PEDRO SANTOS AND NIKO HANSEN MAKE 25TH REGULAR-SEASON APPEARANCE FOR CREW SC
Saturday’s road contest against the LA Galaxy saw two Crew SC players make their 25th regular-season appearance for the club: Pedro Santos and Niko Hansen. Santos started the match for the Black & Gold, playing 45 minutes, getting 33 touches and taking two shots (one on target). In 2018, Santos has made 16 regular-season appearances (all starts), registering one goal and four assists. Meanwhile, Hansen came in as a substitute for Pedro Santos in the 46th minute of the match. He finished the evening with 18 touches, created one goal-scoring chance and had two shots. In 2018, Hansen has made 11 regular-season appearances (five starts), recording one assist. With their appearance in Saturday’s contest, Santos and Hansen are now among 12 players in the current Crew SC roster to have made at least 25 regular-season appearances for the club.
CREW SC ACQUIRES FORWARD PATRICK MULLINS IN TRADE WITH D.C. UNITED
Crew SC announced on Wednesday that the club had acquired forward Patrick Mullins from D.C. United in exchange for $150,000 in Targeted Allocation Money. Mullins, 26, is a five-year Major League Soccer veteran who has made 96 regular-season appearances (53 starts) while registering 23 goals and nine assists. Mullins joins Crew SC with MLS experience from his time with the New England Revolution, New York City FC and D.C. United. Most notably, the forward scored four goals for D.C. United in a 31-minute span during a 4-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on September 23, 2017, which is the fastest a player has scored four goals in a single match in MLS history.
ZACK STEFFEN NEARING MILESTONE APPEARANCE FOR CREW SC
Goalkeeper Zack Steffen is on the verge of reaching a career milestone with Crew SC. Since joining the Black & Gold in 2016, Steffen has made 49 regular-season appearances (all starts) and is now one appearance and one start away from reaching 50 of each with Crew SC. Should Steffen start for the Black & Gold against New York City FC this weekend, he would become one of only six players in the current roster to have made at least 50 appearances and 50 starts for the club.
FEDERICO HIGUAIN: CONSISTENTLY CREATIVE IN MLS SINCE 2012
Midfielder Federico Higuain has been among the most creative players in MLS since he joined the League. Since making his debut for Crew SC on August 19, 2012, no other MLS player has created more goal-scoring chances in regular-season than the Argentine midfielder. According to Opta, Higuain’s 496 goal-scoring chances (including assists) are 64 more than the next closest player – the Portland Timbers’ Diego Valeri. Since joining MLS, Higuain has averaged 3.15 goal-scoring chances per 90 minutes, the fifth-highest average out of any player who has played 999 minutes or more in that span. Higuain is behind only Javier Morales (3.45), Albert Rusnak (3.33), Landon Donovan (3.24) and Sacha Klejstan (3.24) in this department. In addition to his 496 goal-scoring chances, Higuain has also scored 52 goals over that span, the third most by any midfielder in the League behind only the Portland Timbers’ Diego Valeri (64) and the Montreal Impact’s Ignacio Piatti (56).
AFFUL AND MENSAH AMONG LEADERS IN HEADED CLEARANCES
Through 19 weeks of MLS action, Crew SC defenders Lalas Abubakar and Jonathan Mensah are among the leaders when it comes to most headed clearances in the League. Abubakar, 23, has made 16 regular-season appearances (15 starts) in 2018, and he has made 46 headed clearances (third-most in MLS) while averaging 3.31 headed clearances per 90 minutes according to Opta. Meanwhile, Mensah has made 16 regular-season appearances (15 starts) this season, and he has made 41 headed clearances (fifth-most in MLS) while averaging 2.72 headed clearances per 90 minutes.
