Donovan Joins the Centurions

With two penalty kick goals this weekend, Landon Donovan became just the sixth MLS player to top 100 career goals. As recently as 2008 there were only three players who had reached this plateau - Jaime Moreno, Ante Razov and Jason Kreis.

The next player with a decent chance of reaching 100 goals is Edson Buddle. If he keeps scoring at the rate he has the last two seasons, he should reach 100 goals next year.

MLS Attendance - Teams Seen By the Smallest Percentage of Fans

Here's the year-end update to which teams had been seen by the smallest percentage of fans in a given season. Mea culpa -- I somehow managed to exclude data from 2008 in the post from earlier this year.

You might notice that this list has a lot of teams from the last couple of years. Thinking about this a bit more, that makes sense, as more teams in the league means each team should receive a smaller slice of the overall attendance pie. I still think this is an interesting stat, but it's probably less useful for historical comparisons than I originally thought.

Here's the list of teams who had the smallest percentage of tickets sold to see them.

   year tm    home    away    tm ttl  leage ttl  %seen
1  2009 KC   150,802 225,771  376,573 3,608,359  10.44
2  2009 DAL  186,612 227,434  414,046 3,608,359  11.47
3  2008 KC   160,286 237,319  397,605 3,456,641  11.50
4  2009 COL  184,963 236,908  421,871 3,608,359  11.69
5  1999 KC   130,924 191,229  322,153 2,742,102  11.75
6  2009 SJ   211,717 219,425  431,142 3,608,359  11.95
7  2009 NY   187,359 245,896  433,255 3,608,359  12.01
8  2008 SJ   205,695 210,563  416,258 3,456,641  12.04
9  2008 COL  204,884 220,131  425,015 3,456,641  12.30
10 2000 MIA  119,352 212,710  332,062 2,641,085  12.57
11 2007 KC   173,784 240,809  414,593 3,270,210  12.68
12 2009 DC   241,322 216,852  458,174 3,608,359  12.70
13 2009 SLK  245,628 217,705  463,333 3,608,359  12.84
14 2008 CLB  219,332 227,115  446,447 3,456,641  12.92
15 2009 HOU  255,712 212,395  468,107 3,608,359  12.97
16 2001 KC   142,402 166,060  308,462 2,363,859  13.05
17 1998 KC   129,163 230,245  359,408 2,747,897  13.08
18 2009 NE   205,977 268,590  474,567 3,608,359  13.15
19 2009 CHV  226,375 248,459  474,834 3,608,359  13.16
20 2007 COL  221,229 215,154  436,383 3,270,210  13.34

MLS Attendance - Teams Seen By the Largest Percentage of Fans

Earlier this year I had a mad posh to see which teams had been seen by the largest percentage of fans in a given season. It was interesting enough (to me at least) that I've created this post to update at the conclusion of each year.

The 2009 season didn't change the leaderboard in the least bit, which is not too surprising as each additional team makes it progressively harder to reach the top twenty.

Here's the list of teams who had the largest percentage of tickets sold to see them.

   year tm   home    away    tm ttl  leage ttl  %seen
1  1996 LA  462,650 346,210  808,860 2,785,001  29.04
2  2004 DC  258,484 355,289  613,773 2,333,797  26.30
3  1997 LA  330,015 248,179  578,194 2,339,019  24.72
4  2004 LA  357,137 217,411  574,548 2,333,797  24.62
5  1996 NY  382,360 295,952  678,312 2,785,001  24.36
6  1997 NE  342,762 221,566  564,328 2,339,019  24.13
7  2003 LA  329,752 209,091  538,843 2,234,747  24.11
8  2007 LA  363,782 420,525  784,307 3,270,210  23.98
   2005 LA  387,256 308,241  695,497 2,900,716  23.98
10 1997 DC  267,171 287,944  555,115 2,339,019  23.73
11 2008 LA  390,132 421,978  812,110 3,456,641  23.49
12 1996 NE  304,392 325,401  629,793 2,785,001  22.61
13 2003 KC  233,594 269,478  503,072 2,234,747  22.51
14 2000 LA  326,392 264,084  590,476 2,641,085  22.36
15 1998 LA  348,549 259,795  608,344 2,747,897  22.14
16 1997 NY  270,388 245,763  516,151 2,339,019  22.07
17 2002 LA  266,664 221,462  488,126 2,215,019  22.04
18 2006 LA  333,016 318,870  651,886 2,976,787  21.90
19 2001 DC  258,213 248,399  506,612 2,363,859  21.43
20 2003 CLB 243,756 233,704  477,460 2,234,747  21.37

Centurions II

This past week DC United's Jaime Moreno became the only MLS player to reach career marks of both 100 goals and 100 assists. To put that into perspective, there are only four 100-goal scorers in league history (Moreno leads with 122) and just five 100-assist men.

