USA Remains a Very Fit Team. Some Stats.

[Soccergodlss]

I have seen these mentioned but it deserves a thread and shows where the USSF has done well in preparing teams for big tournaments. Here are the Fifa numbers for the the top three players in this tournament in terms of distance covered. Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding the units for these numbers (m?).

1. Michael Bradley 36,426
2. Clint Dempsey 34,855
3. Landon Donovan 34,263

I do think these stats can be misleading. It may in fact be showing that we are poor in possession and forced to chase the game a lot. It may be be attributed in part to the formation we have been using. Either way, we certainly have hard working players on the pitch because USA as a team covers a lot of ground.

I'd love some other interpretations of these stats.

[LBS8844]

Yes, metres. Please don't forget the 2 red cards totaling 90 minutes vs top 5 sides.

[passtheblizz]

I wonder how many other midfielders actually played 270 minutes.

[lurking]

The US ranked 2nd in distance covered overall

1. Italy 330883
2. USA 325482
3. New Zeland 322607

But thats only part of the story, in terms of distance covered while in possession, the US ranked dead last.

1 Spain 141013
2 Italy 137577
3 Brazil 131799
4 South Africa 127443
5 Egypt 120657
6 Iraq 111264
7 New Zeland 109096
8 USA 106751

Two red cards will obviously do you in on that count, so Im not sure anything can be read into it. But it makes me wonder if the team isnt spending as much energy as they should be on the offensive end.

[LBS8844]

Yet they're in the semis...stats are there for the taking. Don't mean to sound like a BS meanie.

[Craig P]

I have seen these mentioned but it deserves a thread and shows where the USSF has done well in preparing teams for big tournaments. Here are the Fifa numbers for the the top three players in this tournament in terms of distance covered. Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding the units for these numbers (m?).

1. Michael Bradley 36,426
2. Clint Dempsey 34,855
3. Landon Donovan 34,263

I do think these stats can be misleading. It may in fact be showing that we are poor in possession and forced to chase the game a lot. It may be be attributed in part to the formation we have been using. Either way, we certainly have hard working players on the pitch because USA as a team covers a lot of ground.

I'd love some other interpretations of these stats.

Cesc Fabregas is in the same ballpark as the three above, around 7 km per game (though he's only played two games, full 90 in both). The difference for him is that he spends the majority in possession, where the U.S. players have spent the majority not in possession.

[Bigrose30]

The US ranked 2nd in distance covered overall

1. Italy 330883
2. USA 325482
3. New Zeland 322607

But thats only part of the story, in terms of distance covered while in possession, the US ranked dead last.

1 Spain 141013
2 Italy 137577
3 Brazil 131799
4 South Africa 127443
5 Egypt 120657
6 Iraq 111264
7 New Zeland 109096
8 USA 106751

Two red cards will obviously do you in on that count, so Im not sure anything can be read into it. But it makes me wonder if the team isnt spending as much energy as they should be on the offensive end.

Yeah, having one less guy to run around is going to skew those stats.

[casoccerdad47]

Cesc Fabregas is in the same ballpark as the three above, around 7 km per game (though he's only played two games, full 90 in both). The difference for him is that he spends the majority in possession, where the U.S. players have spent the majority not in possession.

I think you meant 7 miles.

[cleansheetbsc]

I think you meant 7 miles.

No he clearly meant 10K :)

[Winds350]

I have seen these mentioned but it deserves a thread and shows where the USSF has done well in preparing teams for big tournaments. Here are the Fifa numbers for the the top three players in this tournament in terms of distance covered. Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding the units for these numbers (m?).

1. Michael Bradley 36,426
2. Clint Dempsey 34,855
3. Landon Donovan 34,263

I do think these stats can be misleading. It may in fact be showing that we are poor in possession and forced to chase the game a lot. It may be be attributed in part to the formation we have been using. Either way, we certainly have hard working players on the pitch because USA as a team covers a lot of ground.

I'd love some other interpretations of these stats.

I'm thinking lots of running to get into the attack, and then lots of running to recover defensively. A sign of an unbalanced team, with most of the talent in midfield, and poor team shape. For whatever reason, the team feels it needs the midfielders to get into the box for the team to score, but the forwards don't rotate back to provide defensive cover. Either the forwards need to be better offensively so that the mids don't have to help out as much, or they need to help more defensively so that the mids can catch their breath after an attacking run.

[Craig P]

No he clearly meant 10K :)
I should have said 11 km. I'm not sure what I was thinking. :)

Anyway, if I remember right, Fabregas is at 21 or 22 km in two games played.

