Looking back to the development of this counter attack; the pass by Joao Plata is marvelous, and overall it’s a bit of a letdown that no goal is scored because it’s such a aesthetically pleasing progression. Let’s rewind this and start from the beginning. Albert Rusnak wins the ball off a poor pass and immediately turns it to Jefferson Savarino who provides the one touch needed to set Savarino free to go forward.

*full stop*

Sometimes hold up play isn’t bludgeoning center backs while waiting for guys to move forward, but a simple return pass back to set-up the counter attack while spreading running lanes. Will Bruin has moments of doing this with Seattle creating combinations for Clint Dempsey and Nicolas Lodeiro, as does Fanendo Adi with Diego Valeri, and of course there's the Jozy Altidore and Seba Giovinco connection. There is also, to a lesser extent, Maxi Urruti, Chris Wondolowski and Patrick Mullins all having shown a propensity for doing these quality one touch passes in combination on the counter. Here, Baird does it with Savarino cutting inside which drags the full back and allows Baird to peel off and soak up rays in free space.

While Baird runs unchecked down the right flank, Lamine Sane checks him, but tries to stick in the middle and not roam wide, which could stretch the defense vertically and create larger running lanes. It is smart, but with Orlando having an extra player back, it's probably the wrong play.

Once Savarino receives the pass and crosses the middle of the park, he rotates the ball wide to Plata. Plata is extremely dangerous in these situations and it’s not uncommon for him to bust down the sideline here and beat a full back by cutting inside and either directly creating a high leverage shot or finding someone else in the middle of the box.

Will Johnson tries to funnel Plata back into the middle of the park which is probably an ideal location from his perspective, but unforeseen to him is that Plata now has space to pick out Baird. Baird comes barreling in from wide with no marker. Only Sane is there to try and repel the cross, and his poor positioning prevents him from safely clearing the ball away (which is what should have happened here). Instead, the ball drops right in Baird's lap with a brilliant trap and quick shot.

The save by Joe Bendik is kind of a weird one. He’s coming down on the ground but he keeps his body upright just long enough to make the save. My podcast co-host Ian Lamberson on just about weekly sends me messages on “how good” Bendik is and here is an ideal highlight for him as I really feel this is great technical save.

#4 - Mauro Manotas, Houston Dynamo, 43rd minute, 0.536 expected goals

Assisted by: Alberth Elis

Number of passes in sequence: Four