There’s something special about a striker that is economic. By that I mean a few things: economic in his goals-to-games ratio, economic in his movements on the pitch, and economic in the amount of touches he takes to put the ball in the back of the net. Basically, the striker that can do more with less, that’s my kind of striker.
Adama Diomande is economic.
Economic is not to be confused with lacking in skill. Diomande, who was recently named MLS Player of the Week, isn’t any less technical than other more panache-driven forwards. His first goal of the hat trick against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, the first in LAFC history, can attest to that.
Receiving a pass 25 yards from goal, Diomande shifted the ball effortlessly from one foot to the next and back again, transferring his weight with such power and grace a few yards in front of Union center back Mark McKenzie that the defender appeared to be sucked in by the force of the striker’s gravity. Only then did Diomande unleash an angled drive with just the extra yard of space created into the bottom corner of the net. Not the type of goal a block-footed brute would dare dream about, let alone be capable of pulling off.
In five matches to start his MLS career, Diomande has seven goals. That’s economic, and a record. In the 23 seasons MLS has been played, Carlos Ruiz, Juan Pablo Angel, and, more recently, Josef Martinez scored six goals in their first five MLS matches. Diomande’s record of seven in five moves them all down a notch.
The amount of touches needed to carry out said seven goals? Just 15. The number of minutes played, a mere 297. For perspective, that’s 2.12 goals per 90 minutes played. The next best goals per 90 ratio in MLS is more than a goal under Diomande at .94. That’s economic.
Interviewed after his brace against San Jose, the second and third goals of this seven-goal run, Diomande kept it short and sweet.
“A striker’s job is to score goals.”
Economic on, and off, the field. That’s my kind of striker.
