Tonight, the Seattle Sounders face the Houston Dynamo, a team that kicked off 2015 with a new coach and in a new conference. You have already read through 3 Questions. Now, let's look at what the data tell us about this match-up.
Disclaimer
Before you scroll down to the infographic, please remember that we still have a very limited data set for the season. So, while we can see some interesting stats for each team, it is still too early to predict any significant team trends. The good news is the data will just get more and more reliable. Hooray!
Introducing the New Infographic
I am still playing around with this (hopefully) new-and-improved infographic style. Here are some of the new features in the infographic below:
- Instead of comparing offensive vs. offensive data, and defensive vs. defensive data, we are doing a side-by-side comparison of one team's offensive data and the other team's defensive stats.
- All grey bars represent either the league high (for offensive stats and possession) or league low (for defensive stats) for that category. This should give you a sense for how the Sounders and Dynamo match up against the league's best.
- For each category, we have included an overall data point, followed by a more narrow look at data for all home matches (for the team playing at home), and away matches (for the away team).
(Please let me know what you think of the revised infographic, and if you would like to see any changes.)
Interesting Stats
So, looking at the data displayed in this way, what can we take away? If we are to base any predictions on this data, we can assume that the Sounders will dominate possession. Seattle currently gives up the fewest passes per game and leads the league in possession, at 56%.
In addition, we may not see too many goals for the Sounders. Houston has given up just 2 goals in 4 matches. On the other side of the field, the Dynamo have struggled to find the back of the net. While the Sounders have 5 goals in 3 matches, Houston has scored just 2 goals with one more game in hand.
Giles Barnes missed the last Dynamo match, as he was playing with the Jamaican National Team, where he scored a goal in Jamaica's 2-1 win over Venezuela. Barnes has 2 career goals against the Sounders.
Here is one positive stat not represented in the infographic: through nine all-time regular season meetings between these teams, the visiting side has yet to win a match.
Tonight’s match marks the 200th MLS regular season match in Sounders history. What do you think: will the Sounders honor the milestone with 3 points?
