The Week 24 numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| Week 24 | 186 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2006 | 14,880 | 6 | 15,348 | 15,129 | 159 | |||
| 2007 | 17,987 | 20.88% | 8 | 16,659 | 8.54% | 16,118 | 6.54% | 159 |
| 2008 | 16,016 | -10.95% | 7 | 16,450 | -1.26% | 17,073 | 5.92% | 161 |
| 2009 | 16,148 | 0.82% | 8 | 15,748 | -4.26% | 16,709 | -2.13% | 172 |
| 2010 | 18,444 | 14.22% | 8 | 16,625 | 5.57% | 16,625 | -0.50% | 186 |
| YTD – 186 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2006 | 15,348 | 13,866 | 19.35% | 18.82% |
| 2007 | 16,659 | 15,174 | 8.60% | 28.49% |
| 2008 | 16,450 | 15,078 | 11.29% | 25.27% |
| 2009 | 15,748 | 14,479 | 15.59% | 19.35% |
| 2010 | 16,625 | 14,569 | 6.99% | 22.58% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| Att | Cap % | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap % | Cap | |
| Seattle | 30,587 | 94.40% | 36,167 | 18.24% | 13 | 101.88% | 35,500 |
| Toronto | 20,278 | 92.26% | 20,665 | 1.91% | 13 | 94.03% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 20,072 | 74.34% | 20,224 | 0.76% | 11 | 74.90% | 27,000 |
| Philadelphia | NA | NA | 19,894 | NA | 11 | 90.24% | 18,500 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 12,070 | 47.92% | 17,927 | 48.52% | 12 | 71.17% | 25,189 |
| Real Salt Lake | 16,091 | 78.74% | 16,952 | 5.35% | 12 | 87.65% | 19,340 |
| Houston | 15,938 | 70.84% | 16,895 | 6.01% | 12 | 75.09% | 22,500 |
| Chicago | 13,912 | 69.56% | 15,757 | 13.26% | 11 | 78.79% | 20,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 13,714 | 68.57% | 14,384 | 4.89% | 12 | 71.92% | 20,000 |
| D.C. United | 15,542 | 69.07% | 14,271 | -8.17% | 12 | 63.43% | 22,500 |
| ChivasUSA | 15,673 | 58.05% | 13,792 | -12.00% | 11 | 51.08% | 27,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 12,771 | 70.61% | 12,749 | -0.17% | 11 | 70.49% | 18,086 |
| NE Revolution | 13,221 | 58.76% | 12,070 | -8.71% | 12 | 53.64% | 22,500 |
| FC Dallas | 9,229 | 43.55% | 10,811 | 17.15% | 11 | 51.01% | 21,193 |
| KC Wizards | 10,010 | 96.39% | 10,109 | 0.99% | 11 | 97.34% | 10,385 |
| San Jose | 15,692 | 92.04% | 9,702 | -38.17% | 11 | 94.19% | 10,300 |
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.
Observations
Chicago drew 12,800+ on Wednesday. Big surprise, Seattle filled the house on Thursday. Another big surprise, only 10,700+ for Chivas USA on Friday. Toronto was just under 20,400. 19,000+ were in Harrison for the Red Bulls. A full house at PPL Park for the Union. The Quakes were also at capacity. Nearly 19,500 were at the HDC for the Galaxy.
Rookie Watch: Tim Ream got his first for RBNY. Can’t speak to performances as I have company visiting and couldn’t watch any of the matches.
Joel Lindpere, on my preseason ‘watch list'(bottom of post) assisted on Henry’s goal for RBNY v TFC.
| Week 24 Games | ||
| Chicago | 0 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| Toronto | 0 | TFC Connected |
| Seattle | 0 | Seattle Times |
| Real Salt Lake | 0 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Chivas USA | 2 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| New England | 0 | Revolution Soccer |
| Toronto | 0 | TFC Connected |
| DC United | 1 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
| RBNY | 3 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
| Philadelphia | 1 | Philadelphia Union Talk |
| Chicago | 0 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| San Jose | 0 | San Jose Center Line Soccer |
| FC Dallas | 0 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| Los Angeles | 3 | LA – Official Blog |
| Columbus | 1 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GFA | GAA | PPG | PTS | GD | |
| Los Angeles | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 36 | 18 | 1.50 | 0.75 | 1.96 | 47 | 18 |
| Real Salt Lake | 24 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 37 | 16 | 1.54 | 0.67 | 1.83 | 44 | 21 |
| Columbus | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 33 | 23 | 1.38 | 0.96 | 1.83 | 44 | 10 |
| Dallas | 23 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 29 | 17 | 1.26 | 0.74 | 1.78 | 41 | 12 |
| NY Red Bull | 24 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 30 | 25 | 1.25 | 1.04 | 1.67 | 40 | 5 |
| Colorado | 23 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 29 | 24 | 1.26 | 1.04 | 1.48 | 34 | 5 |
| San Jose | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 23 | 1.09 | 1.05 | 1.50 | 33 | 1 |
| Seattle | 24 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 26 | 29 | 1.08 | 1.21 | 1.38 | 33 | -3 |
| Toronto FC | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 22 | 27 | 0.92 | 1.13 | 1.17 | 28 | -5 |
| Kansas City | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 24 | 1.00 | 1.09 | 1.23 | 27 | -2 |
| Chicago | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 28 | 30 | 1.27 | 1.36 | 1.18 | 26 | -2 |
| Chivas USA | 23 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 25 | 29 | 1.09 | 1.26 | 1.09 | 25 | -4 |
| Philadelphia | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 27 | 38 | 1.17 | 1.65 | 1.04 | 24 | -11 |
| New England | 23 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 24 | 38 | 1.04 | 1.65 | 1.04 | 24 | -14 |
| Houston | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 38 | 1.22 | 1.65 | 1.00 | 23 | -10 |
| DC United | 24 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 16 | 37 | 0.67 | 1.54 | 0.75 | 18 | -21 |
Columbus, RSL and Dallas lost points to LA in the 4 team race for the Supporters’ Shield. Some tasty matches next week. Seattle visits Columbus and the Red Bulls visit Dallas. Chicago missed out taking advantage of its game-in-hand situation by taking only 1 point from 6, but got lucky as Seattle drew. Toronto also did themselves no good by taking only 1 point from 6, including a home loss to league bottom feeders DC United and failing to score in both matches. Three scoreless draws this week. Think playoff pressure is taking hold?
