Sporting Kansas City steps into their game on September 7th with 6 games left on the schedule and 5 points behind LA Galaxy in the playoff race. They enter that game down Johnny Russell(Scotland), Felipe Gutierrez(Chile), and Gianluca Busio(USA U-17) thanks to MLS playing through the international friendly window.

This leaves SKC a little thin in the chance creation department, especially since Johnny Russell and Felipe Gutierrez are top 3 on the team in xG(expected goals)+xA(expected assists). However, when you look at those numbers, one name sticks out like a bulb in a dark room… Daniel Salloi may have 0 goals to his stat line this season but he is 3rd on the team with 5 xG and leads the league in xG-G (expected goals-goals scored) by over a 1.5 goals. His teammate Gerso is 3rd on that list but we’ll get back to him in a bit.

Accounting for the fact that Salloi may have overproduced last season, with 11 goals to his 8.2 xG, it still doesn’t point to the nosedive that we’ve seen from SKC’s golden boot winner in 2019. The term ‘snake-bitten’ comes to mind as you watch him shoot with a lack of confidence, as a St. Louis Blues fan — his season reminds me of Jaden Schwartz during the 2018–2019 regular season. See the difference for yourself… we’ll call it the curse of the no-look goal.

Daniel Salloi 2018 vs 2019, we’ll focus on last weekend’s game to highlight Salloi’s highlight level chances… where everything goes wrong at the last moment.

Here we see Salloi in perfect position in the box to receive the cross from Graham Zusi, this should be a relatively easy tap in but with the Houston defender draped over him, he ends up redirecting it into the ground and up over the net. This is one where 9 times out of 10 you see a goal… but this is where Salloi is this season.

The next chance for Salloi comes off at great ball in from Johnny Russell, Salloi times his run extremely well to get on the ball and re-direct a shot on goal. Unfortunately, the angle of the chance makes it hard for Salloi to put this chance anywhere but right at the goalkeeper and nothing comes of it.

Even if he isn’t scoring, his play is still leading to chances and dangerous plays for opposing teams. In this play, Salloi lays a heavy tackle on Memo Rodríguez which frees up Johnny Russell to dance through Houston’s backline and find Hurtado for another big chance.

Salloi’s performance this year is perplexing, the goals have dried up but his level of play up and down the pitch requires him to be in the starting line-up, especially since Gerso has struggled with injury and fitness issues this season.

Speaking of Gerso, Salloi’s performance is highlighted because of SKC’s lack of goal scoring options. However, if SKC is performing up to their underlying statistical value they pick up 5 goals from Salloi and over 3 goals from fellow winger Gerso when the pair have combined for 1 singular goal in the 2019 MLS season.

That’s uhhhhhhh not great.

If Sporting KC is going to fully challenge for a playoff spot, it will come from a statistical correction on the wings while continuing to solidify what we have been seeing from the defense the past 4 games. It’s possible… but man, it has to come together this weekend.

Thanks for reading! I’m going to be publishing pieces on this page on weeks where the lads aren’t recording an episode of the podcast, so I hope you stick around for all things MLS and St. Louis expansion. If you're just finding us here, you can follow the podcast on Instagram and Twitter, and listen to our latest podcast embedded below.

Thanks for reading,

-Justin