Adding perspective to Sporting Kansas City’s unequaled start

Apr 19, 2012, 8:28 AM EDT

Sporting Kansas City v Vancouver Whitecaps

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Another kickoff. A few passes. Knock in a couple of goals. Deliver a couple of knocks. Notch another win. Move on.

It’s almost a little humdrum these days for wickedly effective Sporting Kansas City.

Wednesday’s trip into BC Place to face Martin Rennie’s resilient Vancouver Whitecaps figured to be Sporting’s toughest assignment yet. And, indeed, the Whitecaps pressed SKC’s defense like no others have this year. And by “press,” we mean: Sporting Kansas City allowed a goal and goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen actually had to break a sweat in his team’s 3-1 victory.

But Peter Vermes’ team was doing some pressing of its own on a night where the teams combined for 27 shots (9 on target). This wasn’t the best of matches – there were 27 fouls to go with the 27 shots, as SKC dates always lean toward the handsy and physical – but it wasn’t bad either.

So now the Midwesterners are 7-0-0, steamrolling right along. Let’s add some perspective to such a historic start.

This is probably the best start in 17-years of Major League Soccer, even if it’s not statistically so. The L.A. Galaxy’s 12-0 launch back in 1996 included a shootout win. Plus, team strength varied wildly in those first weeks and months of a brand new league, so SKC’s achievement in 2012 comes in a completely different era, one leaps and bounds ahead of 1996 in terms of collective know-how and stability.
Sporting’s +10 goal differential through seven games, extrapolated over an entire season, would fall in around +48 or +49. Will it stay there? Doubtful. But the club would easily set a league record by maintaining such an eye-popping sum.
If you throw out the early years of wild-west, disparate team strengths, Real Salt Lake’s +25 in 2010 is the best goal difference of the last dozen years, and that one certainly could be in jeopardy.
Two goals allowed, extrapolated over an entire season, would amount to fewer than 10. Again, that’s not going to happen. But just for the sake of perspective, Houston’s 2007 championship team set the standard, allowing 23 goals in 30 matches.

Next chance to upset the Sporting apple cart comes Saturday at Jeld-Wen Field, where Vermes’ team has little time for rest and regeneration ahead of the date against Portland.

Here are highlights of last night’s win at Vancouver:

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9 Comments (Feed for Comments)

socceryogi - Apr 19, 2012 at 12:56 PM

Great article. Thanks for the perspective. They’ve played well and your article shows just how well. Go SKC!

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wesbadia - Apr 19, 2012 at 12:58 PM

Is the time appropriate in MLS to officially consider the pre-2000 seasons as the “previous era” in the history of this sport? Similar to the NHL’s “No-Fighting Era” or “Pre-Expansion (1967) Era”, and the NFL’s “Pre-Forward Pass Era”, and the NBA’s “Pre-Three Point Era”… perhaps the MLS should treat the pre-2000 seasons separately from those that came after. Just from a statistical perspective alone, it’d make the most sense for cases just like the one in KC. Shootouts, number of teams, the hokey playoff formats (not that the latest ones are perfect), and the goalkeeper-only substitute all effect how stats are compiled.

It just makes sense to me that going forward with the League requires a certain amount of separation between the gimmicky era of the late 90′s and the world stage that MLS is on now. Figuring stats only AFTER the 1999 season for reasons of comparison might be a wise thing to do.

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- Steve Davis - Apr 19, 2012 at 3:25 PM
  
  That’s really funny, because I started thinking about the EXACT same thing as I wrote that entry this morning. y thought was along the lines of “Modern” era, but that doesn’t really wash, does it? And that’s kind of where I left it in my mind. But I think you’re correct; this deserves more thought. … In fact, look for a post on this very soon.
  
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dreadpirate82 - Apr 19, 2012 at 4:48 PM

Based on the PST Power Rankings, SKC is feasting on the Aston Villas, Evertons, & Fulhams of MLS, having played 5 of 7 matches against teams in the middle third of the rankings. New England and RSL are their only wins outside of the middle tier.

Something felt off about their performance last night, and I would put a lot of that on the absence of Julio Cesar. He is such a steadying presence in the middle, both defensively and in setting up the attack through Zusi and the wings. He is easily Sporting’s most underappreciated player, mostly because he had a few disastrous performances at center back early last season.

It will be interesting to see how Vermes juggles the lineup Saturday, with their 3rd game in a week.

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- wesbadia - Apr 20, 2012 at 9:00 AM
  
  I agree something felt “off” in the game for SKC, but I think it was actually just a different feel in the midfield due to Nagamura being in. Obviously Nagamura is not Cesar, so the play will feel a tad unusual.
  
  That being said, I agree that Cesar’s presence is under-appreciated… as most d-mid’s are. It’s not a flashy position, and the hard work that goes into it is often intangible. But Cesar is the rock of the midfield and his two-way play is a huge lynch-pin in the KC style.
  
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- crossmlk - Apr 20, 2012 at 1:42 PM
  
  Your observation on power rankings got me thinking so I crunched some numbers. I grew up watching baseball, what can I say.
  
  League median record is 23.5-23.5-8 for 78.5 pts or 1.43 pts per match.
  
  SKC opponents are 19-18-6 for 63 pts or 1.47 pts per match.
  
  So SKC difficulty of schedule is very slightly above league median probably not statistically significant. What is interesting is that they have not played any of the leagues 0 or 1 loss teams, so their difficulty of schedule is front loaded and they’ve passed that test so far with flying colors being undefeated. 5 of their 7 wins have come vs the Western Conference.
  
  I don’t know if this says anything or not but I found it interesting. SKC has earned 21 of the 157 points earned league wide so far this year. That is 13.3% of the total number. Median would be 8.26 (5.26%) points. You can use that number to gauge where teams currently sit.
  
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wesbadia - Apr 20, 2012 at 9:03 AM

The bitch of all this great play by KC right now is that their skill and indomitable play will be unfelt in the CCL for the 2012-2013 edition. If ONLY they would’ve made it to the final instead of Houston last year. Could you imagine what kind of run they would’ve made in the group stages come August?!? That’s something I would like to see, but I sincerely doubt their form will last long enough to see them exhibit it in CCL.

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- crossmlk - Apr 20, 2012 at 1:50 PM
  
  An interesting poing on SKC, according to quotes I’ve heard from Rob Heineman or Peter Vermes (maybe both but I couldn’t find the source right off the top so this can be taken with a grain of salt); They were expecting the team to come together in 2014 with the current nucleus and be good for several years after that.
  
  So at least by their thinking they’ve arrived a little sooner than expected.
  
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  - wesbadia - Apr 20, 2012 at 3:08 PM
    
    In those regards, it’s great news for Vermes and Co. But the timing is a tad off for international play. If they can manage to play like this for CCL, it’d be a joy to watch.