MLS & Penalty Shootouts
| EDIT: Updated to include four more shootouts since the original post (April 9, 2009). Which MLS teams have had the most success in penalty shootouts? Which players would you most want to take a shot under pressure, and who do you want to stay far away from those situations? I've got the answers. For the long time MLS fans: This post doesn't include the hated MLS shootouts used from 1996-99 to decide tied regular season and playoff games. Just the regular ones used around the world. This week has seen two games go into a shootout, making it a total of 38 times a game with an MLS team went to a shootout (official competitions only). 14 of those games pitted two MLS sides against one another, so in total there have been 52 instances of a team having their players involved in one. List of Penalty Shootouts Involving MLS Teams
The numbers on the right are the final score of the shootout. An "N" means that the game was played on neutral ground. OC = Open Cup, CC = Champions Cup, CL = Champions League, P = MLS playoffs, and SL = Superliga. The most famous shootout would have to be the one that concluded the 2006 MLS Cup. There's also four more finals that've been decided by pks, as well as the great DC-NE semifinal in 2004. Team Records
MLS teams are 13-11 in shootouts against non-MLS competition. Player Stats Overall, 190 MLS players have taken 285 shootout penalties, and have made 221 (77.54%). A special mention needs to be made regarding Brian Grazier of the Rapids, who was waived this offseason. He only played in one game, an Open Cup qualifier last year in KC, but still took part in a shootout (and made his shot). The field player who's played the most games without taking part in one is C.J. Brown. If you exclude defenders, it's Andy Williams followed by Dema Kovalenko. Ok, so here's the best part. The players you would most want to take a shot? Nine players have taken at least 3 and gone 100%. Taylor Twellman is at the top of the list, going a perfect 5-for-5. The other current players you would want in your lineup are Simon Elliot, Pablo Mastroeni, Richard Mulrooney, Abe Thompson, and Chris Wondolowski (all 3-for-3). The guys you would least want in there? Only one player has taken more than one without scoring, Clint Dempsey (0-for-2). Ben Olsen was in this category, but he made his latest penalty in El Salvador. Believe me, I was cringing watching him prepare for that shot. You also wouldn't want Jaime Moreno or Pat Noonan (both 1-for-3 along with Olsen), but the worst choice is probably Jay Heaps. He's an abysmal 1-for-4, including the miss in the MLS Cup. His only successful shot was way back with the Miami Fusion...yeah. Here's the full list: (includes only data with MLS teams) 100% (5-for-5) Taylor Twellman 100% (4-for-4) Mauricio Cienfuegos, Carlos Ruiz 100% (3-for-3) Simon Elliot, Diego Gutierrez, Pablo Mastroeni, Richard Mulrooney, Abe Thompson, Chris Wondolowski 100% (2-for-2) Freddy Adu, Junior Agogo, Mehdi Ballouchy, Jose Cancela, Ronald Cerritos, Chris Gbandi, Stuart Holden, Zak Ibsen, Jovan Kirovski, Manny Lagos, Jeff Larentowicz, Claudio Lopez, Ramon Nunez, Ronnie O'Brien, Ante Razov, Chris Tierney, Simo Valakari, Craig Waibel, Kerry Zavagnin 100% (1-for-1) Roland Aguilera, Chris Albright, Chris Armas, Arturo Alvarez, Isaias Bardales, Chad Barrett, Kyle Beckerman, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Scott