There are people who watch Major League Soccer to support their favorite team, people who watch it just for fun and those who watch it for the storylines.
Then there’s Opta.
Opta analysts play an integral role in the collection of key data and statistics on every single player in some of the top leagues around the world. They log every piece of information (in real time) found on MLSsoccer.com's new Matchcenter, Golazo, and then some. They might watch more MLS than anyone without coach, technical director or scout in their job title.
Most US-based analysts have been, or are currently involved in, multiple facets of the game at various levels. They're athletes, bloggers, referees, scouts, coaches, editors, agents and statisticians. But most of all, they're professionals.
With that said, we thought it'd be worth polling a handful of them for MLSsoccer.com's annual 24 Under 24 series to see how they thought the list should shake out.
24 Under 24: Opta Edition
- Darlington Nagbe
- DeAndre Yedlin
- Diego Fagundez
- Juan Agudelo
- Luis Gil
- Shane O'Neill
- Kelyn Rowe
- Erick Torres
- Andrew Farrell
- Oriol Rosell
- Felipe
- Amobi Okugo
- Olmes Garcia
- Gyasi Zardes
- Joao Plata
- Dillon Powers
- Chris KIute
- Jose Villarreal
- Matias Laba
- Russell Teibert
- Andrew Jean-Baptiste
- Fabian Castillo
- Darren Mattocks
- Will Trapp
Honorable Mentions: Bill Hamid, Jack McInerney, Jonathan Osorio, Mauro Diaz, Kekuta Manneh, Carlos Salcedo, Soony Saad, Carlos Alvarez, Scott Caldwell
