Up to number 6 already. There's quite a mixed bag here:
Ian Butterworth (1996)
David Patino (1997)
Peter Vermes (1998-1999)
Ross Paule: (2000-2001)
Steve Shak (2001)
Danny Jackson (2002)
Darryl Powell (2003-2004)
Mike Petke (2005-2006)
Brandon Prideaux (2007)
Jose Burciaga Jr. (2008)
Greg Dalby (2009)
Anthony Wallace (2010-2013)
Jose Mari (2014)
Sam Cronin (2015-2017)
Benny Feilhaber (2019)
Lalas Abubakar (2019-2020)
16 different players, tying the record with #2 and three other numbers for the most used number.
Immediately I dismiss anyone who used the number for a single season. None of them stand out as anyone with a claim on best ever. That leaves us with Vermes, Paule, Powell, Petke, Wallace, Cronin, and Abubakar. Paule was #20 his first three years here, which were his best ones, and we'll reevaluate him then. Vermes was #2 for his first year but his other two years in #6 stand up well. Powell (18), Wallace (23), and Abubakar (24) all have less than a season's worth of appearances even though they were on the team for multiple seasons.
Cronin was an All-Star in 2015 and of course Wallace started and won MLS Cup 2010. Those are the only league-wide awards in the group. Vermes did start during the USOC final run in 1999. Other than Paule's assists (two thirds of which were while he was wearing #20) the only appearance in the team record books are Petke's, for card accumulation.
So again, much like 2, we're left with a list of journeyman players. In this case we have a three way battle between Vermes, Petke, and Cronin. I'm going to eliminate Petke as being not quite as good as the other two (which is backed up by the other two being All-Stars) and for being a walking card magnet. Seriously, the third highest yellow cards/game total in the top 10 (Burling, Azira), he had as many yellows as Drew Moor does as a Rapid, in less than half the time. The final decision between Vermes and Cronin is really hard to choose. I could go either way.
In the end I'm going to side with Sam Cronin but I don't feel strongly about it.
Posts
1 comment:
I think of Cronin as half a player - a midfielder who contributed nothing to the attack. Really an advanced center back. Hard to think that he's our best ever #6, since that number has been used so much, but nobody else stands out, either. If Abubakar had another season, he'd probably deserve it.
Post a Comment