The Union’s defensive prowess this season has been nothing short of astounding, allowing only 3 goals in 7 games. The fact that each of those goals has come off of a header would be of little more than a moderate cause for concern if the offense was proving as capable of putting goals in as the defense is in keeping them out. With only 5 goals in 7 games—and never more than 1 goal in a game so far—the story of the season has been if the Union can score a goal they win or tie (damn header!).

Overall Team Statistics

Here’s a look at where the Union stand compared to the league in overall team statistics. Aside from penalty kicks, the only categories in which the club ranks better than no. 16 is in Fouls Committed and Fouls Suffered. As is apparent to anyone who has seen a game this season, the Union simply are not taking shots. When they do, their accuracy comes in at 37.7 percent.

Team Offensive Stat Totals

It comes as no surprise that Sebastien Le Toux (13) and Carlos Ruiz (12) lead the team in shots. What might be surprising is the relative inaccuracy of their shots, with Le Toux’s Shots on Goal percentage of 38.4 percent coming in under Ruiz’s 41.6 percent. Excluding Le Toux, Ruiz and defenders on the list, the remaining field players total 22 shots, of which 9—40.9 percent—were on goal.

Recent Match Statistics

The ongoing redesign of the MLS website also includes more statistical information, thanks to the league’s new partnership with sport statistics provider Opta. However, the more extensive statistical information is currently only available for the past two games. The table below shows the Union’s numbers (in bold) with those of their opponents for the last two games, San Jose and Portland.

In the most recent game against Portland, the Match Stats show 8 attempts on goal resulting in 6 shots, 2 of which were on target, an accuracy rate of 33.3 percent. The Team Stats yield a slightly different—and lower— number. The total number of shots in that table is 7, with 4 from Carlos Ruiz, 2 from Amobi Okugo and 1 from Sebastien Le Toux. Of the 2 shots on target, 1 was from Carlos Ruiz and 1 was from Sebastien Le Toux. Of the three substitutions—Kyle Nakazawa, Roger Torres and Jack McInerney—Torres had 1 shot, which was not on goal. Using the Team Stats from the Portland game, 28.5 percent of the Union’s shots were on goal. (It is interesting to note that, given all the talk about how narrow Portland’s pitch is, the Union recorded only 12 crosses from open play compared to the Timbers 24.)

Against San Jose, the Match Stats show 8 attempts on goal resulting in 6 shots, 5 of which were on target, an accuracy rate of 83.3 percent. The Team Stats shows 8 shots. Amobi Okugo led with 3 shots, 2 of which were on target. Next was Sebastien Le Toux with 2 shots, both of which were on target. Danny Califf, Carlos Ruiz and Roger Torres each had 1 shot but only Torres was on target. Of the three substitutions—Michael Farfan, Stefani Miglioranzi and Kyle Nakazawa—none had a shot on or off target. Using the Team Stats from the San Jose game, 62.5 percent of the Union’s shots were on goal.

The Union controlled possession in both matches, out-passing their opponents and doing so with admirable accuracy. How many of those passes were forward passes intended to create goal scoring opportunities compared to backward passes to maintain possession rather is unclear. Given the relatively few attempts on goal, one can surmise they were generally few.

Whether or not the level of detail for the games prior to San Jose and Portland will become available is unclear. If that information does become available, it would be interesting to compare the performance of the Union offense at home versus on the road.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian