Judd scored in second-half stoppage at Providence last season. He had a stretch there of three goals in his last 15 min of playing time at Providence Park.

It was something like this bsky.app/profile/drif...

Brad Stuver just made the most Kung-fu looking save I’ve ever seen.

To provide a bit more context (proof) on ground crosses, in full MLS seasons between 2017 and 2025, teams in winning game states used ground crosses 23% of the time and teams in losing game states used them 17% of the time. Tied game state avg was 22%. You can look at the average lines here.

Friday Stat Dump: Crosses It's been 3-5 years since the whole debate about crossing good vs. crossing bad was waging, and, to some level, it's been going on since around 2017. To me, there are times when crossing can be good, and times it's clearly not good. First, who crosses a lot? 1/

Friday Stat Dump: Crosses It's been 3-5 years since the whole debate about crossing good vs. crossing bad was waging, and, to some level, it's been going on since around 2017. To me, there are times when crossing can be good, and times it's clearly not good. First, who crosses a lot? 1/

I like Recoveries Differential over Duels Won Differential for reasons I've previously explained: "duels" in data are not really the 50/50s we've been conditioned to think they are. But since some thought that's what the original visualization was, here is Duels Won Diff by game state. Enjoy.

So @johnspacemuller.com asked me what I'd do if I was suddenly appointed MLS commissioner, and somehow I skipped over the fact that I would do THIS. MLS teams insufficiently committed to doing media would be fined real money + GAM. And if that doesn't work, the CSO would be sent to the gulags.

For the absolute stat sickos out there, this is one of my favorite charts so far with the new game state ability: showing Recovery Differential by game state. Why do you think your team is positive or negative for a particular game state?

Friday Stat Dump: Passes per Defensive Action (PPDA) while Winning or Losing PPDA has become the de facto method of measuring pressure by those with event data. For those using ASA's Viz Hub, it's often combined with showing average defensive action height. Useful! 1/

Y'all are the best proxy QA team. The new "state" code wasn't implemented fully on a set of fields for passers, including "Intentional xA", causing some data replication in the joins. Behold the corrected Intentional xA numbers for Even player state (which re-emphasizes the players I highlighted).

That was a transparent image. Here it is with a white background to make it easier to read.

Friday Stat Dump: Game State / Player State This is obviously not a "stat", but I believe that deeper, and, honestly, better, analysis of teams and players can be unlocked by "slicing" and filtering data when winning, tied or losing (game state) and even, up, or down players (player state). 1/

Working extra long today, so Friday Stat Dump will be out tomorrow morning with a new dimension to my weekly analysis. I'm looking forward to sharing it!

This RSL / Portland game is all about RSL’s attacking patterns just dismantling Portland’s defense and then (usually) Pantemis making a great save to bail them out.

Portland does nice work here to take advantage of a little bit of sluggishness in RSL's rotations, get it between the lines and... waste it on an 0.02 xG rip from 30 yards. Minutes later they're down 2-0. This is what the fans mean when they complain about a lack of attacking patterns.

Been seeing some chatter about San Diego's poor defending this season, and so I took a quick look into it. They have the fourth worst xGA in MLS 2026 on Defensive Action Sequences, the biggest category. A closer look shows they give up the 2nd-most xG from opponent Loose Ball Recoveries. 1/

Bonus post: flip this around. Who is giving up the most xG off of clearance recoveries, and who is not getting pinned back? Nashville, Colorado, and others looking pretty good here...

Friday Stat Dump: Clearances We've gotten to the point where I can't remember if I've written about something before. Clearances fits that bill. The assumption we would make is that clearances are indicative of a team under pressure. The more you clear the ball, the more the opponent pressure. 1/

Announcers and pundits: Quakes haven’t been good since Werner got hurt. Jack Skahan: jordan_took_that_personally.gif

More MLS, NWSL, and USL teams should share metrics like xG. Even better when they come from @americansocceranalysis.com.

Sigh. Fine, I'll tune in to the second half of the weekly Saturday morning Toronto FC home game.

Friday Stat Dump: Progressive Carries Progressive carry = a carry that moves the ball at least 15% closer to the opponent's goal, starting from outside the defensive third. We have a clear team of dribbly bois so far in MLS 2026: 1/

Officially official. bsky.app/profile/game...

We don't have ASA model numbers on the SJ / ATX game yet, but since 2013, there are only 4 teams that have hit 5.00 xG (team) or higher. All were home teams. Of these four games, the worst goal difference beatdown in the database was Vancouver's (5.65 xGt) 7-0 win over Philly (1.22 xGt) last year.

Sicko mode? Nah. The league's first midweek matchnight of the year triggered goblin mode in MLS

Can Wenger fix the offside rule so that Yusuf's goal stands? One of the best bangers this season. Thanks in advance.

