The Week 9 numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| Week 9 | 71 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2006 | 20,417 | 5 | 15,546 | 16,402 | 52 | |||
| 2007 | 15,773 | -22.75% | 6 | 15,314 | -1.49% | 15,139 | -7.70% | 59 |
| 2008 | 15,849 | 0.48% | 8 | 15,405 | 0.60% | 17,270 | 14.07% | 63 |
| 2009 | 15,113 | -4.65% | 7 | 14,873 | -3.46% | 15,131 | -12.38% | 68 |
| 2010 | 18,379 | 21.61% | 7 | 16,398 | 10.25% | 16,398 | 8.37% | 71 |
| YTD – 71 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2006 | 15,546 | 14,473 | 18.57% | 15.71% |
| 2007 | 15,314 | 14,351 | 11.27% | 22.54% |
| 2008 | 15,405 | 14,919 | 15.49% | 25.35% |
| 2009 | 14,873 | 14,271 | 16.90% | 16.90% |
| 2010 | 16,398 | 13,667 | 14.08% | 25.35% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| Att | Cap % | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap % | Cap | |
| Seattle | 29,468 | 90.95% | 36,113 | 22.55% | 6 | 101.73% | 35,500 |
| Philadelphia | NA | NA | 29,954 | NA | 2 | 78.83% | 18,500 |
| Toronto | 20,282 | 92.28% | 20,144 | -0.68% | 4 | 91.66% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 19,139 | 70.88% | 19,397 | 1.35% | 5 | 71.84% | 27,000 |
| Houston | 15,641 | 69.51% | 17,207 | 10.02% | 6 | 76.48% | 22,500 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 10,792 | 42.85% | 16,740 | 55.11% | 5 | 66.46% | 25,189 |
| D.C. United | 14,561 | 64.72% | 14,954 | 2.69% | 5 | 66.46% | 22,500 |
| Real Salt Lake | 13,451 | 59.44% | 14,950 | 11.14% | 4 | 77.30% | 19,340 |
| Chicago | 10,901 | 54.51% | 14,937 | 37.03% | 3 | 74.69% | 20,000 |
| ChivasUSA | 14,555 | 53.91% | 14,501 | -0.37% | 5 | 53.71% | 27,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 13,263 | 66.31% | 13,271 | 0.06% | 4 | 66.35% | 20,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 11,037 | 61.02% | 10,484 | -5.01% | 3 | 57.97% | 18,086 |
| NE Revolution | 11,511 | 51.16% | 10,120 | -12.09% | 5 | 44.98% | 22,500 |
| KC Wizards | 9,431 | 90.81% | 9,840 | 4.33% | 5 | 94.75% | 10,385 |
| FC Dallas | 9,417 | 44.43% | 9,671 | 2.70% | 5 | 45.63% | 21,193 |
| San Jose | 11,273 | 39.06% | 9,514 | -15.60% | 4 | 92.37% | 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
The Red Bulls had another disappointing turnout for the Crew’s visit, pulling in under 12,000. I would say the same for Dallas, but since it’s Dallas, anything over 10,000 is a plus. Seattle and Toronto had their usual sellout crowds. And Houston drew a fantastic crowd of over 24,400. ChivasUSA had another average gate, but Kansas City sold out CAB.
Rookie Watch: Tony Tchani scored his first pro goal for RBNY in a losing effort. Irving Garcia was dynamic and Conner Chinn scored in RBNY’s friendly vs Juventus.
| Week 9 Games | ||
| RBNY | 1 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Columbus | 3 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| FC Dallas | 0 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| Los Angeles | 1 | LA – Official Blog |
| Toronto | 1 | TFC Connected |
| New England | 0 | Revolution Soccer |
| Seattle | 0 | Seattle Times |
| San Jose | 1 | San Jose Center Line Soccer |
| Houston | 2 | Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz |
| DC United | 0 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
| Chivas USA | 1 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| Real Salt Lake | 2 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Kansas City | 0 | Kansas City – Hillcrest Road |
| Columbus | 1 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GFA | GAA | PPG | PTS | GD | |
| Los Angeles | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 1.60 | 0.20 | 2.60 | 26 | 14 |
| Columbus | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 6 | 1.75 | 0.75 | 2.50 | 20 | 8 |
| Real Salt Lake | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 10 | 1.89 | 1.11 | 1.78 | 16 | 7 |
| San Jose | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 1.50 | 0.88 | 2.00 | 16 | 5 |
| Houston | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 10 | 1.40 | 1.00 | 1.60 | 16 | 4 |
| NY Red Bull | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 1.00 | 1.33 | 1.67 | 15 | -3 |
| Colorado | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 1.13 | 0.88 | 1.63 | 13 | 2 |
| Toronto FC | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 1.33 | 1.44 | 1.44 | 13 | -1 |
| Seattle | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 0.90 | 1.30 | 1.20 | 12 | -4 |
| Dallas | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 1.11 | 1.11 | 1.22 | 11 | 0 |
| Chivas USA | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 1.10 | 1.40 | 1.00 | 10 | -3 |
| Chicago | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 1.38 | 1.50 | 1.13 | 9 | -1 |
| Kansas City | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 1.00 | 1.13 | 1.00 | 8 | -1 |
| New England | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 1.00 | 1.50 | 0.80 | 8 | -5 |
| Philadelphia | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 1.00 | 2.14 | 0.57 | 4 | -8 |
| DC United | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 0.44 | 2.00 | 0.33 | 3 | -14 |
Streaking
- FC Dallas’ unbeaten home streak ended at 12.
