In the first post on this subject we looked at how MLS looked - from a statistical perspective - compared to the major European leagues (La Liga, Ligue 1, EPL, Bundesliga, Seria A). Of course, that analysis is not necessarily useful as it was taking league averages from approximately 20 teams per each league of varying quality. Also, it is very debatable how informative statistics like shots per game and even passes per game really are. That said, if taken with a grain of salt, there is certainly knowledge to be gleaned.

This post will look at how MLS teams compare to one another. Additionally, the rank next to each metric reflects that MLS team's rank compared to all 117 teams that comprise the five European leagues (in addition to MLS). Note: these statistics do not take into account the games played over the weekend of June 15/16. Also, long ball %, short pass %, and cross % are represented as % of total passes. The % may not total to 100% exactly because I excluded "through balls" from this analysis as they were insignificant.

I even found a European doppelganger for Seattle, based on a similarity score algorithm I ran: Torino.

Team Possession% Shots pg Shots OT pg Dribbles pg Tackles pg Cross % Long Ball % Short Pass % Seattle Sounders FC 50.3 10.8 3.7 8.3 23.4 4% 14% 82% Torino 49.6 11.3 3.8 8.1 23.7 4% 14% 82%

Bonus: Updated Sounders Passing Chart (with pass distance)