Like so many of the indelible moments he’s produced throughout his career, Clint Dempsey’s flicked back-heel to set up Obafemi Martins’ second goal against NYCFC on Sunday defied any graspable logic.
When the 17th pass of a long string of possession reached Dempsey, he occupied his familiar spot withdrawn into the central midfield. NYCFC central defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe stepped off his line to press Dempsey, but it was already too late. The tricky Texan took a quick glance up at the charging defender and chopped down an inimitable back-heel that sprung Martins into clean space where Watson-Siriboe should’ve been.
The 18th consecutive pass was the killer. Dempsey to Martins. Again.
With each passing week, the question of whether Sounders FC’s Dempsey-Martins attack partnership is the league’s best becomes more of a foregone conclusion. Through the first two months of the season, Martins leads MLS with six goals from seven matches. Dempsey is tied for second alongside three other players with five from his six appearances. Both registered a goal and an assist each in the 3-1 win over NYCFC over the weekend, which took Sounders FC to third in the Western Conference via a third consecutive victory. That included Dempsey’s memorable assist, which set up the third and final goal to put the game away.
The question now turns to whether Seattle’s two top goal-getters make up the best duo of its kind in MLS history. While the ultimate answer may only come with the benefit of hindsight, so far the numbers paint a compelling picture.
“Nothing surprises me with [Martins and Dempsey],” Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said after the NYCFC victory. “I see them at practice all the time, and they’re able to conjure up magical stuff... The understanding between Dempsey and Oba has always been good, but the understanding between Oba and the rest of the team is getting better all the time.”
In terms of out-and-out goal-scoring, modern MLS players have it considerably tougher than their counterparts from the league’s open range early days. Six of the league’s top eight single-season scoring performances came between 1996-2002, and teams of that era averaged north of 1.6 goals per game. Now, that average is closer to the vicinity of 1.3. In 1998 alone, two teams finished with more than 70 points. Since 2001, that’s happened once.
So if we approach the best team attacks by deviation from the mean, the 2012 San Jose Earthquakes are in rarified air. Their 72 goals that season were 27 above the league average, the biggest disparity in league history. In terms of raw numbers, the LA Galaxy’s 1998 squad was the most prolific in history with 85 goals, but the 2012 Earthquakes, statistically, boasted the most abundantly productive one-two punch in league history. No starting forward partnership has ever combined for more than the 40 goals Alan Gordon (13) and Chris Wondolowski (27) produced that season.
Dempsey and Martins are on pace to shatter that total by miles.
Born out over the course of the season, Dempsey is currently on course to finish with 28 goals and 22 assists. Martins, meanwhile, is pointed toward 29 goals and 10 assists over the course of 34 matches. Roy Lassiter’s longtime single-season scoring record of 27 goals has been tied twice in the last three seasons, but it’s never been broken. It’s still very early, and while Dempsey and Martins would have to keep up their otherworldly pace for months - no easy task - both have at least laid the groundwork necessary snap it down the line.
That they could both conceivably do it in one season as teammates makes the task that much more unprecedented, not only in MLS but in the general history of American sport. It’s as if Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire played for the same team during their unforgettable Major League Baseball home run record chase in 1998.
The likelihood both snap the record isn’t particularly high, but that they’re even in this position speaks to the proficiency of the partnership. And the relative international quiet that accompanies the year after the World Cup should work to Dempsey’s favor, as he’ll be pulled in fewer directions. With Marco Pappa providing the third head of the beast, much in the same way Steven Lenhart did in 2012 (albeit by different, more aesthetically pleasing means), this run could well continue into the summer. Even if both crested 20 goals, it’d be a first in MLS history.
So while the two might not clear Wondolowski and Gordon’s combined single-season mark by the staggering 17 goals they’re currently on pace to, the unprecedented nature of the partnership undoubtedly has plenty more tricks up its sleeve this season.
