So much has been written and said about the year that the L.A. Galaxy has been having in MLS, but not much has been said about the simple domination that they and the Seattle Sounders have put together this year.
Supporters Shield: West Coast Domination
Best Season for two teams ever?
Both LA and Seattle currently lead MLS in all major offensive statistical categories: goals, assists, shots, and shots on goal. Throughout MLS history, no two teams have ever been #1 and #2 and these same statistical categories.
Since San Jose and LA did it two years ago, only one team have racked up more than 60 assists in one season since 2005; that year, San Jose had 62 assists. LA is looking to push the MLS record books with their current 74, while Seattle, who currently sit on 60 assists, only need three more assists to log the third best assist total since 2005.
For only the third time since 2005, two teams have 5 players that have top 11 assist totals: Landon Donovan (LA), Robbie Keane (LA), Marcelo Sarvas (LA), Obafemi Martins (Seattle), and Clint Dempsey (Seattle). Also for only the third time since 2005, four of the top seven goal scorers play on one of two teams: Keane, Gyasi Zardes (LA), Dempsey, Martins.
Trust me, the chances will continue as Keane and Dempsey are both in the top 3 in shots and top 4 in shots on goal and both teams are in the top five in creating chances (LA is #1 and Seattle is #4).
There is a chance that these two teams could have seven or eight in the top 10 or 11 by season’s end, if Lamar Neagle (currently 15th) and Gonzalo Pineda (currently 20th) continues to send teasing balls across teams’ back lines in search of Martins and Dempsey, as Martins scores on 62% of his shots (Sqauwka.com).
Landon’s Team
This year not only do the Galaxy lead the MLS in goals and assists, but also in created chances. According to whoscored.com, the Galaxy have created 50 more chances than any other team. They average nearly 13 chances a game, which are numbers that only really occur in the larger Euro Leagues.
Look closely at these two goals, they have one similarity: Landon Donovan sending a properly weighted through ball into an open space in the penalty area into the feet of a wide open attacker. With the individual quality this team possesses in Zardes and Keane, the results are usually disastrous.
Landon Donovan has been playing simply out of his head, skull, brain, etc. He currently creates an average of 3.55 chances per game for his team (sqauwka.com). That average indicates that he personally creates more chances game in and out for his team than the following players: Cristiano Ronaldo, Thomas Müller, Marco Reus, James Rodríguez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi, Franck Ribery, and Arjen Robben.
The team that scores together
Again, the Sounders have scored 60 goals on the season (and counting), but it’s not all Dempsey and Martins. True, the strikers have combined from half of their team’s goals, but the danger in the Seattle attack has to do with the fact that when they explode, the team explodes, and not just the stars.
Aside from Martins and Dempsey, no player on Seattle has particularly eye-popping stats, yet somehow they’ve scored 4 goals or more in 7 different games this season, more than any other team this season. In those games, only one player recorded a hat trick all season (Dempsey score 3 against the Timbers on 4/5/14). This indicates that other players routinely get into the act of scoring in a variety of situations.
This makes them particularly scary, because defenses can’t focus on just either Dempsey and/or Martins for 90 minutes and let someone else beat them, because someone else clearly does.
Both of these goals look nearly identical. Both involve players getting into the box, drawing defenders and laying to off to players in one on one situations. Also, notice that the same players aren’t involved. So while teams gear up to stop one menacing forward or the other, a whole host of players on this team will get into the box, draw defenders, and dish to an open player streaking into an open space in the penalty area. The fact that Seattle has scored two- thirds of their goals from open play in the box does more than illustrate my point (whoscored.com).
Seattle is fourth in the MLS in creating chances, with nearly 11 chances per game and second in shot accuracy with 52% (sqauwka.com). This means that they create a lot of chances as a team, and can be deadly when they get their opportunities.
On Sunday night, expect both teams to try to assert their dominance on each other. Also expect to be entertained by the sheer amount of chances and creativity that both teams possess. Most of all, expect to be entertained as we will be watching perhaps the best display of quality from two teams as we’ve seen ever in MLS.
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