During the week leading up to Sporting Kansas City's season opener on Saturday at D.C. United, SportingKC.com will visit five prominent storylines heading into the club's 2017 campaign. The Countdown to MLS will run Monday through Friday, serving as a comprehensive preview of the year ahead.|#5 - Defensive Depth|#4 - Expansion Teams
Exactly three years ago, Dom Dwyer had just four goals to his name as a member of Sporting Kansas City.
He had showcased his scoring pedigree in a rampant loan spell at Orlando City for most of 2013, but such prolificacy had eluded him during his first two MLS seasons in Kansas City.
Oh, how times have changed.
Dwyer has amassed 50 MLS goals since 2014 and 57 in all competitions, skyrocketing to second place on Sporting KC’s all-time goal scoring charts. The only man ahead of him is Preki, a bona fide Sporting Legend who scored 71 times in league play and 81 times overall.
Do the math, and Dwyer has a realistic shot at knocking Preki off his perch in 2017. To be clear, it would take another huge year for the 26-year-old Englishman to reach the summit. But if Dwyer were to replicate his 2014 campaign, for example — 22 MLS goals and 24 in all competitions — the top spot would be his.
Sporting KC All-Time Goal Leaders
<strong>PLAYER</strong> |
<strong>MLS<br>
GOALS</strong> |
<strong>TOTAL<br>
GOALS</strong> |
Preki |
71 |
81 |
<em><strong>Dom Dwyer</strong></em> |
<em><strong>52</strong></em> |
<em><strong>61</strong></em> |
Davy Arnaud |
43 |
52 |
Josh Wolff |
43 |
46 |
Chris Klein |
39 |
43 |
To spell things out clearly, Dwyer needs 19 MLS goals to move into a tie on the club’s regular season scoring list. He needs 20 in all competitions to claim a first-place tie on that chart.
Whether Dwyer can catch Preki this season might hinge on the striker’s ability to stay injury-free, as he has largely done throughout his professional career. He is, after all, the only Sporting KC player to log at least 36 appearances in all competitions in each of the last three seasons.
Another determining factor will be the scoring support that Sporting KC provides from other parts of the field. Dwyer alone has accounted for 36 percent of the club’s regular season goals since 2014 (50 of 138), but with offseason additions such as Latif Blessing, Gerso Fernandes and Soony Saad, goal production may be more balanced. That’s not to mention Benny Feilhaber, who is likely to resume penalty duties having never missed a PK in a Sporting KC uniform.
The year 2017 may be one of particular significance for Dwyer even if Preki keeps the all-time goal record. Should he attain his U.S. passport in the near future, Dwyer would become eligible to play for the U.S. Men's National Team under head coach Bruce Arena. U.S. MNT responsibilities would make it a bit more difficult for the London-born player to be an ever-present fixture in the Sporting KC lineup and supplant Preki as the club's goal king.
