For the love of god, didn't Guevara have 30points 2 months ago. Him and Noonan winning the scoring title with only 30 pts is amazingly low. The kid, Freddy Adu had 13pts points for crying out loud. What happened to the days of scoring leaders with 20+ balls in the back of the net?
Don't know what to say, I would be quick to say the WCQ and injuries, but then again that has happened since 98 and 02, no drastic drop in points then. Overall I think poor play this season is the main factor, I mean look at the MLS Regular Season ending, each game still had for the most part some significance, not because of good play, but the opposite.
Its called bad officiating where frequently games degenerate into hack fest and little or no skill is displayed. If you can be successul being a hack why display skill and creativity?
I'm interested in what the total of goals scored this year vs other years is. Anybody wanna figure that out?
I wouldn't say poor play as much as I would say even play, especially in the west, KC and Colorado both having either amazing defense or great goalkeeping. But still, there should have been more goals. I guess you could say LA saw this coming way before everyone else...hahaha.
If you are going to give pts for goals/assists, do it right. I don't like awarding 2pts for a goal. It ought to be like the NHL(except for the secondary assist thing), 1pt for a G and 1pt for an Assist. Have a Points titles(total pts, G+A) and a scoring title(most G). That would make SO much more sense. At least rename it from the scoring title to the points title.
Should PK's count less than regular goals?? Guevara's points come from lots of set pieces and PK's that others earned.
2004: 392 goals scored 2003: 433 goals scored So that's a 40 goal drop from last year to this year. Now some of that may have been due to the 10 minute overtime that was in place last year, but not all of it.
No, but there should be a tiebreaker rule like they have for the team standings: first is 2g+2pk+1a (2x goals, 2x penalty kicks, 1x assists), then 2g+1a (ignoring pk's), then just goals. I also agree that a separate Golden Boot for most goals should be awarded, again with a tiebreaker so that pk's count less.
I think the lack of goal scoring is a trend that's going to continue. You have teams like Colorado and Kansas City who are defensive minded and are content to drop plenty of numbers behind the ball and play for a late counterattack. That's what those teams did to the galaxy when they played at HDC. Doesn't make for great soccer. I don't like Colorado's style, but that's the direction the league is headed in. Colorado scored 29 goals and STILL made the playoffs.
I dont think the ENTIRE league is going that route, it is up to each team to make their own identity/style of play. Some teams attack while others counter attack. Always has been, always will be, but the whole league is not going the way of D first O second, IMO