So, I'm wondering to myself, "Geez, weird." In MLS history, no player has had back to back 20 goal seasons. In fact, there hasn't been back to back seasons with absoloutely any player hitting 20 goals. That keeps going on after this year. Only one player has had 15/15 on goals/assists. (Plenty have done 10/10) None has ever gotten a 20/20 (would one ever pull that off?) Even more on that, no player has even gotten 20 assists! (Ralston, Etchevery, and Valderama all have 19 assists in a single season, each not playing a full 30 games....) Just because weird things like this interest me, has anyone thought of any other landmarks that haven't been hit? (Oh, another weird thing. This year isn't Preki's best year. His innagural year with 18 assists and 13 goals remains his best. Ironic that both times he wins the Scoring Title he has 1 less goal and 1 less assist to his name.)
I agree especially on the back to back 20 goal milestone... It seems there is a bit of a jinx on the feat. I figured Ruiz or Twellman could have done it this year, but each fell well short. Don't worry either, cause this interests me too.
MLS traditionally has played many fewer games than most European leagues, so 20 goal seasons are harder to come by - much less two in a row.
how often do players in the major European leagues put up 20/20 numbers? i can't think of a whole lot of players that could...maybe Henry? del Piero? it seems like a really hard accomplishment, whatever league you are in.
I'm not certain of this, but I think most leagues around the world also count goals scored in cups, continental tournaments, etc., when making goal-scorer lists. If that's true, to have an accurate comparison you'd either have to limit the Euros to league-only goals or add Open Cup, MLS Cup, and TFC goals to our MLS league totals.
I think its Diaz Arce, but I could be wrong. Kreis is really close, from what I remember. Lassiter is up there, too.
Goals per yr Interesting thread and one that is tough to put an answer to but the one variable that comes to mind is "field conditions". At least 3 maybe 4 teams in the league play on Field Turf. It is a difficult surface to get used to and the ball does not play true. Intersting that the leading goal scorers the last 3 yrs play on natural grass. Food for thought and perhaps the always changing lines ups in the league might have something to do with the limited success(less than 15 goals per yr) Lets go Metrostars
Here's my tally... taking the 2002 listing and adding in 2003 scoring... All-Time MLS Scoring Leaders (Regular Season Goals Only) 88 Rocket Roy Lassiter 86 Jason Kreis 82 RDA 77 Preki 73 Razov 71 Jaime Moreno 62 R. Cerritos 59 Cobi Jones 57 Serna
You also have to take into account, that if you score 20 goals one season, they are going to key in you a bit more the next year. that makes it just a bit tougher to do back to back. (Just an Example) Barry Bonds hits 76 homer's, the next year they walk barry 195 times and he sets the walk record. They key in on Barry, so now someone else has to beat you since they have him in check, same goes for soccer. Once you put in 20, everyone else becomes that much more aware of where you are. In defensive of Taylor he was hurt a bit and still put up very good numbers. He missed I think 6 or 8 games. at something like .90 goals a game during that time, he would have hit 20 again, but he didnt and that leaves us to the never ending speculation
No, while it didn't happen, LA had a shot at the treble last year. Only falling short in the LHUSOC final to C-bus on four days rest from a nasty MLS Cup final.