It’s no coincidence that Vancouver and Portland led MLS in clean sheets this season.
That’s what happens you have a top goalkeeper and always-dependable backline. But let’s not forget about the players directly in front of the backline.
For Whitecaps FC, one of those players is Matias Laba. And for Portland, that would be Diego Chara, who was sidelined last weekend but could make a return on Sunday at BC Place.
These are two of the best defensive midfielders in the league (we took a closer look at Laba’s performance in the first leg here).
The stats don’t lie.
Over the last two seasons, Laba has recorded more tackles than any other player in MLS (303). Chara is next on the list with 238. Both players are also among the top 10 in all-time tackle leaders (dating back to when the Opta started tracking MLS in 2011). See below.
<strong>PLAYER</strong> |
<strong>TACKLES</strong> |
<strong>GAMES PLAYED</strong> |
<p align="center">Osvaldo Alonso</p> |
<p align="center">609</p> |
<p align="center">144</p> |
<strong>Diego Chara</strong> |
<strong>541</strong> |
<strong>146</strong> |
<p align="center">Juninho</p> |
<p align="center">429</p> |
<p align="center">162</p> |
<p align="center">Dax McCarty</p> |
<p align="center">422</p> |
<p align="center">155</p> |
<p align="center">Gonzalo Segares</p> |
<p align="center">400</p> |
<p align="center">117</p> |
<p align="center">Marvell Wynne</p> |
<p align="center">397</p> |
<p align="center">146</p> |
<strong>Matias Laba</strong> |
<strong>381</strong> |
<strong>78</strong> |
Note the games played.
The fact that Laba is so far up the list with so few games is remarkable – even more so considering the fact that no player even in the top 60 all-time list has played fewer games. As you could probably gather from these stats, Laba is the league’s all-time leader in tackles per game with 4.88.
Moral of the story?
Neither Laba or Chara will often make the headlines (it’s just not in the nature of the position), but they are both crucial to the success of their respective teams and could have a big part to play on Sunday at BC Place (7 p.m. PT on TSN1).
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