A lot goes down on the pitch in any given match — and it seems like week in and week out, Miguel Ibarra is the Minnesota United player most often involved in the match’s key plays. In 13 matches, the midfielder has 11 starts, two goals and three assists — solid numbers that get even better when you learn that all three of those assists and one of those goals have been match-winners.

But there’s more to Ibarra than the numbers. Even when he’s not contributing in a way that shows up in the boxscore, he’s putting in valuable work in the box, such as on midfielder Kevin Molino’s first goal of the season against San Jose Earthquakes.

"I think especially in this play, Miggy played a tremendous role because the defender doesn’t even know where the ball is at this point in time,” said Molino. “And Miggy just blocked him off, and I take a first touch and then finish.”

Or consider forward Christian Ramirez’s goal against Seattle Sounders.

“Miguel sets a decent pick on [Kelvin] Leerdam, so that frees me up a little bit,” laughed Ramirez. “He’s a pest in there. With his movement, he gets on the end of a lot of little things. And for him to just be in here with me, [he] attracts the attention of another defender, so it frees me up. It gives me about two yards of freedom that I make them pay for.”

A timely move to step in and block off or slow up a defender without quite getting in his way doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but secondary assists certainly do, as when Ibarra provided a key pass forward to midfielder Ethan Finlay in the buildup to midfielder Sam Nicholson’s (now with the Colorado Rapids) match winner against Chicago Fire.

“As [Miguel Ibarra]’s turned, I’m thinking, if he plays this decent, I’ve got to get on the back post,” said Nicholson. “Or at least in between the goal posts. Because I usually get shouted at for not doing that.”

Ibarra is also, naturally, capable of directly sending the ball in from the wing, as on his match-winning assist on midfielder Ibson’s cheeky goal against Houston Dynamo and midfielder Darwin Quintero’s if-at-first-you-don’t-succeed rebounded strike against Sporting Kansas City.