MLS attendance report: Aug. 30, 2010

The Week 22 numbers look like this…

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:

My disclaimer about the capacity calculations

For my calculations, I’ve taken the 3 teams playing in Amercan football stadiums, DCU in RFK, Houston in Robertson and New England in Foxboro and assigned maximum capacities at 22,500. I took the 22,500 number from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use.

• Philly’s first two home games were played at Lincoln Financial Field. The announced capacity for the Union was published as 38,000 and will be calculated as such.
• San Jose’s 4th match in 2009 was at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and drew over 15,800. Their 7th match was also at OAC and they drew over 17,100. Their 11th was part of a doubleheader with Barcelona and drew over 61,500.Observations

  Columbus drew 16,700+ for its match with streaking Dallas. A full house in Toronto. Red Bulls draw 21,800+. The Rapids seem to only draw on July 4, only 11,511 turned out. Over 20,000 at HDC for the Galaxy. The usual packed house in Seattle, 36,000+. Chivas USA continues to struggle at the gate with 12,500 coming out on Sunday night.

  Rookie Watch: Jack McInerney scored for the Union. Zach Loyd named Man of the Match for Dallas. Andy Najar showed why he’s going to be a star.

  Kai Kamara, on my preseason ‘watch list'(bottom of post) got an assist vs LA. Joel Lindpere had a strong match in RBNY’s victory.

  Week 22 Games
  Columbus	0	Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
  FC Dallas	0	3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
  Toronto	0	TFC Connected
  Real Salt Lake	0	RSL – Behind the Shield
  New England	1	Revolution Soccer
  Philadelphia	2	Philadelphia Union Talk
  RBNY	2	Red Bulls Reader
  San Jose	0	San Jose Center Line Soccer
  Colorado	3	Undercurrent
  Houston	0	Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
  Los Angeles	0	LA – Official Blog
  Kansas City	2	Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
  Seattle	2	Seattle Times
  Chicago	1	Chicago Fire Confidential
  Chivas USA	1	Chicago Fire Confidential
  DC United	0	DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider

  GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GFA	GAA	PPG	PTS	GD
  Los Angeles	22	13	4	5	32	16	1.45	0.73	1.95	43	16
  Columbus	22	12	5	5	31	20	1.41	0.91	1.86	41	11
  Real Salt Lake	22	11	7	4	36	16	1.64	0.73	1.82	40	20
  Dallas	21	9	10	2	28	17	1.33	0.81	1.76	37	11
  NY Red Bull	22	11	4	7	27	23	1.23	1.05	1.68	37	4
  Seattle	22	9	5	8	25	26	1.14	1.18	1.45	32	-1
  Colorado	21	8	7	6	25	21	1.19	1.00	1.48	31	4
  San Jose	20	8	5	7	22	22	1.10	1.10	1.45	29	0
  Toronto FC	21	7	6	8	22	25	1.05	1.19	1.29	27	-3
  Kansas City	21	7	5	9	21	23	1.00	1.10	1.24	26	-2
  Chicago	19	6	6	7	27	28	1.42	1.47	1.26	24	-1
  Houston	22	6	5	11	27	36	1.23	1.64	1.05	23	-9
  Chivas USA	21	6	4	11	23	26	1.10	1.24	1.05	22	-3
  New England	21	6	3	12	21	35	1.00	1.67	1.00	21	-14
  Philadelphia	21	5	5	11	25	37	1.19	1.76	0.95	20	-12
  DC United	22	4	3	15	15	36	0.68	1.64	0.68	15	-21

  Streaking

  • RSL are unbeaten in their last 21 regular season home games.
  • Dallas are unbeaten in their last 12 games.
  • Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 10 road games, an MLS record.
  • Colorado are unbeaten in their last 6 home games.
  • Houston are winless in their last 8 road games. And they’ve been scoreless in their last 4 road games.
  • Seattle are unbeaten in their last 6 games.

  MLS Throw Ins

  • LA is the only club to have earned more than 50% of its points on the road.
  • There have been 42 draws compared to 52 in ’09 thru the first 170 matches.
  • There have been 106 clean sheets in the first 170 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
  • Through 162 games: goal scoring is down around 6.0% from 2009, 2.39 vs 2.55.
  • RSL has lost only twice in its last 40 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
  • DC United have yielded 14 goals in the last 15 minutes.
  • Dallas have not given up more than 1 goal since April 22.
  • San Jose has gone from one the worst allowing late goals in ’09 to the stingiest in ’10(as a percentage of total goals allowed).

