So at last we've come to the end of the 30-game regular season, and it's time to review the stats and dish the statues celebrating achievement or lack thereof in MLS 2008. Without further ado . . . The Wilt Chamberlain Award for Promiscuity goes to . . . The Los Angeles Galaxy! Let's face it, when they weren't scoring, they were being scored upon. Click to continue reading...

Earlier I covered the concern over Ljungberg's good lucks, and the legitimate concern over his health. As the rumors seem more and more likely to be true, it also seems equally likely that Freddie will be one of the team's Designated Players - yes I'm still hoping for another. The latest batch in the criticism [. Click to continue reading...

Not much change in the table this week, eh? DC and Colorado climb a rung on the ladder and stay alive, while Dallas drop two to join the cast of snot-nosed street urchins staring through clouded glass at the warm and rosy picture of those still in the playoff hunt. So let's start with a quick dash through the numbers before wrapping up with an overview of the aforementioned playoff picture. Click to continue reading...

0 - The number in Frankfurt's win column (still, and I'll keep on mentioning this until Frankfurt take note and do something about it) 5 - Difference in points between 1st (Hamburg) and 11th (Bayern). 6 - Number of goalscorers Hamburg and Werder Bremen have in the top 12 (ie, those who have scored at least 4 [. Click to continue reading...

The Crew have clinched. Everybody's still alive in the playoff hunt. KC took one giant step forwards, while the Rapids are struggling to pull their boots free of the mire. I don't remember a playoff race this exciting, wide-open, or topsy turvy, can you? So let's break the race down a bit. What do we know so far? Click to continue reading...

In FIFA's latest rankings, England have climbed up one place from fifteenth to fourteenth thanks to their wins over Croatia and Andorra. Brazil have moved up two places to fourth, while the Netherlands and Croatia have fallen down one place to fifth and sixth respectively. The top three remain unchanged- Spain, Italy and Germany. Click to continue reading...

What the hell? Just a few short weeks ago we were looking at the East potentially having six playoff sides to the West's two (if MLS rules would have allowed such a thing to happen). Then Chivas made a run and the field tilted towards a 5/3 split in favor of the East (which is allowed, of course). Click to continue reading...

Usually I would default to my magic eight ball. Today we will use statistics.

I won't ask you to perform a long mathematical equation. Sports Club Stats did all the work for you.

Twelve points available. Seven points guarantees a spot. Zero points eliminates the team.

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Well then. I suppose nothing says "give us the damn Supporters' Shield already" like stuffing the side right behind you and opening an eight point lead with just four games to go. All the Crew need to do now is avoid getting complacent before the playoffs kick off. Behind them, Chivas USA are making a sudden push to join the three team trailing pack consisting of the Revs, Fire, and Dynamo. Click to continue reading...

0 - Number of wins by Frankfurt, the last remaining winless team 5 - Total number of shots by Gladbach in their 0-1 defeat to Hamburg 7 - Goals scored by Patrick Helmes this season, that's equal to or more than 8 teams (Hertha, Köln, Hannover, Karlsruhe, Bochum, Cottbus, Frankfurt, and Gladbach) 8.06 - The average number of [. Click to continue reading...

Static from the untuned dial on a sullen Friday afternoon . . . The Bearded Bombardier is done for 2008. Duh. In the land of notional great seasons, a healthy Benny reigns supreme. And his beard is luxuriant. Pardon while I prepare to visit said land of imaginary success for United in FM/WSM 2008. Click to continue reading...

Not one to dwell too much on what the reaction might be, Rafael Benitez has never shirked away from making controversial choices because people might not agree with them. Few of his decisions, however, will match the levels of surprise hit the last time Liverpool travelled to Goodison Park.

With the game stuck at 1-1 and Liverpool struggling to build play, Benitez came up with a strange solution: take off Steven Gerrard and replace him with Lucas Leiva. Click to continue reading...

Well, well, well, looks like the points-per-game nonsense isn't quite finished after all. The postponement of the Houston-San Jose clash leaves us with two teams sitting a game back for the next few weeks. Regardless, we'll plunge right ahead with the table analysis, tossing in PPG hand-waving if and when it becomes appropriate. Click to continue reading...

1 - Number of weeks Hamburg spent at the top of the table 2 - Number of 0-0 draws after five weeks 5 - Clean sheets, tied (alongside week 4) for the most in one week 8 - Minutes it took sub Jonas Kamper to score in Bielefeld's 2-0 win over Köln 11 - The mean length of a [...] Click to continue reading...

Goals Total - 29 goals Season Total - 109 Season High - 33 (Week 3) Season Low - 18 (Week 2) Average/Game - 3.63 Season Average/Game - 3.11 Season High Average/Game - 3.67 (Week 3) Season Low Average/Game - 2.00 (Week 2) Most/Game - 6 (Dortmund vs. Schalke; Hannover vs. Gladbach) Season Most/Game - 7 (Leverkusen vs. Click to continue reading...

Six games to play and still no definite answers--vive la parité! Let's do a quick rundown of the table thus far. New England pulls back two points on Columbus, closing the gap to three points at the top. Chicago and Houston both fumble their chances to make up ground and will be hoping for further stumbles from the Crew to let them back into the chase. Click to continue reading...