It is possible that two players could join the 100 goal club this season. Taylor Twellman needs just one more strike. Landon Donovan needs 14 more goals which seems possible after his stellar performance from a year ago. If he doesn't make it this year, Donovan may never do it. I fully expect him to jump across the Atlantic before the start of next year, and if he latches on somewhere, he's unlikely to be back any time soon.

It's going to be a long time before we see another player reach 100 assists. No active player has even 75 assists. It's equally unlikely that Moreno will ever own the top spot on the assists chart since Steve Ralston is still playing and has a nearly 30 assist lead on him.

Centurions

Without much fanfare, Jeff Cunningham joined an elite group this past season. In August he scored his 100th goal, making him only the fourth player to do that. The others are:

Jaime Moreno (122)
Ante Razov (114)
Jason Kreis (108)

With his next goal, Taylor Twellman of the Revolution will join this group. If that happens (and the others continue playing) the league could have four active players with at least 100 goals.

Your 2008 Budweiser Scoring Leader

I realize that this sounds like the person who got the most beer-goggle induced action, but it's a statistic Major League Soccer tracked up until 2004. The league used to award two points for a goal and one point for an assist, and then add these two totals up to declare an overall "scoring winner."

I thought it might be interesting to see who would have won this year. Not surprisingly, Landon Donovan won this by virtue of his 20 goal/9 assist season.

Here's the top ten:

            G   A  total
Donovan    20   9   49
Cooper     18   3   39
Buddle     15   3   33
Schelotto   7  19   33
Angel      14   3   31
Ching      13   5   31
Moreno, J  10  10   30
Emilio     11   5   27
Morales     6  15   27
Barrett, C  9   7   25
Rolfe       9   7   25
Blanco      7  11   25

Schelotto Stalls at 19 Assists

At the beginning of September, I commented that Guillermo Barros Schelotto had a good chance of becoming just the second MLS player to ever tally 20 assists. While Schelotto had an MVP-caliber season he came up just short, tying Marco Etcheverry, Carlos Valderrama and Steve Ralston for the second highest total in league history.

  Player              TM GM A Year
1 Carlos Valderrama   TB 32 26 2000
2 **Schelotto**      CLB 27 19 2008
  Marco Etcheverry    DC 26 19 1996 
  Carlos Valderrama   TB 20 19 1997 
  Marco Etcheverry    DC 29 19 1998 
  Steve Ralston       NE 27 19 2002
6 Steve Ralston       TB 32 18 1999
7 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

Schelotto's season also ranks him third in margin of victory for the assists title.

1 Carlos Valderrama 9 2000
2 Preki             6 2003
3 **Schelotto**     4 2008
  Jaime Moreno      4 2004
5 Marco Etcheverry  3 1998
  Steve Ralston     3 2002
7 Marco Etcheverry  2 1996
  Carlos Valderrama 2 1997

What really did him in was the fact that he missed a couple of games down the stretch. In some ways it puts the skill of Carlos Valderrama into perspective. Not only does he top both of these lists, he also averaged 0.95 assists per game in 1997 when he recorded 19 assists in 20 games.

Donovan Joins the 20 Goal Club

With his penalty kick goal against Dario Sala this weekend, Landon Donovan became just the ninth player in MLS history to score 20 or more goals in a season. His 20 goals tied him for the eighth-best season total in history.

Player            TM  GM G  Year
1 Roy Lassiter    TB  30 27 1996
2 Stern John      CLB 27 26 1998
  Mamadou Diallo  TB  28 26 2000
4 Carlos Ruiz     LA  26 24 2002
5 Taylor Twellman NE  28 23 2002
  Raul Diaz Arce  DC  28 23 1996
7 Eduardo Hurtado LA  26 21 1996
8 Luciano Emilio  DC  29 20 2007
  Landon Donovan  LA  25 20 2008

A couple of random notes about this feat:

• Donovan is the first player to do so in a season other than his first in the league.
• This is the first time the league has had 20-goal scorers in consecutive years, as Luciano Emilio did it last year.