  N.A. SuperLiga

  The participants in the 2010 N.A. SuperLiga and their respective finishes in the last completed season are …

  MLS		FMF
  Houston	3	UNAM Pumas	4
  Chicago	5	Monarchas Morelia	7
  Chivas USA	6	Pachuca	8
  New England	7	Puebla	13

  N.A. SuperLiga
  Group A
  W	D	L	Pts	GD
  Houston	2	1	0	7	2
  Puebla	2	0	1	6	2
  Chivas USA	1	1	1	4	0
  Pachuca	0	0	3	0	-5
  Group B
  W	D	L	Pts	GD
  New England	3	0	0	9	3
  Monarchas Morelia	1	1	1	4	3
  Chicago	1	0	2	3	-4
  UNAM Pumas	0	1	2	1	-2

  N.A. SuperLiga Semifinals
  New England(1)(5) v Puebla(1)(3)	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA	Wed, Aug 4
  Houston(0) v Morelia(1)	Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX	Thu, Aug 5

  SuperLiga after Semifinals
  Total	Game Dates	Average
  2007	234,751	14	16,768
  2008	186,148	14	13,296
  2009	86,948	11	7,904
  2010	118,298	12	9,858
  3 Doubleheaders in 2009 – 2 in 2010

  New England will attempt to win its 2nd SuperLiga title on Sept 1 at Gillette Stadium.

  CONCACAF Champions League

  After a good showing for MLS in the first group phase matches, they pulled an oh-for four in the 2nd round.

  • Aug 17 — Toronto 2 Cruz Azul 1
  • Aug 18 — Columbus 1 Municipal 0
  • Aug 18 — Real Salt Lake 2 Arabe Unido 1
  • Aug 19 — Marathón 2 Seattle 1
  • Aug 24 – Arabe Unido 1 Toronto 0
  • Aug 24 – Santos Laguna 1 Columbus 0
  • Aug 25 – Cruz Azul 5 Real Salt Lake 4
  • Aug 25 – Seattle 0 Monterrey 2
    
  • Aug 19 – Marathón v Seattle–>

  Group play continues in two weeks. The matches with MLS teams are(home team listed first) …

  • Sep 14 — Columbus v Joe Public
  • Sep 14 — Saprissa v Seattle
  • Sep 15 — Real Salt Lake v Toronto
  • Sep 21 — Columbus v Santos Laguna
  • Sep 21 — Cruz Azul v Toronto
  • Sep 22 — Arabe Unido v Real Salt Lake
  • Sep 22 — Monterrey v Seattle

  Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

  The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.

  In the semifinals, Columbus will play DC United on Sept 1, 7:30 p.m. ET @ RFK Stadium, Wash, DC and Seattle will play ChivasUSA on Sept 1, 10 p.m. ET @ Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila, WA.

  And here are the possibilities for the location and date of the final.

  The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure

  Congestion

  You can decide if fixture congestion has had an effect so far. Of the clubs that participated in multiple non-league competitions, only Seattle and Toronto have not been bounced out yet. LA crashed out of the CCL and US Open Cup. Chicago and Houston lost in the N.A. SuperLiga and the US Open Cup. Chivas USA lost in SuperLiga but are in the US Open Cup semifinals. New England lost in the US Open Cup but are in the N.A. SuperLiga final. Columbus and RSL have the automatic berths in the group phase of the CCL, but RSL lost in the US Open Cup while Columbus are in the semifinals. It’s a matter for discussion as to whether Seattle had tougher go than Toronto vis-a-vis the Canadien Nutrilite Championship vs the US Open Cup being injected into their schedules.
  TFC and Seattle have the longest stretches without a full week between games. Seattle and RSL have no league matches between their first two CCL games. Seattle however will have to remain very sharp as they have a slim lead over playoff contenders, all of whom have games in hand.

  I think we might see Chivas USA and DC United put full efforts into their Open Cup matches. It’s their only shot at silverware and a berth in the next CCL.

  Fixture Congestion for MLS Teams
  TFC	SEA	CLB	RSL	NE	DCU	CHV
  8/24/10	CCL	CCL
  8/25/10	CCL	CCL
  8/28/10	MLS	MLS	MLS	MLS	MLS
  8/29/10	MLS	MLS
  9/1/10	USOC	USOC	SL	USOC	USOC
  9/4/10	MLS	MLS	MLS	MLS	MLS	MLS	MLS
  Days	12	11	12	11	8	7	7
  Games	3	4	4	3	3	3	3
  Games/Day	4.0	2.8	3.0	3.7	2.7	2.3	2.3
  CCL=CONCACAF Champions League SL=N.A. SuperLiga – USOC=US Open Cup