Schelotto Hunts 20 Assists

Over the weekend the Crew's Guillermo Barros Schelotto notched his fifteenth and sixteenth assists of the year, putting him in prime position to achieve something that has only been done once in the history of Major League Soccer -- tally 20 assists in one season.

Carlos Valderrama set the single-season mark in 2000 with 26 assists in 32 games. How hard is it to get 20 assists? Only two other players have ever reached 19 assists - Marco Etcheverry (who did it twice) and Steve Ralston. In fact if Schelotto's fails to tally another assist, it would already tie him for the fifth best season of all time.

  Player                    TM   GM   A   Year
1 Carlos Valderrama         TB   32   26  2000
2 Marco Etcheverry          DC   26   19  1996
  Carlos Valderrama         TB   20   19  1997
  Marco Etcheverry          DC   29   19  1998
  Steve Ralston             NE   27   19  2002
3 Steve Ralston             TB   32   18  1999
4 Carlos Valderrama         TB   23   17  1996
  Preki                     KC   27   17  1997
  Marco Etcheverry          DC   22   17  1999
  Mauricio Cienfuegos       LA   30   17  1999
  Steve Ralston             TB   30   17  2000
  Preki                     KC   30   17  2003
5 **Schelotto**             CLB  22   16  2008
  Carlos Valderrama         COL  27   16  2002
  Martin Machon             MIA  24   16  2000
  Mauricio Cienfuegos       LA   30   16  1998

How good are Schelotto's chances? If he continue to provide assists at his current rate, he would end with 21 assists. If he tallies a helper every other game, he'll end with 20. It's not a lock, but the chances look pretty good.