Brad Davis has a great left foot. So great, in fact, that he just might have a chance to break one of Major League Soccer's most storied records.
In a losing effort on Saturday night, Davis was able to connect with Ricardo Clark in the 75th minute to produce the Dynamo’s only goal of the evening. That goal gave Davis his 102nd assist career assist, tying him with former D.C. United legend Jaime Moreno for fifth all-time in MLS history.
To get to these lofty heights, Davis has averaged more than 12 assists per season in his last five years with the Dynamo. If he keeps this pace throughout the course of the season he should tie former Kansas City great Preki for fourth all-time at 112, and there's certainly a chance he could take over No. 3 overall by moving past Carlos Valderrama (114) before the season is through.
Davis needs 34 more assists to break Steve Ralston’s record of 135, a number he could reach by the end of 2016 if he keeps up his current pace and, of course, stays healthy. Davis would be 35 at that point, the same age Ralston was in his final MLS season back in 2009.
Even if Davis is able to break Ralston’s record, however, he likely will still be looking up at Landon Donovan, who's already at 117 career assists and has averaged more than 10 a season since 2010. Donovan is also four months younger than Davis, so don’t expect his numbers to fall off any sooner than Davis' do.
Other notes:
• The Colorado Rapids' five penalty kicks over the course of three games to open the season is an MLS record. If they are able to win a penalty in their game against Vancouver on Saturday their four-game streak would match the run they had back in September and October of 2008.
• On Saturday, D.C. United midfielder Davy Arnaud became the 25th player in MLS history to make 300 appearances in the league. Portland Timbers defender Jack Jewsbury is the odds-on favorite to become the 26th player to reach that mark, currently with 288 games played.
• A few weeks back, we noted that Donovan was poised to claim the top spot on the MLS all-time goalscoring charts for himself, moving past Jeff Cunningham with his 135th career goal.
We're still waiting. While Donovan was unable to score against RSL two weeks ago, his recent history against Chivas USA bodes well. He has scored 11 goals in 23 career regular-season games against Chivas, and lit up the Goats for four goals in five matches over the past two seasons. Add in that Chivas have allowed the most goals in the Western Conference this season (seven in four games), and there's reason to think that "135" will be the magic number on Sunday.
