Carlos Vela's scintillating 2019 campaign stayed on track for history in Week 29, with the LAFC superstar scoring his 29th goal of the season, converting a stoppage time penalty kick to salvage a 1-1 home draw against Toronto FC.
Vela now needs just three goals to surpass the single-season record of 31 goals set by Atlanta's Josef Martinez in 2018.
Vela has actually fallen behind Martinez's goals-per-90 minutes average when compared to the Venezuelan international's first 28 matches in 2018. Martinez's pace slowed down towards the end of the season, as he scored just three goals in his last eight matches:
Player |
Goals |
Minutes |
Goals per 90 |
|---|---|---|---|
2019 Vela (28 matches) |
29 |
2456 |
1.06 |
2018 Martinez (28 matches) |
28 |
2203 |
1.14 |
With a two-goal lead in the race for the 2019 Golden Boot presented by Audi, which includes Martinez himself as the second-closest challenger, Vela is favored to claim that honor as we hit the final weeks of the regular season.
But there's still a lot of work to do – another three goals, to be exact, with three games left for LAFC in the regular season – before Vela can unseat Martinez for the all-time single-season mark. Up next are matches against the Houston Dynamo (Sept. 25), Minnesota United (Sept. 29) and the Colorado Rapids (Oct. 6).