- TFC has not lost at home in 10 straight.
- TFC is winless in 13 straight road games(4 draws).
- RSL are unbeaten in their last 14 regular season home games.
- Los Angeles have yet to yield a goal on the road(5 games).
- Los Angeles and San Jose have not yielded a goal in 4 games.
MLS Throw Ins
- Two teams remain unbeaten, Columbus and Los Angeles.
- There have been 13 draws compared to 29 in ’09 thru the first 71 matches.
- There have been 46 clean sheets in the first 71 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2
- Through 71 games: goal scoring is slightly down from 2009, 2.44 vs 2.55.
- RSL has lost only twice in its last 33 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
Going to World Cup Camp
These are the MLS players that are now heading to their respective countries’ pre-World Cup camps. The columns represent the games that will be played by their MLS teams during their absences. The only dead bang sure thing player that will be going to South Africa is Landon Donovan, although I think it would also be safe to say that Roger Espinoza(Honduras) and Andrew Boyens(New Zealand) will make their final squads. Did I forget anyone?
| On Provisional WC Rosters | |||
| Players | Team | 5/29 | 6/25 |
| Buddle, Donovan | LA | 2 | 5 |
| Bornstein, Klejstan | CHV | 2 | 4 |
| Marshall, Rogers | CLB | 3 | 6 |
| Ching | HOU | 2 | 5 |
| Pearce | FCD | 2 | 4 |
| Findley | RSL | 2 | 5 |
| Espinoza | KC | 2 | 5 |
| Boyens | RBNY | 2 | 5 |
| Final Roster submissions – June 1 | |||
| 5/29=last US Friendly before June 1 | |||
| 6/25 – End of WC Group Phase | |||
Getting Friendly
| This Week’s Friendlies | ||||
| Opponents | Venue | Date | Event | ATT |
| Boca Jrs v LA | Home Depot Center, LA, CA | Sun, May 23 | Friendly | 18,268 |
| Juventus v RBNY | Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ | Sun, May 23 | Friendly | 18,731 |
| Panathinaikos v Benfica | BMO Field, Toronto | Sun, May 23 | Friendly | 8,000 * |
| Fiorentina v Montreal Impact | Saputo Stadium, Montreal | Sun, May 23 | Friendly | 8,094 |
| Czech v Turkey | Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ | Sat, May 22 | Friendly | 16,371 |
| Paris St Germain v Chicago Legia Warsaw v Red Star Belgrade |
Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL | Sat, May 22 | Chi Sister Cities Cup | 12,234 |
| Paris St Germain v Chicago Legia Warsaw v Red Star Belgrade |
Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL | Wed, May 19 | Chi Sister Cities Cup | 9,254 |
| Benfica v NE | Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA | Wed, May 19 | Friendly | 12,735 |
| total | 103,687 | |||
| average | 12,961 | |||
* – approximate attendance grabbed from Portuguese report. – 6 friendlies scheduled for the upcoming week.
The MLS play-in matches for the Open are down to the final matches that will determine the teams that will join the top 6 league finishers in 2009. Seattle are the defending cup holders, and as such will compete in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League. Two teams will emerge from the group of Colorado, RSL, DCU and RBNY to join the 6 that automatically qualified.
- Colorado Rapids defeated the Kansas City Wizards 2-1.
- Real Salt Lake beat the San Jose Earthquakes on PK’s 5-3 after playing to a 3-3 score.
- New York Red Bulls downed Philadelphia 2-1.
- DC United beat FC Dallas 4-2, the 2nd year in a row that DCU eliminates FCD.
- New York Red Bulls downed New England 3-0.
The structure for the tourney has been finalized. Round 1 begins June 15, Round 2 June 22, Round 3(when the 8 MLS teams join in) June 29.
In case you were wondering, here is the World Cup schedule(June 11-July 11). Note that the latest start time(ET) is 2pm.
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