[metroflip73]

I'm thinking lots of running to get into the attack, and then lots of running to recover defensively. A sign of an unbalanced team, with most of the talent in midfield, and poor team shape. For whatever reason, the team feels it needs the midfielders to get into the box for the team to score, but the forwards don't rotate back to provide defensive cover. Either the forwards need to be better offensively so that the mids don't have to help out as much, or they need to help more defensively so that the mids can catch their breath after an attacking run.

This is it. Would help if we had defenders who were a little better as a unit.

[Soccergodlss]

The US ranked 2nd in distance covered overall

1. Italy 330883
2. USA 325482
3. New Zeland 322607

But thats only part of the story, in terms of distance covered while in possession, the US ranked dead last.

1 Spain 141013
2 Italy 137577
3 Brazil 131799
4 South Africa 127443
5 Egypt 120657
6 Iraq 111264
7 New Zeland 109096
8 USA 106751

Two red cards will obviously do you in on that count, so Im not sure anything can be read into it. But it makes me wonder if the team isnt spending as much energy as they should be on the offensive end.

The red cards surely must have impacted us a lot in all the stats we've quoted here. Maybe there is nothing we can really deduce with these stats, from this particular tournament, because of the cards?

Actually, since this isn't an average, the two cards means they have run more than the other teams w/one less player throughout most of the first three games. The exception is Italy as you pointed out, but they haven't played a man down yet this tournament either.

[KALM]

I hate to keep mentioning this but the red cards do not explain those stats.

Bradley ran an average of 7.3 miles in the first two matches. He ran 7.9 miles against Egypt.

Dempsey ran an average of 7.1 miles in the first two matches. He ran 7.2 miles against Egypt.

I can't find individual match statistics for Donovan, but I wouldn't be surprised if his numbers increased against Egypt too.

[Knave]

There's a flaw in the distance covered statistic -- namely that the US players have, on average, more minutes on the field than most other teams at the Confederations Cup. (I've posted the stats on that versus Spain here (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=18036829&postcount=43), but I've looked at the other teams too: only South Africa and Iraq have concentrated their playing time among a smaller group of players than us.) Anyway, if you look at distance covered per minute the story is a bit different -- at least at the top.

Only players with 45+ minutes playing time.

MP - Matches Played
MNP - Minutes Played
DC - Distance Covered
DC/M - Distance Covered Per Minute

