Crunching the Numbers- Toronto Edition

The curse of Canada has been broken. The team won for the first time on Canadian soil with the 1-0 defeat over Toronto FC. The 4-3-3 formation that was rolled out was an interesting surprise as well, but was effective enough to get the 3 points. Here are some interesting stats coming out of that match.

• With the shutout, RSL has now giving up a goal every 101.25 minutes. That is a big improvement over the 87.43 rate that the team had last season.
• RSL is scoring 37.04% of their goals in the first half of matches. Interestingly enough, 37.5% of the goals that have been scored on RSL have also come in the first half of matches.
• The team has yet to give up a goal between the 15th and 30th minute of any match this season. 
• RSL has a goal differential of +9 at home and an impressive +2 on the road. The +11 total goal differential ties for the second best in team history.
• The Nat Borchers/Aaron Maund centerback pairing became the 7th combination of centerbacks to play for RSL this season.
• The match marked the first time that a goal has been scored with both Olmes Garcia and Joao Plata on the field at the same time. Now the only strike partnership that has not been on the field for a goal is the Garcia/Robbie Findley pairing. Currently they have only played 13 minutes together. 
• Not only did Yordany Alvarez score his first goal, but he also completed 89% of his pass attempts in the match. He currently leads the team in passing accuracy completing 85.86% of all of his attempted passes.  

It is good to see that the defense continues to be strong. There has been a lot of talk about the improvement this season on the offensive side of the ball, but not much has been mentioned about the defense. The big test will be ahead with the loss of Tony Beltran for Gold Cup duty plus one additional match for this red card. If the US goes to the finals of the Gold Cup, we might not see Tony back until the Houston match on August 10th. Statistically, Beltran has been the team's best defender this year. The rest of the line will have to really step up.

Alvarez appears to be in good form and ready to replace Kyle Beckerman while he is gone. His goal was very impressive but I am almost more impressed with his passing stats. In the past, it had always seemed that he made bad passes. But his stats show what an improvement that he has made this season. 

The other bright spot from this match was the play of Maund. He wasn't perfect but made some really great plays that helped to keep the clean sheet. With the injuries to both Chris Schuler and Kwame Watson-Siriboe, there was big concern about the depth of the team's centerbacks. With Maund showing that he can play, a lot of those concerns have subsided.