Most MLS Games Played Without Scoring

Post 2008 Update: I'm just going to post this update in front of last year's, so you can see how the numbers have changed. Brandon Prideaux is still the leader, as he's been for at least the past two and a half years. If you'll remember (it's described below), Nick Garcia was one game away from tying him back in 2006 when he scored his only career goal to date (youtube). Prideaux is so far out in front now (78 games), maybe we should start comparing to goalkeepers in addition to the field players. There's only 4 keepers ahead of him at this point. The sad/funny thing is, he only had one shot on goal this season, but it was a great chance to score. Check out 2:55 of this clip, where McBride and then Prideaux fail to score right in front of the net. Down 0-4 with no hope of a comeback, that would've been a fitting time to end it. But it didn't happen. Most MLS Games Played Without Scoring (post-2008) (non-goalkeepers, regular season games only) 1 Prideaux, Brandon 233 2 Pierce, Rusty 155 3 Leitch, Chris 138 4 Okaroh, Francis 114 5 Calichman, Dan 113 6 Wingert, Chris 110 7 Martinez, Chris 108 8 Pollard, Brandon 106 9 O'Rourke, Danny 96 10 Mendes, Carlos 95 11 Bonseu, Tenywa 87 12 Hernandez, Jason 81 12 Regan, Tim 81 14 Akwari, Nelson 78 15 Jakins, Tahj 73 16 John, Avery 64 17 Torres, Daniel 59 18 Michallik, Janusz 53 19 Herdsman, Stephen 51 20 Gargan, Dan 49 21 Cutler, Kenny 47 21 Lewis, Ricky 47 21 Soumare, Bakary 47 24 Ricchetti, Pablo 46 25 Cannon, Scott 45 Active MLS players in bold. Changes from last year? There are 3 new players on the list, the 3 active guys near the bottom (Cutler, Soumare, Ricchetti). Scott Bower (24) and Joey Martinez (25) were passed up, while Marvell Wynne (19th) was the only man to leave the list through scoring a goal. The big movers this year were O'Rourke and Hernandez, both up 5 places. Next year, Wingert should at least get to 4th, while Leitch is poised to take 2nd. Active players who could jump into the top 25 include Ante Jazic, Kurt Morsink, Mike Randolph, Nathan Sturgis, Tyson Wahl, and Tim Ward. Post 2007 Update: Checking up on this after a year and a half, the leader still stands alone at the top. Brandon Prideaux, now with the Rapids, has not scored a goal in 206 regular season games. It's a total of 17,216 minutes, which works out to about 12 full days worth of soccer. Ouch. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember what prompted me to update this in the middle of last season: On June 28, 2006, Kansas City Wizards defender Nick Garcia scored his first Major League Soccer goal. He finally hit the net in his 181st regular season game, while on the same date Prideaux had already completed exactly 181 scoreless games. One game away from a share of the record, only to fall short. Now I'm sure Garcia was happy not to get that record, but it was a pretty big moment nonetheless. Pretty big drama, as it worked out. Now, with his nearest rival almost two full seasons away from catching him, the drama lies with Prideaux himself. Wouldn't it be something if he could score in the last regular season game of 2007, finally freeing himself from this unwanted honor? Unfortunately, that can't happen as he was red carded against Chivas last weekend. Doh. I would say Michael Parkhurst has the best chance of anyone on the list to beat out Prideaux. He's already 9th, although there's a long way to go (4 years). He's young, talented, and a sure starter, all giving him great potential. However, the most impressive thing is that he's listed by MLSnet as not taking a single shot in 86 games. If true, that's crazy. EDIT: Ignore the above. Prideaux has 20 shots, or about one every 10 games. Garcia has had 28 shots. Pierce and Leitch both have over 30 shots. You'd think that they're due. Interestingly, Carlos Mendes only has one shot in 77 games as well. The alltime mark for consecutive scoreless games goes to Robin Fraser, who scored in his 10th MLS game on June 16, 1996. After that, he did not score in his last 250 league games before retiring. Most MLS Games Played Without Scoring (post-2007) (non-goalkeepers, regular season games only) 1 Prideaux, Brandon 206 2 Pierce, Rusty 155 3 Leitch, Chris 121 4 Okaroh, Francis 114 5 Calichman, Dan 113 6 Martinez, Chris 108 7 Pollard, Brandon 106 8 Bonseu, Tenywa 87 9 Wingert, Chris 81 10 Regan, Tim 80 11 Akwari, Nelson 78 11 Mendes, Carlos 78 13 Jakins, Tahj 73 14 O'Rourke, Danny 68 15 John, Avery 64 16 Torres, Daniel 59 17 Hernandez, Jason 53 17 Michallik, Janusz 53 19 Herdsman, Stephen 51 19 Wynne, Marvell 51 21 Gargan, Dan 49 22 Lewis, Ricky 47 23 Cannon, Scott 45 24 Bower, Scott 41 25 Martinez, Joey 40 Active players in bold. Avery John scored in the playoffs to help eliminate the Crew in 2004. Don't know off the top of my head if any of the others have scored outside of the regular season. Also, no goalkeeper has ever scored a goal in MLS. Jorge Campos scored in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (I believe) for the Galaxy, but none in league play. I'll edit this post after the final regular season games. EDIT 10/22/2007: It's been edited. Joey Martinez replaces Michael Parkhurst, who scored in the final weekend of the season. MLSnet error: Found this while double checking my numbers. They list Daniel Torres as having played only 51 games, omitting his 2003 season with Columbus. Oops.