Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders face off on Sunday (4 pm ET; ESPN in US | MLS LIVE in Canada) in a matchup that will decide each teams Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoff fate.
Two unsung heroes for the clubs are their right backs, Tony Beltran and Tyrone Mears. Mears sits at No. 8 among right backs in the Audi Player Index rankings while Beltran is at No. 9. Mears' 50 interceptions earned him 40 index points each while Beltran's 57 clearances earned him 40 points each.
Columbus Crew SC right back Harrison Afful is easily the top right back according to the rankings, partly due to his 75 interceptions. He also scored two goals from outside the box which earned him 490 points each.
Here are the top 10 right backs in MLS this season (minimum 15 games at the position), according to the Audi Player Index. The scores are the average of each player's Audi Index score per game:
RANKING |
SCORE |
PLAYER |
CLUB |
1 |
320 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/harrison-afful" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Harrison Afful</a> |
CLB |
2 |
257 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/hassoun-camara" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Hassoun Camara</a> |
MTL |
3 |
243 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/keegan-rosenberry" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Keegan Rosenberry</a> |
PHI |
4 |
233 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/saad-abdul-salaam" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Saad Abdul-Salaam</a> |
SKC |
5 |
227 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/robbie-rogers" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Robbie Rogers</a> |
LA |
6 |
202 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/andrew-farrell" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Andrew Farrell</a> |
NE |
7 |
192 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/alvas-powell" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Alvas Powell</a> |
POR |
8 |
158 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/tyrone-mears" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Tyrone Mears</a> |
SEA |
9 |
149 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/tony-beltran" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Tony Beltran</a> |
RSL |
10 |
146 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/eric-miller" style="color:#000;border-bottom:1px dotted #909090;">Eric Miller</a> |
COL |
