Castrol Index Weekly Top 20: Chad Marshall rises above in Columbus Crew stunner

MLSsoccer staff

It was one of the upsets of the season thus far, and it left Montreal Impact coach Marco Schällibaum calling the Columbus Crew his team's version of kryptonite. And it may have started at the feet of genius playmaker Federico Higuaín, but it finished with the head of veteran defender Chad Marshall.

Marshall may have had an ugly moment in that 2-1 win at Stade Saputo – an early miscommunication with goalkeeper Matt Lampson that let Marco Di Vaio, No. 2 on this list, head home his league-leading 18th goal of the season. But he made up for it later with a clinical, towering header and his usual stellar defensive performance and his organization of the backline. For his efforts, he earned the top spot in this week's Castrol Index.

While Marshall had the best individual showing of the weekend (by the numbers), there's no question that the Seattle Sounders were the big winners from a team perspective. Their 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Friday night was a study in dominance, and as a result they put four different players – including MLS Player of the Week Obafemi Martins – in the top 20.

See how players collect points in the Castrol methodology here.

Castrol Index Week 29 Top 20 Performers


Rank	Player	Position	Team	Minutes	Opponent	Points
1	Chad Marshall	Defender	Columbus Crew	90	Montreal Impact	1,616
2	Marco Di Vaio	Forward	Montreal Impact	90	Columbus Crew	1,589
3	Luis Robles	Goalkeeper	New York Red Bulls	90	Toronto FC	1,403
4	Robbie Keane	Forward	LA Galaxy	90	D.C. United	1,280
5	Juan Luis Anangono	Forward	Chicago Fire	71	New England Revolution	1,269
6	David Ousted	Goalkeeper	Vancouver Whitecaps	90	San Jose Earthquakes	1,254
7	Lamar Neagle	Midfielder	Seattle Sounders FC	90	Real Salt Lake	1,158
8	Thierry Henry	Forward	New York Red Bulls	90	Toronto FC	1,129
9	Zach Scott	Defender	Seattle Sounders FC	90	Real Salt Lake	1,125
10	Jair Benitez	Defender	FC Dallas	90	Colorado Rapids	1,114
11	Obafemi Martins	Forward	Seattle Sounders FC	90	Real Salt Lake	1,095
12	Michael Gspurning	Goalkeeper	Seattle Sounders FC	90	Real Salt Lake	1,074
13	Bryan de la Fuente	Midfielder	Chivas USA	90	Portland Timbers	1,061
14	Dominic Oduro	Forward	Columbus Crew	90	Montreal Impact	1,031
15	Jon Busch	Goalkeeper	San Jose Earthquakes	90	Vancouver Whitecaps	1,000
16	David Ferreira	Midfielder	FC Dallas	90	Colorado Rapids	999
17	Mike Magee	Midfielder	Chicago Fire	90	New England Revolution	930
18	Ricardo Clark	Midfielder	Houston Dynamo	90	Philadelphia Union	846
19	Jeff Larentowicz	Midfielder	Chicago Fire	90	New England Revolution	835
20	Pa-Modou Kah	Defender	Portland Timbers	90	Chivas USA	808