It's sad to take a look at the table at the moment. Granted, we've got a game in hand on many sides, but bottom of the league with one point from nine is not where we hoped to be in mid-September.

Tonight's game against Villa is a must win if we're to stay in touch with the teams who will by vying for the other European slots. Click to continue reading...

The statistics don't make pretty viewing for Liverpool fans, with their last home league win against us taking us as far back as 2001, whilst their last league goal against us came in 2004, and that was a John O'Shea own goal. Two of the many recent United victories have come through last minute goals, with [. Click to continue reading...

Welcome back. So here we are with less than a quarter of the season to go, and still very little has been decided. Say what you will about the dreaded Parity Pox, but you've got to admit that it sure makes for a more entertaining spectacle than a league where you know that one of 4-5 teams is going to win the league, and do so in relative comfort compared to the rest of the field. Click to continue reading...

Here at World Club Rankings, you know what we like.  We like rankings.  Specifically, club rankings.  Sometimes, however, there's not enough going on in club football to write about.  (Of course, there's the Newcastle United fiasco, but that's been blogged to death already.  I'll miss you, Kev.

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A belated welcome to the third edition of Bundesliga Statistics, covering matchday three. As you may have noticed this post has been a long time in the making. I have returned from my unannounced vacation, so have no fear, timely updates will reappear. "But Mark," you may begin to ask, "why did [. Click to continue reading...

When will Kaptain Kissypants learn to keep his mouth shut? Why didn't we thump Guatemala by more than 1-0, Landon? "We still have to learn how to play in these games," Donovan said. "You could tell we were naïve against Guatemala because we had a lot of young players on the field. The good thing is we got that experience and we won. Click to continue reading...

For the second week running, the MLS table is nice and neat, with everybody level on 22 games. The Crew surge past the Revs to grab a narrow 2-point lead in the race for the Supporters' Shield. Three back of the Revs sit Chicago and the West-leading Dynamo. United and the Red Bulls (the current holders of the "at large" playoff bids) are level on 32, and RSL looks to be in a fairly solid 2nd Click to continue reading...

At long last, the planets have aligned in the heavens and the entire league has played the same number of games, obviating the need for that oh-so tedious points-per-game discussion. We've got a clear look at where things stand without notional results and imaginary runs of form. So how do things shape up as we round the bend into the 9-game home stretch? Click to continue reading...

Welcome back to Bundesliga Statistics for week two. Standing alone at the head of the table? Newly promoted TSG 1899 Hoffenheim with two wins from their first two games. Astounding stuff, but we're here to talk numbers not newcomers. Last week five categories were featured, this week it's been expanded to [. Click to continue reading...

I wrote my PE column on the Western Conference and how the playoff picture may sort out. I actually predicted which teams I think will join Houston in the postseason.

Now, I won't reveal who I think will come through but I will add a little bit more here on the Galaxy and why I think it will be hard for them to reach the playoffs. Click to continue reading...

I got an e-mail earlier today from a faithful reader asking me to help stick up for the Western Conference.

Now, as much as I would like to defend the West, I just can't do it. Not right now.

The Western Conference is clearly the weaker of the two conferences. There's no debating that. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good evening folks. I have finally completed the day-long journey from Guatemala to New Jersey (well, almost completed, I'm in New York right now) and it was good to see the healthy discussions taking place on SBI regarding the U.

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Stuart Baxter said that the Israel game would be a dress rehearsal for the Germany match in September, and he was pretty relieved that it went as well as it did. The high spot was Veli Lampi's full debut, as the former TPS right back looked solid and put in some excellent crosses including the [...] Click to continue reading...

The Danish Windmill at Elk Horn, Iowa

I made a comment on a message board a couple of days ago about Colchester keeper Dean Gerken (more about him in future weeks). One response I received concerned my methodology, namely that there is no distinction made between shots on target and shots off target. Click to continue reading...

Want to work for a Premier League team? Fulham FC have a Video Analyst Vacancy.

If you want to work for a Premier League team in a statistics position, get your CV and Cover Letter in to Fulham FC now. Click to continue reading...

If you're anything like me, you love reveling in statistics. While in isolation, especially at the beginning of the Bundesliga season, they don't reveal much. But as time goes on it should be possible to discern patterns between some of these statistics and how the table shakes out. Here are some of the [. Click to continue reading...

It's that time again--time to confront the almighty train-wreck that is the Major League Soccer table. Rather than stratifying as the season progresses, the dreaded specter of parity seems to be condensing everything into a giant ectoplasmic ooze. While it's true that 13 points separate first from worst, it's also true that no team has more than a three point lead over the team directly Click to continue reading...

Who is the top left-back in the Premier League? Here are statistics from the four standout left-backs of 2007/08. They should come as no surprise to our readers. Clichy, Cole and Evra have cemented themselves as among the best players in their position in the world, while Warnock has grown in his ability and is finally starting to become recognized as a competent player. Click to continue reading...

SFS is fortunate to have its loyal readers & real Sports "freaks"(in the most loving sense) surf in & share their knowledge. One case is Bill, a fanatic of all kinds of statistics of which he... Read all the news, results, details & comments in English on Spanish Football & Sports Click to continue reading...