MLS XG, Speed Demons & More

By Anonymous (not verified), February 26, 2025

For Immediate Release
MLS Communications

Expected Goals: Upcoming Milestones for Matchday 2

San Diego FC Looks for Second Straight Win in Home Debut

In a weekend filled with highlights, the debut of San Diego FC stood among the brightest, as the league’s 30th team hit the road and knocked off the defending MLS Cup presented by Audi champion LA Galaxy in their debut match. Now, the expansion side returns to Snapdragon Stadium for the first home match in club history and squares off against a recent expansion club whose history it would love to emulate.

San Diego will play host to St. Louis CITY SC, as the former debuts in front of their home supporters. St. Louis, who debuted in 2023, owns the league’s most successful inaugural season in the last two decades, recording 17 wins and finishing atop the Western Conference that season.

San Diego has eyes on its own history on Saturday night (10:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV), as a win would make the club only the fifth expansion club to win their first two matches, excluding the league’s debut season in 1996.

The MLS expansion teams to win their first two games (excl. 1996):

Nelson Helping Towards History

In his return to Major League Soccer, 22-year-old midfielder Jayden Nelson made an instant impact on his Vancouver Whitecaps FC debut on Matchday 1, totaling three assists and a goal in the club’s 4-1 victory over the Portland Timbers. Nelson became just the third player in league history to record at least four goal contributions in a season-opening match and the first since 2006.

Nelson, whose three assists were the most in the league on Matchday 1, can carve his name into the record books with another standout performance against the LA Galaxy on Sunday evening (5 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). No player in MLS history has recorded five assists in his first two games of a season and only three players have recorded five assists in their first three game of a season – Marco Etcheverry (five assists in 1999), Carlos Valderrama (five assists in 2001), and Dante Vanzeir (five assists in 2024).

The players to reach five assists in the fewest games in a season in MLS history:

Newcomers Ready to Roll

Standout newcomers burst onto the MLS scene on Matchday 1, as three players – Atlanta’s Emmanuel Latte Lath, San Diego’s Anders Dreyer, and Orlando’s Marco Pašalić – recorded multiple goals in their league debuts. In total, eight of the league’s season-opening week record 46 goals were scored by newcomers.

Latte Lath, Dreyer, and Pašalić will look to continue their hot starts to their MLS careers on Matchday 2. Only one player in league history has scored four goals in his first two games in an MLS kit – the LA Galaxy’s Carlos Ruiz, who scored four goals in his first two games 2002. Ruiz finished his debut season as the league’s leading scorer with 24 goals.

The most goals scored by a player in his first two career MLS games:

Osorio Aims to Join Elite Homegrown Ranks

Toronto FC midfielder Jonathan Osorio has kicked off his 13th MLS season in style, tallying his 49th career goal in the club’s 2-2 draw vs. D.C. United. With the goal, Osorio became the first active player and the 11th player in league history to have played at least 13 seasons in the league and scored in each of those seasons. Only five players have accomplished the feat in 14-or-more seasons.

With a score at Orlando City SC on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV), Osorio, who currently sits on 49 goals and 52 assists in his career, would become just the second Homegrown player in MLS history to reach the 50 goal-50 assist milestone, joining current LA Galaxy midfielder Diego Fagúndez (73 goals, 76 assists).

Osorio would become the fifth active player to reach the 50-50 milestone, joining Fagúndez, Luciano Acosta, and Albert Rusnák.

The active players to record at least 50 career goals and 50 career assists:

Speed Demons: The Fastest Players from Matchday 1

Speed and athleticism were on full display across MLS on Matchday 1. The weekend’s top speed of 23.54 miles per hour was reached by the LA Galaxy’s Emiro Garcés in his late-game closing chase of San Diego’s Tomás Ángel in the 92nd minute. The sprint speed of 23.54 was the fastest since the stat began being tracked by Sportec Solutions in 2023.

Rounding out the top five of fastest sprint speeds on Matchday 1 were Richie Laryea (22.10 mph), Jayden Nelson (21.93 mph), Luca Langoni (21.55 mph), and Gabriel Pec (21.52 mph).

The top recorded sprint speeds in MLS on Matchday 1 (per Sportec Solutions):