I read the comment section, when my brain can handle it. I practically live on Twitter. And I get it. You might not have a lot of respect for second assists.
Because of that disdain, you may have even tried to cheapen Landon Donovan's chase for absolute domination of the MLS record books, a quest that was completed on Sunday with a 136th regular-season assist (and a second assist, at that), which gave the LA Galaxy and US national team legend sole possession of the following records:
- Most goals in MLS history (144 and counting)
- Most playoff goals in MLS history (22 and counting)
- Most assists in MLS history (136 and counting)
- Most goals in USMNT history (57 with one last hurrah remaining)
- Most assists in USMNT history (58 and ditto)
The man is only 32 years old, which is absolutely mind-boggling, and I hope you've come to terms with two full months of wall-to-wall Donovan coverage. It's already in full swing, with an ever-building crescendo still to come, and deservedly so.
Now that that's out of the way, with the help of a bit of historical context and Opta's statistical rabbit hole, here are a few things to consider about Donovan's most recent MLS record, lest the more gullible among us be tempted climb aboard the "second assists cheapened LD's accomplishment" truther bandwagon.
First, second assists have been given out since the beginning of time. Or, more accurately, since Major League Soccer first kicked a ball in 1996. So if you're going to point fingers at Donovan and question the legitimacy of his accomplishment, get ready to do the same to
Carlos Valderrama
,
Preki
,
Marco Etcheverry
,
Jaime Moreno
and
Steve Ralston
.
In fact, based on a shift in the definition of second assist ahead of the 2003 season, Donovan's accomplishment almost surely deserves even more respect than he's currently getting.
Ahead of that campaign, MLS went away from its original objective definition of an assist – the two passes prior to a goal regardless of context, akin to the NHL rule – and transitioned to the subjective one you see below.
"Assists shall be credited to the player(s) whose pass(es) contribute significantly and directly to the scoring of a goal or the creation or development of the scoring sequence. An assist shall only be awarded when it is determined that the pass in question required a reasonable amount of skill, vision and accuracy. A maximum of two assists shall be awarded on any goal."
From 2003 onward, second assist could no longer be construed as statistical parlance for safety-first square ball to the player who actually delivers the incisive pass, a point further emphasized in the MLS scoring rules by the insistence that "continuous possession alone does not mean two assists should be awarded."
I bring this up not to discount the records of those who came before Donovan – you can only play by the rules you're given – but to emphasis just how impressive his feat is in the context of MLS history.
To illustrate, here's the breakdown for the seven MLS players with 100-plus assists all-time, with the obvious caveat being that we can't break out primary and secondary assists:
- Landon Donovan (13 assists prior to 2003, 123 from 2003 forward)
- Steve Ralston (81, 54)
- Carlos Valderrama (114, 0)
- Preki (93, 19)
- Brad Davis (3, 108)
- Jaime Moreno (52, 50)
- Marco Etcheverry (94, 7)
Outside of his first two seasons in the league, Donovan's assists were subject to these two questions: Did this pass unlock or unbalance the defense? Did a scoring chance exist upon the completion of this pass?
If the answer was no on both counts, no assist was given. Simply put, he was held to a higher standard than those who did the majority of their damage from 1996-2002.
Opta, which began scoring MLS games full-time in 2011, also has a quick-hit definition tacked onto a bulletin board in their midtown Manhattan work space. Boiled down, analysts should award second assists for a pass or cross that is "instrumental in creating a goal-scoring opportunity."
Instrumental. For a perfect example of that definition and MLS' official edict, look no further than Donovan's record-breaker against the Rapids.
I'll let MLSsoccer.com's own Matt Doyle, who broke down the whole play in detail, handle the description:
"That pass – after taking a touch away from one defender and accelerating clear of another, then sending a perfectly weighted ball through a back-pedaling defense at a sprint – is harder than Donovan makes it look, and it's always been an assist by MLS metrics."
Always. That's true in 1996 or 2014.
Fine, you say, but then why are the Galaxy at the top of the second-assist chart in MLS this season?
As you can see, Robbie Keane and Donovan lead the league with fellow LA stalwarts Marcelo Sarvas and Stefan Ishizaki right behind them.
See, you say, LA is getting the benefit of the doubt when it comes to those "instrumental" passes, conveniently ignoring the fact that Donovan also leads the league in primary assists (14) and assists from open play (11).
Maybe – because of LD, Keane and the rest of MLS' best team with the ball at their feet, the likes of Gyasi Zardes, Sarvas, Juninho and Ishizaki among others – LA are just enjoying an absolutely dominant season when it comes to chance creation.
They keep the ball. They keep it in dangerous areas. And when they do strike, it's often Donovan or Keane ripping apart the opposing backline.
To wit, they lead in three of four categories below, with only the New England Revolution attempting more passes in the final third and no other team breaking 300 chances created from open play. They've more than doubled the chances by their neighbors down the hall at StubHub Center.
No wonder, then, that LD's already broken his personal assist record by three with 19 with three more games still to play.
It's true Donovan's benefited from second assists in his chase for Ralston's record. Undoubtedly so. But then so did Ralston. And everyone else in the record book, for that matter.
And if you've still got two feet firmly planted in the second-assist truther bandwagon, I'll just leave these open-play assist numbers – from 2011 until the present – right here for your perusal.
It's also true that most of the guys at the top of the list are or were their team's designated set-piece taker. Though Donovan has taken over those duties in recent seasons and in spurts throughout his career, Ronnie Ecklund and Richard Mulrooney handled the lion's share of the attacking free kicks in San Jose and some guy named David Beckham enjoyed dead-ball hegemony when he was on the field in LA.
Just for fun, here are the the MLS leaders in second assists since the beginning of the 2011 season. Have at it in the comments section below. I'll prepare my brain for the onslaught.