Players MP MNP DC DC/M
USA KLJESTAN 2 61 8551 140.18
ITA MONTOLIVO 3 111 15068 135.75
USA BRADLEY 3 270 36426 134.91
EGY HOMOS 1 90 11958 132.87
RSA MASHEGO 3 47 6188 131.66
USA DEMPSEY 3 270 34855 129.09
USA FEILHABER 3 123 15820 128.62
NZL CHRISTIE 3 175 22412 128.07
USA CASEY 2 52 6659 128.06
USA DONOVAN 3 270 34263 126.9
IRQ MOHAMMED 3 131 16578 126.55
EGY FARAG 2 111 14004 126.16
ITA PIRLO 3 270 33962 125.79
ESP FABREGAS 2 180 22639 125.77
BRA RAMIRES 3 204 25547 125.23
ITA CAMORANESI 2 147 18357 124.88
EGY MUHAMADI 2 104 12964 124.65
RSA DIKGACOI 3 270 33605 124.46
USA CLARK 2 123 15290 124.31
NZL BROWN 3 235 29200 124.26
ITA ROSSI 3 270 33506 124.1
ITA GROSSO 2 180 22159 123.11
IRQ JASIM 3 185 22772 123.09
IRQ AKRAM 3 270 33076 122.5
RSA PIENAAR 3 185 22655 122.46
EGY SHAWKY 3 270 33019 122.29
EGY ABOUTRIKA 3 270 32983 122.16
IRQ ZAHRA 3 128 15604 121.91
USA BEASLEY 2 64 7801 121.89
EGY HASSAN 3 101 12299 121.77
ITA DOSSENA 1 90 10952 121.69
IRQ KAREEM 3 185 22491 121.57
EGY EID 3 122 14746 120.87
ESP BUSQUETS 2 98 11833 120.74
USA DAVIES 2 106 12786 120.62
NZL ELLIOTT 3 270 32187 119.21
ITA TONI 3 110 13091 119.01
BRA SILVA 3 264 31399 118.94
USA BORNSTEIN 3 266 31628 118.9
ITA ROSSI 3 143 16977 118.72
RSA MHLONGO 2 180 21348 118.6
EGY RABBOU 3 255 30196 118.42
ESP XAVI 3 226 26629 117.83
ESP ALONSO 2 180 21178 117.66
NZL BROCKIE 2 95 11129 117.15
RSA MODISE 3 270 31453 116.49
ITA GATTUSO 2 115 13389 116.43
RSA SIBAYA 3 263 30331 115.33
IRQ MOHAMMED 2 132 15210 115.23
ITA PEPE 2 70 8065 115.21
RSA PARKER 3 255 29357 115.13
NZL BERTOS 3 246 28300 115.04
USA SPECTOR 3 270 31020 114.89
BRA KAKA 3 249 28516 114.52
ITA QUAGLIARELLA 1 64 7325 114.45
BRA ALVES 1 90 10275 114.17
ITA ZAMBROTTA 3 270 30770 113.96
BRA MELO 3 270 30736 113.84
IRQ MAJEED 3 224 25388 113.34
ESP ARBELOA 2 126 14188 112.6
ITA GILARDINO 2 102 11483 112.58
NZL MULLIGAN 3 185 20763 112.23
ITA LEGROTTAGLIE 1 90 10052 111.69
RSA GAXA 3 270 30141 111.63
NZL SMELTZ 3 256 28568 111.59
ITA CHIELLINI 3 270 30126 111.58
BRA SANTOS 3 187 20825 111.36
NZL LOCHHEAD 3 270 30025 111.2
ITA IAQUINTA 3 218 24161 110.83
BRA ELANO 1 62 6866 110.74
BRA MAICON 2 180 19826 110.14
IRQ SAEED 1 60 6529 108.82
NZL BOYENS 3 199 21633 108.71
NZL SCOTT 1 85 9196 108.19
BRA ROBINHO 3 242 26181 108.19
RSA MASILELA 3 270 29126 107.87
RSA FANTENI 2 140 15090 107.79
EGY FATHI 3 226 24288 107.47
NZL VICELICH 3 270 29014 107.46
USA ALTIDORE 3 195 20943 107.4
RSA BOOTH 3 270 28902 107.04
NZL SIGMUND 1 71 7558 106.45
IRQ REHEMA 3 270 28726 106.39
BRA LUISAO 2 86 9149 106.38
EGY SAID 3 214 22749 106.3
IRQ KAREEM 3 270 28676 106.21
BRA KLEBER 1 83 8732 105.2
ESP RIERA 2 171 17848 104.37
ESP RAMOS 2 144 15012 104.25
NZL KILLEN 3 250 26048 104.19
ESP MATA 1 90 9313 103.48
EGY ABDELGHANI 1 62 6413 103.44
USA DeMERIT 3 270 27905 103.35
IRQ ABBAS 3 270 27874 103.24
EGY ZIDAN 2 147 15160 103.13
USA ONYEWU 3 270 27828 103.07
ESP CAPDEVILA 2 180 18540 103
ESP CAZORLA 3 112 11445 102.19
IRQ SHAKER 3 270 27411 101.52
ESP PUYOL 2 180 18169 100.94
ESP ALBIOL 2 180 18114 100.63
RSA MOKOENA 3 270 27080 100.3
ESP VILLA 3 224 22351 99.78
BRA MIRANDA 1 90 8955 99.5
EGY GOMAA 3 270 26514 98.2
ITA CANNAVARO 2 180 17472 97.07
EGY MOAWAD 2 159 15371 96.67
BRA LUCIO 3 250 24147 96.59
BRA FABIANO 3 249 24034 96.52
ESP TORRES 3 220 21102 95.92
IRQ KHALID 1 90 8630 95.89
EGY SAID 3 270 25876 95.84
IRQ MAHMOUD 3 190 18042 94.96
ESP PIQUE 2 180 17039 94.66
BRA JUAN 2 114 10385 91.1
USA GUZAN 1 90 4816 53.51
ITA BUFFON 3 270 13967 51.73
NZL MOSS 3 270 13450 49.81
USA HOWARD 2 180 8891 49.39
ESP REINA 1 90 4353 48.37
RSA KHUNE 3 270 12257 45.4
IRQ KASSID 3 270 11906 44.1
EGY HADARY 3 270 11826 43.8
BRA CESAR 3 270 10472 38.79
ESP CASILLAS 2 180 6227 34.59
I suspect this has much to do with playing two games a man down. But, of course, that doesn't apply to Kljestan's case.