Columbus’ Federico Higuain is the latest MLS man to register a penalty kick “fail” in the league.
New York’s Luis Robles guessed correctly on the Crew’s second half spot shot, turning away the Argentine attacker’s kick. (Higuain had attempted the ol’ stutter-step approach, which always seems like over-thinking the deal.)
It proved quite costly, too, as New York soon went ahead and stayed ahead in the 1-0 win at Crew Stadium. (Complete highlights later … check back.)
It won’t make Higuain or the Crew fans feel any better, but this is just the latest in a really poor April-May trend. Prepare for this one:
MLS shooters have converted just twice on 9 attempts since March. Compare that lousy conversation rate of 22 percent to the historical conversion average of around 85 percent.
Here are the hits and misses so far in April (followed by Higuain’s miss on video):
- Real Salt Lake’s Alvaro Saborio, saved vs. Colorado
- Chicago’s Chris Rolfe, miss vs. New York
- Dallas’ Kenny Cooper, saved vs. LA Galaxy
- LA Galaxy’s Landon Donovan, saved vs. Dallas
- Vancouver’s Camilo Sanvezzo, goal vs. Real Salt Lake
- Colorado’s Deshorn Brown, goal vs. Chivas USA
- Chivas USA’s Jose Correa, saved vs. Colorado
- Chivas USA’s Edgar Mejia, saved vs. Real Salt Lake
Add in a much better March for shooters and MLS men are 9 for 17 overall this year. Here’s the Higuain miss, as Robles comes up big at Crew Stadium:
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