With most teams having played 8 games, the underlying stats are beginning to become useful while still noisy. Vancouver may be the best MLS team ever and SKC the worst. Both are performing as expected. There's a huge pack of average teams down on their luck.

There’s a pretty decent bench as well. Off the top of my head: Jordan Morris Jackson Ragen Alex Roldan Reid Roberts Dave Romney Dejuan Jones Benji Kikanovic Jack Skahan Stefan Frei

San Diego has been, by the numbers, one of the worst teams in terms of defensive efficiency (how quickly opponents can convert possession to chances). Today is not going to make those numbers better.

He's not come out when he should've about 2-3 times before this as well. He's also played a pass into traffic leading into the first goal. And he's a negative shot stopper, currently ranked 27th out of 30th in the league. Which raises the question

No clue what Horvath is doing there not coming out for that ball across goal. Red Bulls deservedly getting drubbed in Montreal, 3-0.

Fri Stat Dump (on a Sat): xG per Shot Differential I'm changing my planned selection for this week, as Matt has posted twice about Sporting's xGD fight with history here. My pinned skeet is from when SKC let Vermes go and showed how poor SKC was on this metric. It's actually gotten worse. 1/

Following last night's 3-0 loss at Vancouver, Sporting xGD/game is now -1.92. In @americansocceranalysis.com's database, which goes back to 2013, the worst xGD/game is -0.83 (last year's SKC team), just edging out 2019 FC Cincy's -0.82 and 2013 Chivas USA's -0.80. Worst MLS team I've ever seen.

Life has gotten in the way today. I'll plan for a Friday Stat Dump on Saturday this week instead.

New research! @beninquiring.bsky.social replicated @eliotmckinley.com's work on throw ins, and added g+ in to see how teams can be smarter on the trendiest part of the game in 2026. With an interactive throw in visualizer! www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2026/4/...

I had a stat in the Power Rankings today: SKC's per-game xG differential is -1.70. The worst team in the @americansocceranalysis.com database – which goes back 14 years – is... last year's SKC side at -0.83. 2019 Cincy were -0.82. SKC are HISTORICALLY dire. tacticsfreezone.ghost.io/mls-power-ra...

This was a very good game from MNUFC on the road, but I thought it was especially good for Drake Callender. They don’t need him to be 2025 Dayne St. Clair, but they need a lot more performances like this to secure a solid playoff spot given the improved quality in the West this season.

Sometimes very good teams lose on the road in MLS, and you don’t need to read into it. LAFC gave up 9 shots on target today. The dam broke on them. The underlying numbers have shown they are not Best in the West defensively. It will be interesting against SJ next week, especially if SJ wins today.

Friday Stat Dump: Revisiting g+ Offense Differential At the end of 2025 I compared three metrics that I find to be the most useful for predicting table finishes in an MLS season. One was g+ Offense Differential. Last year's 🧵 on g+ Offense Differential explains it all: bsky.app/profile/jamo... 1/

If you thought Preston Judd's goal celebration last Saturday was questionable, know that he was determined to score and honor his dog Poppy, who recently underwent emergency surgery. "She's like my daughter," he shared today, something every dog lover understands. www.gofundme.com/f/from-poppy...

Oh, man, I love this article from Backheeled. Great stuff from Joe.

Not surprising but Preston Judd has been fined for doing the dog peeing celebration. It was apparently done to bring attention to a good cause. www.gofundme.com/f/from-poppy...

In response to a Nashville fan’s question about Recovery Differential impact for a team like theirs, I responded that they needed to win the recovery battle in scrappy games on the road. They did not win the recovery battle against the Fire today. bsky.app/profile/mlss...

I just learned that the reason Preston Judd did the dog pee celebration on his goal tonight was for his dog Poppy who just went through major surgery. Preston (not a high paid player) is raising funds for Poppy and a new foundation to help with major dog surgeries. www.gofundme.com/f/from-poppy...

This is incredible from Sebastian Berhalter. Deep in second-half stoppage time, makes a crunching tackle to end a dangerous Portland counter and win back possession. 25 seconds later he finishes it off at the other end with a banger of a game-winner.

If you haven’t seen the full first half of San Jose and San Diego yet, I’d say to watch it and remember while you are watching it that Beau Leroux is a defensive midfielder. Winning goal against Vancouver, assist down the left side tonight, and put three SD defenders on skates in the box. So fun.

Orlando out here doing it again. It’s possible this will get worse before it gets better.

“Steffen is good with his feet.” This game was bonkers.

2019 LAFC may forever be the perfect team from an analytics perspective that we will see unless the salary cap is removed in MLS. They were the MLS inspiration behind the Where Goals Come From series. That they have the best Recoveries Diff and Goal Differential in the TAM Era is *chef's kiss*.