Streaking
- RSL are unbeaten in their last 22 regular season home games.
- Dallas are unbeaten in their last 14 games.
- Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 11 road games, an MLS record.
- Colorado are unbeaten in their last 8 home games.
- Houston are winless in their last 8 road games. And they’ve been scoreless in their last 4 road games.
- New England are winless in their last 9 road games.
MLS Throw Ins
- LA is the only club to have earned more than 50% of its points on the road.
- There have been 47 draws compared to 57 in ’09 thru the first 186 matches.
- There have been 119 clean sheets in the first 186 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
- Through 186 games: goal scoring is down around 8.4% from 2009, 2.34 vs 2.56.
- RSL has lost only twice in its last 41 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 3rd stingiest in ’10(as a percentage of total goals allowed).
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 this week. 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
| CONCACAF Champions League Group Phase | |||||
| Group A | Arabe Unido | RSL | Cruz Azul | Toronto | Home |
| Arabe Unido(PAN) | X | 0 | 0 | 501 | 501 |
| RSL(USA) | 10,626 | X | 0 | 0 | 10,626 |
| Cruz Azul(MEX) | 0 | 6,156 | X | 0 | 6,156 |
| Toronto(CAN) | 0 | 0 | 16,862 | X | 16,862 |
| Away | 10,626 | 6,156 | 16,862 | 501 | |
| Group B | Columbus | Municipal | Santos Laguna | Joe Public | Home |
| Columbus(USA) | X | 5,745 | 0 | 0 | 5,745 |
| Municipal(GUA) | 0 | X | 0 | 2,498 | 2,498 |
| Santos Laguna(MEX) | 4,700 | 0 | X | 0 | 4,700 |
| Joe Public(T&T) | 900 | 0 | 0 | X | 900 |
| Away | 2,800 | 5,745 | 0 | 2,498 | |
| Group C | Monterrey | Saprissa | Seattle | Marathón | Home |
| Monterrey(MEX) | X | 12,042 | 0 | 0 | 12,042 |
| Saprissa(CRC) | 0 | X | 0 | 2,899 | 2,899 |
| Seattle(USA) | 22,513 | 0 | X | 0 | 22,513 |
| Marathón(HON) | 0 | 0 | 1,990 | X | 1,990 |
| Away | 22,513 | 12,042 | 1,990 | 2,899 | |
| Group D | Toluca | Olimpia | Puerto Rico | FAS | Home |
| Toluca(MEX) | X | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Olimpia(HON) | 0 | X | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Puerto Rico(CFU) | 0 | 2,632 | X | 2,050 | 2,341 |
| FAS(SLV) | 3,500 | 0 | 0 | X | 3,500 |
| Away | 3,500 | 2,632 | 0 | 2,050 | |
| No Report on the Toluca/Olimpia match | |||||
The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.
In the semifinals, Columbus defeated DC United and Seattle beat ChivasUSA. Seattle, the defending champion, will host the final at Qwest Field on Tuesday, October 5.
The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure
Fixture Congestion
A rough go for Seattle as their next four matches, 2 MLS and 2 CCL are on the road.
| Fixture Congestion for MLS Teams | ||||
| TFC | SEA | CLB | RSL | |
| 8/24/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 8/25/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 8/28/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| 8/29/10 | ||||
| 9/1/10 | USOC | USOC | ||
| 9/4/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| 9/8/10 | MLS | |||
| 9/9/10 | MLS | MLS | ||
| 9/11/10 | MLS | |||
| 9/14/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/15/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/18/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| 9/21/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/22/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/25/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| Days | 33 | 32 | 33 | 32 |
| Games | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Games/Day | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| CCL=CONCACAF Champions League – USOC=US Open Cup | ||||
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