Code: All Players on Roster Ages Number Percent of Total 17 1 0.14% 18 2 0.27% 19 5 0.68% 20 10 1.36% 21 23 3.13% 22 39 5.30% 23 47 6.39% 24 48 6.52%[COLOR="Red"] 25 68 9.24% 26 68 9.24% 27 86 11.68% 28 60 8.15% 29 65 8.83% 30 63 8.56%[/COLOR] 31 34 4.62% 32 31 4.21% 33 32 4.35% 34 25 3.40% 35 13 1.77% 36 7 0.95% 37 6 0.82% 38 2 0.27% 40 1 0.14% Total 736 Red data are what I would consider the prime ages for international players, based on the roster data from the 2006 World Cup. These 6 years account for 410 players and 56% of the total.
Code: All Starting Players in Game 1 Ages Number Percent of Total 20 2 0.57% 21 8 2.27% 22 17 4.83% 23 17 4.83% 24 20 5.68% [COLOR="Red"]25 29 8.24% 26 29 8.24% 27 38 10.80% 28 35 9.94% 29 31 8.81% 30 37 10.51%[/COLOR] 31 20 5.68% 32 18 5.11% 33 18 5.11% 34 14 3.98% 35 9 2.56% 36 5 1.42% 37 4 1.14% 40 1 0.28% Total 352 For the starting players in game 1 of the 2006 World Cup, the average age increases to 28.1 years (compared to 27.4 for all rostered players). The prime ages, in red, are again from 25 to 30. That's 199 players, or 57% of the total.
As I recall, this has been somewhat covered before, in the sense that the U.S. had a gap in production of players born shortly before and after 1980. The guys born in the early 1970s were better, as were those born from 1982 onwards. But the late 70s/very early 80s were a bit fallow, causing Arena to field an old team in WC '06, and leaving a hole now among the 27 - 30 year old types. Thus, it is no surprise that Bradley is playing a good number of youngsters. Using Mr. Martin's work, by the time of the 2010 World Cup just over 50% of the U.S. player pool should come from players born late enough to be eligible for Bradenton Residency, and by 2104 WC the figure rises to 90%. So the 2014 World Cup can truly be called a full test of the Residency concept.
That's what I say when I see his hairline. I guess hair is a problem for fast technical white dudes. Robben's half bald, and he's 24 years old.
Yes, many months ago someone posted a thread talking about the "gap" among prime age US players in 2006. Based on the prime starting age numbers from 2006, the US should have been built around players born between 1976 and 1981 (age 25 to 30 at the 2006 World Cup). At the 2006 Cup those players were: Albright, Bocanegra, Mastroeni, O'Brien, Cherundolo, Ching, Conrad, Olsen, and Wolff. 9 players out of 23, or 39%, which is below the average 56%. Moreover, only Bocanegra, Mastroeni, and Cherundolo were normal starters for the 2006 Cup squad, compared to the World Cup average of 6 starters from prime ages. O'Brien was a mess, when he should have been the team's field general. Albright and Ching were marginal talents who didn't play. Conrad, Olsen, and Wolff were marginal talents with a marginal impact. Add to that the implosion of prime age Clint Mathis and the late injury to prime age Cory Gibbs, and the US team in 2006 was gutted among these key ages. The 2010 Cup squad looks better in this regard. Players between ages 25 and 30 in 2010 will be: Donovan, Beasley, Dempsey, Oneywu, Johnson, Pearce, Guzan, Simek, Feilhaber, Bornstein, and Cooper, for example. Also, goalkeeper Howard at age 31 will still be a prime age keeper. Kljestan, Spector, and Edu will only be a year below prime age. That is plenty of key players with exerience and at/near their peak ages, which will make integrating the young pups like Adu, Altidore, and Bradley much more effective.
Mexicos age from the barbado game. Vela-19 Guardado-21 Torrado-29 Perez-27 Arce-28 Zinha-32 Sanchez-34 Salcido-28 Osorio-28 Magallon-26 Galindo-26 Villaluz-19 Borgetti-34 Pineda-25
Belize game? Anyway, 7 starters between ages 26 and 29, smack dab in the middle of the prime age range. Then 2 guys older than prime and 2 guys younger than prime. Like the US, they seem to have 2 or 3 very young guys they are breaking in.
Yeah sorry Belize. I doubt borgetti will stay with sven but I hear Blanco (35) is coming back so thats another old guy. We are also missing Rafa who is 29.
Based entirely off the birthdates and rosters from wikipedia, and the group stage matches in EURO 2008. Total Average Age 27.60 Average Age of Captains 31.12 Average Age by Position (full roster) GK - 29.56 DF - 27.87 MF - 27.04 FW - 26.86 Average Age by Position (starters) GK - 30.29 DF - 28.24 MF - 27.65 FW - 27.30 Average Age by Position (weighted by minutes played) GK - 30.29 DF - 28.19 MF - 27.52 FW - 27.13 Average Age by Team (full roster) Austria - 26.54 Croatia - 27.61 Czech Republic - 28.85 France - 28.06 Germany - 27.26 Greece - 29.15 Italy - 29.23 Netherlands - 28.29 Poland - 27.33 Portugal - 27.02 Romania - 26.91 Russia - 26.14 Spain - 26.54 Sweden - 29.27 Switzerland - 26.49 Turkey - 26.90 Average Age by Team (starters) Austria - 25.82 Croatia - 27.59 Czech Republic - 29.44 France - 29.51 Germany - 27.84 Greece - 29.71 Italy - 30.28 Netherlands - 28.17 Poland - 28.80 Portugal - 27.72 Romania - 27.79 Russia - 26.90 Spain - 26.45 Sweden - 30.22 Switzerland - 25.65 Turkey - 26.64 Average Age by Team (weighted by minutes played) Austria - 25.81 Croatia - 27.46 Czech Republic - 29.43 France - 29.48 Germany - 27.84 Greece - 29.64 Italy - 30.15 Netherlands - 28.11 Poland - 28.50 Portugal - 27.57 Romania - 27.73 Russia - 26.86 Spain - 26.17 Sweden - 30.06 Switzerland - 25.70 Turkey - 26.60
Thanks for posting the info. Where did you get it from? Do it yourself? The average data overall, for starters and and by position is pretty consistent with what I have seen with the 2006 World Cup data. Interesting that the media keeps mentioning that Russia have the youngest team at the tournament, but actually only 5th youngest based on starters and minutes played. Moreover, I think the Russian team is "young" on average because they have almost no older players to pull up the math. They have a very sound core of fifteen 24-27 year olds and may be a force in 2010.
i think a fact you forgot to point out is these players on the big Euro national teams have been regulars for years now or quite some time and started when they were younger and player pool was younger, for example germany 2 or 3 years ago kuranyi was younger, podolski, and schweinsteiger, were younger, also for some of teams these teams legend players about to or should retire from National team duties... we can talk about zambrotta, del piero, vieira, makalele, lehnman an many more....
Yeah. B-days and rosters from wikipedia, game reports from ESPN for the minutes played. Toss it in a MySQL database and go to town.