July 15, 2020

The Most Interesting Teams in the NWSL Challenge Cup So Far

July 15, 2020/ ASA Staff

The preliminary rounds of the Challenge Cup are wrapped up. The seeds are set.

While the first few games saw teams experiment with styles of play and roster rotation (at least for some teams), teams now have to put the pieces together as the knockout rounds begin. We looked at the performances of a couple teams to see where they’re succeeding, and more importantly, what they need to improve upon to be successful in their knockout matches. Here's a look at four of the teams we found most interesting thus far.

July 14, 2020

Ranking the Top 10 Defenses in MLS History

July 14, 2020/ Jared Young

The accuracy of Paul Bryant’s mantra “defense wins championships” has long been debated. A more defendable line would have been “defense improves your chance of winning championships,” but no one was ever quoted for being overly precise. However the phrasing, a dig through the archives of Major League Soccer history reveals the old adage still has merit. There have been 41 teams in the league’s 24 regular seasons that allowed 1.1 goals per game or fewer. All 41 of those teams made the playoffs.

41 of 41.

100 percent.

Seven of those teams lifted the MLS Cup, a pretty darn good return of one every six times. Defense might not win championships, but it certainly appears to improve the odds.

July 10, 2020

NWSL Challenge Cup Goalkeeper Power Rankings: Round Three

July 10, 2020/ Bill Reno

We’ve made it through round three of the NWSL Challenge Cup and there’s a new top dog in the house, with some solid performances from new faces! Be sure to catch up on our round one and round two recaps, but round three was the strongest round by far for goalkeepers, so let’s get into it.

July 08, 2020

NWSL Challenge Cup Goalkeeper Power Rankings: Round Two

July 08, 2020/ Bill Reno

Two rounds down, two more to go, and then the real action starts: knockout rounds! Read up on last week’s goalkeeping round up here, if you’re a true goalkeeping nerd.

1.) Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars) - Naeher wasn’t featured against the Portland Thorns. Return later in the week for a recap on round three or scroll down to see how Emily Boyd and Cassie Miller did in her stead.

July 07, 2020

ASA's New Interactive Tables

July 07, 2020/ Tyler Richardett

Last Saturday, the North Carolina Courage’s Denise O’Sullivan ushered in the return of professional team sports in the United States after several months, with the first strike of the ball in this summer’s NWSL Challenge Cup. At roughly the same time, we haphazardly struck a few keys on our computers, proudly ushering in a set of exciting changes to ASA’s interactive application. This allowed us to share some new features, most importantly NWSL data and our goals added (g+) values for all players in all seasons for which we have data.

July 06, 2020

Piercing the MLS Is Back Bubble

July 06, 2020/ ASA Staff

If there is one thing that 2020 has taught us so far, it’s that viruses are incredibly difficult to defeat, and that the math around them is difficult to calculate and convey -- much, much more difficult to create and understand than, say, an expected goals model in soccer. This is why months after COVID-19 emerged experts are still arguing over the data related to testing, cases, and hospitalizations, not to mention treatment options.

We are not epidemiologists, but we do like our data. While there probably should not be an MLS is Back tournament in Orlando starting this week, at this point there will be, and once again the math is causing problems for MLS. While MLS HQ fixed the issues with how teams advance out of groups, COVID-19 in the Disney World MLS bubble (The Bubble) is not solved so easily.

July 02, 2020

NWSL Challenge Cup Goalkeeper Power Rankings

July 02, 2020/ Bill Reno

Round one of the NWSL Challenge Cup didn’t give us much time to rest, and round two kicked off just 10 hours after the opening round’s conclusion. For this recurring string of posts, we’ll be looking at the goalkeepers’ performances in the tournament and (power) ranking each one’s chances of being named the Challenge Cup’s best goalkeeper. At the end of the tournament, we’ll name ASA’s top goalkeeper of the tournament. We’re in the early stages right now so it’s still anyone’s game, but here are the NWSL Challenge Cup goalkeeper power rankings after round one.

June 24, 2020

NWSL Mini-Previews: Washington SpiriT and Houston Dash

June 24, 2020/ Drew Olsen

The time has come. This weekend, the NWSL will return as the first professional sports league in the United States to take the field since the COVID-19 pandemic began. After writing previews since before the Challenge Cup was even announced (here are parts one and two), we’re excited to share our final set on the last three teams in the league.

June 18, 2020

NWSL Mini-Previews: OL Reign, Portland Thorns, and Utah Royals FC

June 18, 2020/ Arielle Dror and Lydia Vandenbergh

In the time since the first round of mini-previews, the 2020 NWSL season has taken the form of a short tournament called The Challenge Cup, which is to be played from the end of June until the end of July. Many questions remain about how the competition will shape up, including which players will ultimately choose to participate. In this edition of mini-previews, we travel out west to preview OL Reign, Portland Thorns, and Utah Royals FC. From name changes to significant roster overhauls to new coaching staff, each of these teams has something new in store for the upcoming season.

May 13, 2020

Goals Added: Recap and Roundtable

May 13, 2020/ Alex Bartiromo

Hi everyone, welcome to our 2020 ASA Goals Added coronavirus roundtable spectacular!! In this roundtable, you will have a chance to read about the hottest new innovation in the analytics world, already spawning imitators across the world before it’s even rolled out. But what is Goals Added (g+) and what can it teach us about the beautiful game that past metrics weren’t able to? To discuss this topic, we have some of the world’s foremost experts, the people who built the dang thing. Welcome, everybody!

Let’s start from the beginning. Readers can read about the g+ model and what it measures. What are the origins of this project and why did you start working on it? I read somewhere that it has been in the works for five years! Has it evolved over that period? Are you asking the same questions you were then? What does g+ allow us to do that we weren’t able to before?

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