New England is Revolting

Well, another good news, bad news type of game. Our defense remains really really really good. Our offense remains really really flat. Predictable. I guess the opposite of clinical would be unclinical, so unclinical in the final third. Really just sort of blah stuff, even though the chances are there.

I sort of feel like New England came out in almost a 4-6-0 and didn't put on any strikers until over an hour in, so in that sense I think their game plan worked. Keep it clogged in the middle, force us wide, and hope new legs can run at a tired defense.

I know a lot of people were upset at home much the Revs players were cramping up and going down, but really, in that heat and that kind of match, some cramping would be expected. I'm sure some of it was gamesmanship, but nothing was too outrageous for me. The ref did have three crazy non-calls on what looked to be a horrible application of the advantage rule, but all in all I thought the ref and linesmen had good games as well. No one to blame for that result except our attackers, and maybe Vermes, who kept his starting 11 so unchanged during the first eight games I think a lot of people thought he was crazy. Now that he's switching things up a lot, maybe he was on to something. I'd like to see Cesar starting more, as well as switching between CJ and Teal.

But, anyways, first, some game photos. It was really damn hot so I took a little while to walk around the stadium and snap some photos of our lovely little home. I also moved from the north stand to to east cauldron to the south stand throughout the game to get some new vantage points and, as much as I love the Cauldron, I may want to get "good" seats next year. I really enjoyed venturing out amongst the "normal" folks.

I've noticed that my photography seems to have gotten wose since I got a digital camera, but I really don't wanna drop a grand+ on a new digital SLR, so if any one know's a good camera in the $200-$200 range, let me know. Otherwise, I'm seriously thinking about going back to film...

Anyway, on to the ratings. A pretty big three way tie this week among SKC and New England. Reis, Collin, and Harrington share the honors, all coming up big defnesively, but you know what? I'm gonna give it to Mikey. He filled in on the back line really well and did a good job coming forward. For the most part his service was really good and I honestly felt like he could have been even more involved had Collin not overlooked him a few times. I think the ratings also show Kansas City had a slightly better game, which I felt was the case. Tough to not get three points at home against New England.

New England
Matt Reis	6.3
AJ Soares	5.8
Chris Tierney	6.0
Kevin Alston	5.5
Darrius Barnes	4.0
Lee Nguyen	5.0
Shalrie Jopseh	5.0
Benny Feilhauber	4.7
Kelyn Rowe	4.2
Stephen McCarthy	5.0
Fernando Cardenas	4.2
Ryan Guy	4.7
Saer Sene	4.2
Blake Brettschneider	4.2
Team Average	4.9
Sporting Kansas City
Jimmy Nielsen	6.0
Aurelien Collin	6.3
Seth Sinovic	5.8
Lawrence Olum	4.2
Matt Besler	5.8
Michael Harrington	6.3
Michael Thomas	4.2
Graham Zusi	5.3
Jacob Peterson	4.5
Paolo Nagamura	4.7
Bobby Convey	4.7
Kei Kamara	4.5
CJ Sapong	4.5
Soony Saad	4.2
Team Average	5.1

So take a bow, Mr. Harrington, I think it's excellent to have a guy like you coming off the bench when needed. A starter anywhere else in the league in my book.

Jesus christ, it's more power ratings! Get in the car!

Yeah, I didn't think I'd be doing this on such a quick turn either, but it was a crazy enough weekend that I wanted to see what would happened if I plugged in some numbers. I've also got three beers to kill before the night is over, and toiling over spreadsheets seems as good a past time as any.

Here's how things shook out. No real surprises I don't think. RSL still on top. Seattle maybe should be below Vancouver, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Week… 15.5? 16 rev -1?
Team	Rank	Weekly Δ	Rating	Weekly Δ
Salt Lake City	1	NC	5.933	-0.290
San Jose	2	+2	7.000	0.286
DC	3	+2	7.133	0.438
Kansas City	4	-2	7.200	-0.129
New York	5	-2	7.533	-0.390
Seattle	6	NC	8.867	-0.652
Vancouver	7	NC	8.867	0.062
Chicago	8	+2	10.133	0.295
Houston	9	NC	10.333	-0.119
Columbus	10	+1	10.467	0.390
Colorado	11	-3	10.667	-0.595
Chivas	12	NC	12.867	0.419
LA	13	+2	13.000	0.643
New England	14	-1	13.200	0.157
Portland	15	-1	13.733	-0.162
Montreal	16	NC	13.867	-0.224
Dallas	17	NC	14.733	-0.448
Philadelphia	18	NC	14.933	-0.362
Toronto	19	NC	18.733	0.267

Once more, a tip of the electronic hat to RSL for their place at the top of the rankings. Here's top hoping their slide continues.



Work is a terrible way to make a living.

Gah! I meant to update this at the beginning of the week and got totally sidetracked with actual work. Leaving my laptop in the the lab like a chump. Annoying. Now I can't pretend like my whole "system" is actually working. Oh well.

Yes, I took the Round 1 data and plugged it into the same spradsheet I use to calculate power rankings for MLS teams. Yes, I feel like it's shaking out a little better now that a first set of games has happened. Yes, this will be the last sentence that begins with the word "yes". Let's just get to the numbers.

Team	Ranking	Change	Rating
Russia	1	+1	1.5
Ukraine	2	+2	3.5
Spain	2	-1	3.5
Germany	4	+3	4.5
Denmark	5	+5	7
Sweden	5	-2	7
France	7	+1	7.5
Portugal	8	-3	9
Italy	9	+2	9.5
Croatia	10	+6	10.5
England	11	+3	11
Czech Republic	11	-5	11
Greece	13	NC	11.5
Ireland	14	-5	12
Netherlands	15	-2	13
Poland	16	-1	13.5

I will say the rating this week is different than the rating last week because I generally just like to use average weekly rank as the "rating", but since before the first match there was only 1 point it didn't make sense. The rating would have just been equal to the rank. So I posted the numeric value that determines the rating. This round's "rating" is actually average position for the last two points (hence the multiple .5's).

Croatia is the big mover hopping up siz places. Denmark's big upset also bumps them up five places, while, shockingly, Netherlands drops all the way down to 15. Then again, if I posted this on time, Portugal's win over them would have made it seem likeI know what I'm talking about.

Ireland's poor showing hurt them the most, dropping 5 places. And, unfortunatly for me, the Pole's fall to last, though they're still far from out of it.

Here's a Euro logo, just because.

Now, let's "simulate" the results so I can feel better about myself. Maybe with the rest of the games this week I'll get lucky and call one right.

Assuming the higher ranked teams wins, it would look like this.

Czech Republic beats Greece (correct!)
Russia beats Poland (tie, push mash, should have been a blowout... yay Poland!)
Portugal beats Denmark (correct!)
Germany beats Netherlands (correct!)
Italy beats Croatia (should be close... tie?)
Spain beats Ireland (seems like a no brainer)
Ukraine beats France
Sweden beats England (people won't like that one...)

All I'm gonna say at this point is man I can't wait for the weekend.