Former FC Dallas data analyst Arman Kafai breaks down a set of insightful stats from around MLS. Get ready to be the smartest person in your group chat.
It's stats time, folks. Let's dig into the most interesting numbers from the latest MLS action.
Columbus Crew: 38
Over the weekend, the Columbus Crew and the New York Red Bulls met for a showdown of the unbeatens in the Eastern Conference. The result? A dominant 3-0 win by Wilfried Nancy’s Columbus.
The Crew dominated the xG battle, limiting the Red Bulls to the fourth lowest xG in a match this season – the final tally was 2.02 to 0.26, according to Opta. Columbus allowed just three shots and limited Emil Forsberg, the Red Bulls’ best designated player, to only two shot-creating chances during the match. In his previous three matches combined, Forsberg had 20.
In his weekly column for MLSsoccer.com, Matt Doyle pointed out that the Crew completed a larger percentage of their passes than normal against RBNY. To provide more color on their possession numbers from the weekend, the Crew had their highest expected pass percentage of the season so far, coming in at 86.7% according to American Soccer Analysis. Their actual completion percentage was 87.1%.
