By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Oct 7, 2013) US Soccer Players – There’s no place like home, especially when it comes to Major League Soccer. Playing at home has its obvious advantages. The crowd supporting you the entire time, no travel, and a familiar environment all fuels that psychological edge.

In Major League Soccer this season (as in most seasons), home teams have an advantage. Going into this weekend, the home team wins 51% of the time. By comparison, the away team only wins 23% of the time. That’s quite the cushion for the home team finishing with at least a point.

With the regular season coming to an end this month, how does MLS compare to other leagues around the world? In England, home teams won 42% of games this season, road teams just 37%. In Spain, it’s 44% for home teams, 30% away. In Germany, it’s better at 54% home, 35% away. In Italy, 48% home, 27% away. Aside from the Bundesliga, playing at home is better for MLS teams than teams in the Premiership, Liga and Serie A, according to soccerstats.com, which tracks winning percentages.

A trip to South America paints a similar picture. In Argentina, 56% of teams won at home, in Brazil it was 44% and Chile 38% — all of them a majority of the overall number. Again, MLS does better than these leagues with the exception of Argentina.

For some reason, playing at home has not been a benefit in some other leagues around the world this season. For example, the worst place to currently play at home is Austria and Switzerland, where the home team only wins 34 percent of the time. I can’t think of any reason why. It’s possible that climate may have something to do with it – since both nations are traditionally cold – but aside from that it’s hard to read much into these percentages.

However, it is no coincidence that Argentina and Germany have the highest percentage of teams winning at home. Fans in Argentina are as rabid as they come (take it from someone who has been to River Plate and Boca Juniors games) and fan attendance at German league games is the highest in Europe.

Traditionally, MLS has been a league where teams do better at home compared to on the road. An analysis compiled by MLSSoccer.com revealed that teams averaged 1.72 points-per-game at home between 1996 and 2010. That means home teams won 49.4% of games and 24.1% of the time the home team played to a draw. Only 26.5% of the time did the road team win. In the playoffs, the home-field advantage is even more obvious. Home teams won 59.4% of the time. Nearly 21% ended in a draw and the road team won 19.8% of the games. Add to that the fact that the Los Angeles Galaxy won the last two MLS Cup finals playing at home and you see where this is going.

So what does all this say about MLS?

It says a lot. Although the product on the field is not always at the highest level (say compared to Argentina or Germany), it does say that the fan experience in this country has risen to levels equal to what we see in Europe and South America. That is key for MLS going forward as it tries to market itself as one of the world’s finest pro leagues.

As the statistics reveal, it also shows that fans can push teams to succeed in ways that are often not easy to quantify. Sometimes referred to as “the 11th man,” crowd support has been astounding in places like Seattle, Portland, and Kansas City over the past few seasons. The atmosphere is usually loud and chanting spontaneous, making for one of the best experiences in American sports.

Winning at home will be a big deal for MLS clubs, particularly over the next few weeks as the regular season comes to a close and the playoffs begin. The teams that can win at home will not only get a better spot in the postseason, but will also have a clear advantage in the postseason should they host the MLS Cup final.

Take the New York Red Bulls. They clinched a playoff berth this past weekend – the first team in MLS to do so – with an overall record of 15-9-8. At Red Bull Arena, the team is 10-4-2. On the road they are a mediocre 5-4-7. The same holds true for every team in MLS this season. A team’s home record is not only better, but also in many cases, much better, when compared to road records.

The maturation of the American soccer fan has been evident over the past two decades. Not only do the fans benefit from all this, but it’s obvious that so does the home team.

Clemente Lisi is a New York-based writer. Contact him at: CAL4477@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter at:http://twitter.com/ClementeLisi.

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