Fabian Espindola

Well, there is the oft-used saying 'forwards just need to get goals'. Most of the time, fans will not care if their beloved scorer does not do anything productive towards possession or team-work, as long as they score goals. So, I decided to see the difference between the average ratings when a forward scores at least one goal compared to not scoring a goal in a game.

Soccer life comes to an end in Salt Lake as the post keeps several chances out for RSL to book a spot in Carson, CA for the MLS Cup. Instead, the New York Red Bulls cling to their lead from one mistake by RSL in the back. Although the result of the game was heart-wrenching, the potential of our fan-base is great. From the south-end jumping and banging away their passion to the rest of the fans taking this loss standing and chanting to their extent, I am proud of what heart our team had on the field and the support we gave them for that performance.

Fabian Espindola nets two. One off a back-heel from Andy Williams. And the other came off a great long ball from Javier Morales, that left Espindola to just chip the keeper. He possibly should have had a hat trick, but a mysterious offsides call left him with a brace.

I think Espindola is the missing link in Real Salt Lake's attack during this scoring drought - 2 goals since the start of June in league play (3rd goal was an own goal). The last game Espindola played was May 31st. He has 3 goals in 490 minutes (1 goal every 163 minutes), which is a better pace than FC Dallas' Kenny Cooper (8 goals in 1427 minutes - 1 goal every 178 minutes). With 8 games played and 8 games missed for Espindola, here are a couple team stats that show the difference as well.

Team Goals / Game
Espindola played: 1.75
Espindola DNP: 0.50

Points / Game

Fabian Espindola puts a goal through the legs of Dario Sala. Then, Oduro gets behind the defense twice to give FC Dallas the win.