Sadly my guess is that this will be his last season in Major League Soccer. Europe awaits...

Leading MLS in Assists and Goals

If you look closely at the last two posts, you might notice one name that's shared across the lists -- Jaime Moreno. So far he's the only person to lead the league in both assists and goals (albeit not in the same season.)

No player has ever led the league in both categories in the same year, but two players have come close. In 2006 Real Salt Lake's Jeff Cunningham led the league in scoring with 16 goals, and ended tied for second in assists with four other players. One of the players he was tied with was Christian Gomez, who tied Ante Razov for the second most goals at 14.

MLS Scoring Title Margins

In keeping with yesterday's theme, here's a look at the biggest gaps between the MLS Golden Boot winner and the second place goal scorer.

The race for top scorer has been very close most years, with only four seasons where the top scorer beat the man in second by more than two goals. In three seasons (1999, 2003 and 2004) two or more players tied for the lead.

If the season ended today, Landon Donovan would be fifth on the list, as he leads teammate Edson Buddle and Dallas' Kenny Cooper by three goals.

Mamadou Diallo      8  2000
Stern John          7  1998
Roy Lassiter        4  1996
Alex Pineda Chacon  4  2001
Jeff Cunningham     2  2006
Jaime Moreno        1  1997
Carlos Ruiz         1  2002
Taylor Twellman     1  2005
Luciano Emilio      1  2007

MLS Assist Title Margins

With Guillermo Barros Schelotto attempting to become just the second MLS player to reach twenty assists this year, I thought it would be interesting to see just how dominant Valderrama's record-setting 2000 season was.

As it turns out, not only did Valderrama set the mark for most assists, but he also set the record for the largest gap between the top assist man and second place, outdistancing Steve Ralston by nine helpers. The only tie occurred in 2001 when Diego Serna and John Wilmar Perez shared the crown.

Carlos Valderrama 9 2000
Preki             6 2003
Jaime Moreno      4 2004
Marco Etcheverry  3 1998
Steve Ralston     3 2002
Marco Etcheverry  2 1996
Carlos Valderrama 2 1997
Steve Ralston     1 1999
Dwayne De Rosario 1 2005
Terry Cooke       1 2006
Steve Ralston     1 2007

If the season ended today, Guillermo Barros Schelotto would place second on this list, as he is currently eight assists ahead of Salt Lake's Javier Morales.

Can Donovan Join the 20 Goal Club?

Landon Donovan's brace against New England last weekend brings his goal total to 16 with eight games left on the Galaxy's schedule. If he manages to knock in four more goals, it would make him the ninth player in MLS history to reach the 20-goal plateau.

  Player                    TM    GM   G   Year
1 Roy Lassiter              TB    30   27  1996
2 Stern John                CLB   27   26  1998
  Mamadou Diallo            TB    28   26  2000
3 Carlos Ruiz               LA    26   24  2002
4 Taylor Twellman           NE    28   23  2002
  Raul Diaz Arce            DC    28   23  1996
5 Eduardo Hurtado           LA    26   21  1996
6 Luciano Emilio            DC    29   20  2007

As you can see, no player has ever registered at least 20 goals more than once. When Luciano Emilio did it last season, he was the first to do so in five years. This is Donovan's best goal-scoring year by far with 16 goals in just 18 games played. Can he make it to 20? That's a very interesting question.

Because MLS does not break for international dates, Donovan will likely miss at least two of the Galaxy's remaining eight games while on World Cup qualifying duty. The US plays Cuba on 9/6 and Trinidad and Tobago on 9/10, meaning Donovan will miss the 9/6 game against Salt Lake. The US plays the return legs of those fixtures 10/11 and 10/15, which means he'll likely miss the 10/12 game against Colorado. Factoring in fatigue and injuries from these games, he could also miss 10/18 against Houston and 9/13 against Kansas City.

If he keeps scoring at this rate, he'll finish with 20 goals if he plays at least five more games. Whether he plays that many remains to be seen. If he doesn't, it's yet another in a long line of arguments against MLS playing on FIFA dates.

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.