a Revs defender on what proved to be the final touches of the match. The point doesn’t feel quite like a win, but it would have been a shame for United to play as well as they did and come away completely empty handed.

First Off The Bench
There are two enduring images from this match in my mind. One that I saw live, and one that I didn’t see until I watched the DVR recording. First is Ben Olsen coming back at Wells Thompson after Thompson fouled him in the corner with a needless and unnecessary push (you might even call it cheap, with Thompson making no effort to play the ball.) They both earned yellow cards for the exchange, Thompson’s coming for the push (and he had the nerve to hold his arms out as if questioning why he was receiving the yellow), and Olsen’s presumably for grabbing Thompson’s shirt and whatever he may have said to Thompson over the intervening AR’s shoulder. Thinking simply, it was an unnecessary yellow for Olsen to take as Thompson was getting a yellow either way, and Olsen had won the free kick. That said, it smacked of a basketball coach taking a technical foul as a way of firing up his players or refocusing them on the matter at hand. He didn’t have to earn that yellow, but he had to earn it.

The second enduring image came when I zipped through the DVR recording. Olsen and Thompson had gone at it before the mutual yellow exchange, and I imagine Thompson’s smirky grin as Olsen went after him only made Ben even more angry and resolute. I was glad to see that it was Thompson who Olsen beat to score the goal, and I was even happier to see that after Olsen and Thompson fell to the ground and slid out of bounds, Olsen got up and stood over a prone Thompson, delivering a verbal message even as Santino Quaranta tugged at him in celebration. Just desserts for Thompson, and the last laugh for Olsen. I don’t know who was elected as man of the match for United, but if it was anyone but Ben Olsen then there was an egregious error.

Flank Play
I’ve praised Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace in this space, especially Pontius after his debut, for their play on the wing. However, with a glut of wing players on this team that are presumably all healthy (Pontius, Wallace, Quaranta, Fred, Khumalo…), they cannot afford to produce so little at that position as they did tonight. Yes, they are rookies and probably only are going to get better, but I cannot recall a time where they were very integral in a build up, or made a crucial successful final pass. Pontius’ lack of production and awful finishing was not as glaring as Wallace’s subpar crosses or his error that set up the Revolution goal. With Steve Ralston sending a ball from the left into the area, two Revs players lurked as threats – Kenny Mansally and Shalrie Joseph. Wallace was closest to Mansally, goal side of him but with at least three yards between them. Andrew Jacobsen was directly behind and within touching distance of Mansally, but Joseph was his mark, 2 yards from him. Wallace watched the ball fly over him without getting any closer to Mansally, forcing Jacobsen to go to Mansally, the attacker closest to the ball, leaving Joseph to come in behind Jacobsen unmarked to head in the first goal of the match. Was it a save that could have been made? Maybe. But the responsibility in my eyes goes to Wallace for not marking his man and watching the ball. Neither he nor Pontius brought much to the table tonight, and they’re going to have to perform better to hold onto their jobs with healthy veterans behind them.

Final Score
In the end, United were 90 seconds from coming away with nothing and managed to earn a draw. Ben Olsen was the spark that may have been missing at Salt Lake (but that we can’t expect to see every week), Jacobsen showed flashes of positivity, and United are at least temporarily lifted into a tie for 3rd in the conference. DC were the better team tonight, and sometimes the better team loses. Instead, this team fought to the end and earned a point tonight, and this point is worth more than just one tally in the standings.

At kickoff of DC United’s rare Friday night match against New England, we’ll get our first look this season at what the team does when it comes off of a loss. The loss at Salt Lake on the weekend was hard to swallow, yet not all that surprising considering the way United played. We’ve got to hope that the team, at the very least, plays better than they did on Saturday.

New England comes in as the 2nd place team in the Eastern Conference, undefeated with a 2-1-0 record (we put draws in the second spot here, readers), one point adrift of first place Chicago, and tied for 4th overall in points. Taylor Twellman is among a number of players listed as out for the match, and Goalkeeper Matt “Sagat” Reis is listed as questionable. If Reis does not go, DC United players should be safe from knee-to-head contact.

With each passing match, we seem to see another United player return to the fold. Defender Greg Janicki is listed as probable, and hopefully will be fully healthy for the first time since his cranial collision with Devon McTavish. Jaime Moreno, absent due to red card suspension for the Real Salt Lake match, returns, and Ben Olsen looks likely to be back as well. Even early in the season we can use all the healthy bodies we can get.

What I’d like to see from this team is a little more willingness to shoot, particularly if a relatively inexperienced goalkeeper (Brad Knighton, 2 MLS starts) is patrolling the 18 for New England. You can’t score if you don’t shoot, and last week at Salt Lake we didn’t see much of either. We know that this team is imperfect, and we know that there will be other losses this season, so it will be extremely important to stem the tide of a losing streak by earning points after those losses.

RioTinto Stadium was the scene of DC United’s first loss of the year, a 2-1 defeat to Real Salt Lake. The Four Fs takes a closer look…

Forward
I would feel better about this loss if the offense hadn’t looked so anemic. Generating six shots, putting only two of them on frame, is not the stuff that wins are made of. To put it in further perspective, Louis Crayton made as many saves as United had shots overall. United had a number of corner kicks, yes, but too many of them failed to clear the first defender. Once Salt Lake leveled the match, my initial thought was that hopefully they could hang on for the draw. Once Salt Lake took the lead, I knew that there was no chance that United were going to salvage the point. It was one of those games.

First Off The Bench
Until all of our defensive midfielders and fullbacks are healthy and can play together for stretches of games at a time, I am accepting of the fact there will be lapses due to lack of communication or what have you. That does not excuse the criminal marking at the back, especially on long balls over the top from the flank, struck from the furthest-from-goal half of the United defensive half of the field. Time after time Robbie Findley and Yura Movsisyan were unmarked, drifting away from the back of a defender or just running unimpeded. Principally I remember when Findley had a header that was an easy save for Crayton because it was not well-placed, and Movsisyan striking the bar with a header, as times where United should have been punished, but escaped unscathed.

Flank Play
Is there nobody capable on this side of taking a dead ball from 35+ yards? Marc Burch, still riding his USOC success, is not getting the job done when it comes to quality service. Certainly someone else can just put the ball into the area around the penalty spot. It doesn’t have to have a wicked swerve or tremendous velocity. All I’m asking is that someone clear the first defender and give our guys an opportunity to go get it, instead of inadvertently setting up the counter attack for the opposition.

Final Score
I keep trying to come up with positives about this match, but I really can’t. That isn’t to say that it’s all doom and gloom, the sky is falling, and Soylent Green is people; it’s just that this was a singular poor match for DCU. The Pontius Excitement assist for Luciano Emilio’s finish was the high point of the night, and now the club will just need to regroup over the short week for New England on Friday night. It’s a loss, and they didn’t deserve to win.