Bower, Edson Buddle, Marc Burch, Danny Califf, Brian Carroll, Mauricio Castro, Mark Chung, Colin Clark, Ricardo Clark, Terry Cooke, Kenny Cooper, Omar Cummings, Jeff Cunningham, Damian, Troy Dayak, Paul Dougherty, Kheli Dube, Todd Dunivant, Ronnie Ekelund, Emmanuel Ekpo, Jan Eriksson, Alecko Eskandarian, Roger Espinoza, Jason Garey, Gary Glasgow, Rafael Gomes, Christian Gomez, Herculez Gomez, Alan Gordon, Kelly Gray, Brian Grazier, Henry Gutierrez, Michael Harrington, John Michael Hayden, Chris Henderson, Ezra Hendrickson, Nicolas Hernandez, Chase Hilgenbrink, Carlos Hermosillo, Andy Herron, Amaechi Igwe, Ugo Ihemelu, Ben Iroha, Guillermo Jara, Peguero Jean Philippe, Jack Jewbury, Steve Jolley, Bryan Jordan, Miles Joseph, Kei Kamara, Brian Kamler, Dominic Kinnear, Sacha Kljestan, Jason Kreis, Tony Kuhn, Brian Loftin, Martin Machon, Tyrone Marshall, Clint Mathis, Brian McBride, Ryan McMahen, Shawn Medved, Victor Mella, Alejandro Moreno, Kurt Morsink, Oscar Pareja, Daniel Peinado, John Wilmar Perez, Mike Petke, Jerzy Podbrozny, Chris Pontius, Ryan Pore, Preki, Santino Quaranta, Bobby Rhine, James Riley, Jorge Rodriguez, Jim Rooney, Chris Rolfe, Ian Russell, Tony Sanneh, Steve Shak, Claudio Suarez, Alain Sutter, Danny Szetela, Carey Talley, Zach Thornton, Ivan Trujillo, Adolfo Valencia, Peter Vermes, Sasha Victorine, Billy Walsh, Robert Warzycha, Roy Wegerle, Daniel Woolard, Frank Yallop, Todd Yeagley 86% (6-for-7) Greg Vanney 80% (4-for-5) Matt Reis 75% (3-for-4) Dwayne De Rosario, Shalrie Joseph, Peter Vagenas 67% (2-for-3) Jeff Agoos, Wade Barrett, Jimmy Conrad, Ramiro Corrales, Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones, Chris Klein, Steve Ralston 50% (2-for-4) Brian Ching 50% (1-for-2) Paul Caligiuri, Marco Etcheverry, Ivan Guerrero, Lubos Kubik, Thiago, Josh Wolff 33% (1-for-3) Jaime Moreno, Pat Noonan, Ben Olsen 25% (1-for-4) Jay Heaps 0% (0-for-1) Corey Ashe, Mike Banner, Chris Brown, Geoff Cameron, Franco Caraccio, Brad Davis, Raul Diaz Arce, Andy Dorman, Facundo Erpen, Jason Farrell, Richard Gough, Josh Gros, Aitor Karanka, Mike Lapper, Mike Magee, Justin Mapp, Jesse Marsch, Roberto Mina, Joseph Ngwenya, Duncan Oughton, Francisco Palencia, Mauricio Ramos, Tab Ramos, Pablo Ricchetti, Dario Sala, Khano Smith, Juan Toja, Tyson Wahl, John Wilson, Eric Wynalda, Abel Xavier 0% (0-for-2) Clint Dempsey Labels: clint dempsey, penalty kicks, shootouts, taylor twellman |
posted by scaryice at 7:07 AM
Comments on "MLS & Penalty Shootouts"
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Talion said ... (11:13 AM, April 09, 2009) :
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scaryice said ... (12:24 AM, April 10, 2009) :
post a commentIt would be interesting to see if there was any correlation between experience and success. Intuitively, veteran players ought to have the calm nerves to do well.
However as a DC fan the 2004 semifinal shootout is etched into my mind, and in that one, for DC at least, the savvy veterans (Olsen and Jaime Moreno) both missed while all the makes came from young guns: Alecko Eskandarian, Freddy Adu, Santino Quaranta, and amazingly Brian Carroll (who blasted a rocket into the upper corner under enormous pressure, and he's a d-mid, not an attacking player).
Carroll does have a rocket of a shot, I remember the goal he scored for DC against the Crew a couple years ago.