Crew duo’s game based on feel, not the metrics

Federico Higuain organically feels his way through The Beautiful Game. The Crew SC midfielder does not mathematically factor it.

“I don’t believe in numbers,” Pipa said late Saturday in an empty Crew locker room at Mapfre Stadium. “Numbers are for other sports. This is a game for a couple (kinds of) guys. We need warriors. We need smart players. We need fast guys and dribblers.”

The way Higuain sees it, soccer is more art than

arithmetic. He is not alone. Crew midfielder Justin Meram appreciates the new wave of analytics that are weaving their way into professional soccer, but hesitates to apply data too liberally to his own game.

“Myself, Pipa, guys who like to be on the ball and kind of create and have a different eye for it, we’re more into the feel of the game,” Meram said this week. “Sometimes the game (becomes) high intensity and pressure, and we need to slow it down and change the rhythm.”

The Crew’s most sublime offensive threats — Higuain and Meram — changed the rhythm of not only a game but this young

season on Saturday. Pipa scored a secondhalf goal and Meram assisted on a bender by Ola Kamara in the 13th minute that led to a 2-0 win against New England and ended the Crew’s two-game losing streak.

Meram is not antianalytics. He kicked footballs as well as soccer balls in high school and for two years under Rich Rodriguez at Michigan, so he understands the need for mechanical precision.

Make no mistake, analyzing data to shape success can be useful. An increasing number of MLS teams would say essential. Crew coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter pointed out that a metric such as expected goals (xG) is an accurate barometer of whether a team took advantage

of its scoring chances. Last season, the Crew scored 50 goals, but its xG was 54.81. The black and gold and sometimes periwinkle finished 8-14-12 and out of the playoffs.

In their MLS Cup season of 2015, meanwhile, the Crew’s actual goals (58) were nearly 10 more than its xG.

“Over the course of last season, we weren’t finishing properly,” said Berhalter, who according to the officiating police finished improperly against the Revolution; he was tossed from the game in the 77th minute for “irresponsible behavior.”

The Crew finished things well enough against New England. True, there were more than a few chances that went for naught, but who’s counting? Certainly not Higuain

and Meram, who are more poets than numbers crunchers. Their take — overemphasizing analytics makes you susceptible to paralysis by analysis — warms the heart of old-school sorts who shudder at the thought of sports being taken over by computer programmers.

“Numbers are helpful sometimes, but you can’t read too much into them,” said Meram, who was strong on the ball against the Revolution despite missing some scoring opportunities.

Numbers fail to take emotion into consideration. Exhibit A: Berhalter challenged Meram before the game to be more active.

“Challenge accepted,” Meram said afterward.

There also is no algorithm to explain how Higuain can paint a perfect pass.

“There are two types of playmakers,” Higuain said. “One can do it himself and the other depends on and needs people around them. I am in that second group.”

Or maybe he is in a group by himself?

“He’s got a gift,” Berhalter said of Pipa. “He’s a special player.”

Analytics have their place. But even the analysts — and the Crew employs data analyst Alex Mysiw to crunch numbers — will tell you that metrics do not exist in a vacuum. As Higuain would remind us, there also is something called the eye test.

If it looked like the Crew played a beautiful game, it probably did.