Sporting Kansas City striker Alan Pulido has scorched his way to MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week accolades after bagging a brace in Sunday's resounding 3-0 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Children's Mercy Park.
Pulido buried a 32nd-minute penalty kick to make the score 2-0 and added his second of the afternoon in the 58th minute, cutting into the penalty area and beating Vancouver goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau at the near post. The Mexican international also had a team-high three chances created, completed 23 of his 27 passes and won five of his seven duels as Sporting vaulted up to third place in the Western Conference standings.
Sunday's salvo continued an undeniable trend: simply put, Pulido is one of the league's most productive attackers. Among players with 750 minutes played since the start of 2020, Pulido has the highest goals and primary assists per 90 minutes rate in MLS.
MOST GOALS AND PRIMARY ASSISTS PER 90 MINUTES
(REG. SEASON + PLAYOFFS SINCE 2020, MINIMUM 750 MINUTES)
<strong>#</strong> |
<strong>Player</strong> |
<strong>Club</strong> |
<strong>G+A per 90</strong> |
<strong>G</strong> |
<strong>A</strong> |
<strong>MIN</strong> |
1 |
Alan Pulido |
Sporting KC |
0.92 |
9 |
5 |
1369 |
2 |
Raul Ruidiaz |
Seattle |
0.89 |
19 |
4 |
2327 |
3 |
Kevin Molino |
Minnesota |
0.88 |
13 |
2 |
1532 |
4 |
Emanuel Reynoso |
Minnesota |
0.86 |
3 |
12 |
1571 |
"When you have a player like Alan, your team moves with the success of a player like that," Vermes said. "The bottom line is that he’s incredible for the way that we want to play. He’s incredible within the group of guys, his work ethic in the game, his hungriness to score all the time. All those things are very, very important to what we do. His quality today was very evident."
Pulido and Sporting (3-2-1, 10 points) will look to continue their winning ways Saturday when they visit the San Jose Earthquakes (3-3-0, 9 points) in a 9 p.m. CT kickoff at Avaya Stadium. Fans can catch the action live on Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Midwest, BallySports.com and the Bally Sports app as well as Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
No Other Pub, a premier restaurant and sports entertainment venue in downtown Kansas City, will celebrate its highly anticipated reopening by hosting the official watch party for Saturday's match. From 8:30 p.m. CT until the full-time whistle, No Other Pub will offer multiple food and drink specials including $2 off appetizers, $4 Michelob Ultras and $4 select call cocktails. Sporting will also conduct ticket giveaways for the club's home match on May 29 against Houston Dynamo FC.
