A Big Question:Will they once again push Graham Zusi so high?
Sporting KC put together their best attacking season in club history, and did so in large part because they threw caution to the wind with regard to Zusi's role.
This is ridiculous:
Player |
Passes, ending in Final Third |
|---|---|
Nicolas Lodeiro |
926 |
Maxi Moralez |
909 |
Miguel Almirón |
891 |
Ilie Sánchez |
847 |
Kaku |
829 |
Luciano Acosta |
817 |
Sebastian Blanco |
783 |
Graham Zusi |
776 |
Borek Dockal |
774 |
Federico Higuaín |
772 |
Roger Espinoza |
761 |
Diego Valeri |
751 |
Saphir Taïder |
692 |
Sacha Kljestan |
672 |
Sean Davis |
662 |
Darwin Quintero |
628 |
Benny Feilhaber |
609 |
Carlos Vela |
608 |
Haris Medunjanin |
604 |
Julian Gressel |
600 |
Michael Bradley |
589 |
Harrison Afful |
582 |
Alejandro Bedoya |
572 |
Tyler Adams |
560 |
Diego Fagundez |
557 |
Zusi spent more time in the attacking third than any other defender in the league, by MILES, hitting nearly 200 more final third passes than Harrison Afful (the only other defender who shows up in the top 40). Hell, he spent more time there than most midfielders. With Zusi out there SKC were effectively playing a 3-4-3 in attack.
I think it caught a lot of teams by surprise in 2018. It won't in 2019 after a year's worth of dissecting film.
