Revisiting the Striker Partnerships

About a month ago, I wrote a post where I looked at the partnerships between each of the forwards that RSL has and how well the team has played when each pair was on the field. There have been five MLS matches since then and I thought people might be interested in seeing what the updated numbers are. For a point of reference, the team is currently averaging scoring a goal every 64.29 minutes

Players	Min	Goals	MpTG
Plata/Sandoval	310	6	51.67
Sabo/Findley	224	0	N/A
Findley/Plata	220	3	73.33
Sabo/Plata	147	4	36.75
Sabo/Garcia	142	2	71.00
Sandoval/Garcia	140	4	35.00
Plata/Garcia	83	0	N/A
Sabo/Sandoval	56	1	56.00
Findley/Sandoval	31	1	31.00
Findley/Garcia	13	0	N/A

What can we learn from these numbers? The first thing that stands out to me is how many minutes that the Plata/Sandoval combination has played. At the beginning of the year, I am sure no one would have ever guessed that this combination is the one that has played the most minutes for the team. The great news is how well they play together. With both players being so young, it might be a pairing that we will continue to see for years to come.

The strike partnership that I think we all expected to see the most was the Saborio/Findley pairing. We saw a lot of this pairing during the first few matches of the year. But due to injury, it has been eight matches since we have last seen Sabo and Findley on the field at the same time. It is a little bit concerning that the team has not scored while these two players have played together. 

In my mind, the pairing that has worked together the best this year is the Saborio/Plata partnership. The four goals that the team has scored (all scored by Saborio) in 147 minutes is very impressive. The chemistry that these two have is pretty remarkable considering the limited time they have really had to play with each other. 

Finally, I have loved watching the Sandoval/Garcia combination on the field together. The work rate between the two young players is pretty incredible. And the 4 goals in only 140 minutes of play is great as well. The future looks bright.