There’s been some stingy defensive teams in Major League Soccer over the years, but who were the stingiest?
Of course, every year there’s the goals against average to determine that, but when you factor in year over year, the goals scored in a given year are different, sometimes dramatically.
So we’ve used those factors for a formula we’re calling the Effective Goals Conceded Rate.
Real Salt Lake in 2010 conceded 0.67 goals per game — in a season in which 2.64 goals were scored per game. That puts their Effective Goals Conceded Rate at a miniscule 0.27, the best in the league’s history.
The data also backs up what we already knew about those stout Sporting Kansas City teams, especially under Peter Vermes. Sporting owns three of the top five best defensive seasons in MLS history and four of the top 10.
What about that adage about defense wins championships? Four of the teams on this list won MLS Cup that year (2000 KC, 2007 HOU, 2011 LA, 2013 SKC).
