What Each Goalkeeper Needs to do to Advance in the Challenge Cup
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MLS Is Back: Week One Highs And Lows
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My excellent colleagues at ASA have done some terrific work in rolling out Goals Added (g+) the past couple months, putting out methodology articles, and finding new and creative ways to assess player performance on the pitch through this metric. We highly recommend you read the articles linked above, but g+ is the model we built to assign value to every single on-ball action that happens in a soccer game. The return of MLS has given us at ASA the first extended period of which to use this g+ data since the league’s restart, so through the medium of video analysis I will be looking at some of the major actions of g+ during the first week of action. I’ll be giving context to the numbers behind it: where the players did well, where they did poorly, and why g+ afforded them the values they were given!
Read MoreThe Most Interesting Teams in the NWSL Challenge Cup So Far
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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.
Read MoreRanking the Top 10 Defenses in MLS History
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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.
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NWSL Challenge Cup Goalkeeper Power Rankings: Round Two
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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.
Read MoreASA's New Interactive Tables
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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.
Read MorePiercing the MLS Is Back Bubble
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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.
Read MoreNWSL Challenge Cup Goalkeeper Power Rankings
/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.
Read MoreNWSL Mini-Previews: Washington SpiriT and Houston Dash
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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.
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