MLS Major League Soccer

This Week in MLS

Published on March 8, 2011 under Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


Who will score the 8,000th goal in MLS history'

Barring an unprecedented batch of shutouts, the 8,000th regular season goal in Major League Soccer history will be scored during the week of First Kick Presented by Dick ‚¬â„¢s Sporting Goods, and perhaps even in the opening match on ESPN. Through the first 15 years of Major League Soccer history, 7,997 regular season goals have been scored. There have been 2,748 games played, for an average of 2.91 goals per game in MLS history.

After the 8,000th goal is scored, MLS W.O.R.K.S, the League ‚¬â„¢s community outreach initiative, will auction off the match ball and jersey of the player who scores the landmark goal. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the player ‚¬â„¢s charity of choice.

Of the 7,997 goals scored in MLS history:

· 7,220 have come from the run of play, 611 by penalty kick and 166 on own goals.

· U.S.-born players have scored a total of 3,938 goals, while 3,893 have been scored by players born outside the U.S. (includes all U.S. domestics not actually born in the USA).

· By 15-minute intervals: 992 (1-15); 1140 (16-30); 1347 (31-45+); 1334 (46-60); 1346 (61-75); 1791 (76-90+); 47 (OT)

The previous landmark goals:

No. 1000 ‚¬" Sept. 14, 1997 ‚¬" Columbus ‚¬â„¢s Thomas Dooley vs. Kansas City (GK-Mike Ammann) ‚¬" 82nd minute

No. 2000 ‚¬" July 3, 1999 ‚¬" Kansas City ‚¬â„¢s Alex Bunbury vs. Tampa Bay (GK-Scott Garlick) ‚¬" 16th minute

No. 3000 ‚¬" May 9, 2001 ‚¬" Los Angeles ‚¬â„¢s Sasha Victorine vs. Tampa Bay (GK-Scott Garlick) ‚¬" 3rd minute

No. 4000 ‚¬" June 25, 2003 ‚¬" Colorado ‚¬â„¢s Mark Chung vs. Los Angeles (GK-Kevin Hartman) ‚¬" 12th minute

No. 5000 - Aug. 6, 2005 ‚¬" Real Salt Lake's Andy Williams vs. Chivas USA (GK-Brad Guzan) ‚¬" 49th minute

No. 6000 ‚¬" July 27, 2007 ‚¬" Houston ‚¬â„¢s Brian Ching vs. New England Revolution (GK-Matt Reis) ‚¬" 61st minute

No. 7000 ‚¬" May 16, 2009 ‚¬" Houston ‚¬â„¢s Chris Wondolowski vs. New York Red Bulls (GK-Jon Conway) ‚¬" 78th minute

Quotables

‚¬Å“It ‚¬â„¢s going to be a weird experience, because they are my team, they are my fans. ‚¬Â¦ I have a lot of memories from this club. ‚¬Â

-- Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborío, on facing Deportivo Saprissa in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, March 15 in Utah and April 5 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Saborío scored 95 goals in five years with Saprissa (Salt Lake Tribune)

‚¬Å“Mr. Wolff, tear down this wall! ‚¬Â

-- San Jose City Council member Sam Liccardo, at an event to start clearing the site for a new stadium for the Earthquakes. Later, Liccardo added: ‚¬Å“We are becoming increasingly soccer-crazed. This is our future. ‚¬Â

"If you guys wait 10 minutes until after the interview, I'll have gifts for everybody, since we're handing out gifts to everybody as a team right now."

-- Seattle Sounders FC coach SigiSchmid after his club lost the second of two games in the Cascadia Summit, 3-2 to expansion side Vancouver Whitecaps FC, following a 2-0 loss to the expansion Portland Timbers

According to the Elias Sports Bureau: 100-plus winners to meet again

Last season ‚¬â„¢s playoff series between the LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders FC was the first MLS postseason matchup in which both teams ‚¬â„¢ coaches had at least 100 regular season wins. Seattle coach Sigi Schmid (139 ‚¬"103 ‚¬"74) and LA boss Bruce Arena (109 ‚¬"69 ‚¬"30) are two of only four coaches to have reached the century mark. The others are current U.S. national team manager Bob Bradley (124 ‚¬"94 ‚¬"54) and the New England Revolution ‚¬â„¢s Steve Nicol (107 ‚¬"92 ‚¬"68). Entering their match on March 15, Schmid and Arena are tied at 4-4-2 in 10 all-time head-to-head MLS meetings.

Previews: March 15, 2011 (all times ET)

Tuesday, March 15

LA Galaxy at Seattle Sounders FC, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

· This game occurs 128 days after the Galaxy eliminated Seattle from the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs. The Galaxy won all four MLS meetings last year ‚¬" including a 4-0 win May 10, at Qwest Field, the worst home defeat in Sounders FC history ‚¬" and both Western Conference Semifinal games (3-1 aggregate).

· The Galaxy ‚¬â„¢s Landon Donovan had four of his MLS-leading 16 assists against Seattle last season, and scored one goal.

· Steve Zakuani scored both of Sounders FC ‚¬â„¢s goals against LA last year, one in regular season play, one in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

· Seattle Sounders FC hosts the Major League Soccer opener for the third straight year. They defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-0 on March 19, 2009 in the first game in club history and last year they defeated Philadelphia Union 2-0 before 36,241 at Qwest Field on March 25.

CONCACAF Champions League: Real Salt Lake vs. Deportivo Saprissa, 10 p.m. (FSC, Fox Deportes)

· The second leg of this series is at Saprissa ‚¬â„¢s famed ‚¬Å“Monster ‚¬â„¢s Cave ‚¬Â stadium on April 5.

· The winner of this two-game, aggregate goals series will face the winner of the Monterrey-Cruz Azul semifinal, which takes place March 16 and April 6. The winner of the final qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December.

· Saprissa defeated RSL 2-1 in a friendly match in Utah on July 23, 2008.

· All-time in official competitions, MLS clubs are 2-4-6 against Saprissa, 0-5-2 in San Jose.

Check out the Major League Soccer Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Major League Soccer Stories from March 8, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central