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The best ever?

October 17, 2008

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A strong case could be made for Jaime Moreno being the best player in Major League Soccer history.  He is certainly the most accomplished.  A few interesting notes following his 10th assist of the season in last night's win...

Jaime becomes just the second player in League history to put together four seasons of 10 (or more) goals and 10 (or more) assists in one campaign.  Jaime accomplished the feat in 1998 (16 G, 11 A), 1999 (10, 13), 2006 (11, 10) and this year (10, 10).  The only other player to match him is Preki who did it in 1996 (18, 13), 1997 (12, 17), 1998 (10, 13) and 2003 (12, 17).  No other player has had 10+ goals and 10+ assists in more than two seasons and only five players have ever done it twice.  In other words, Jaime Moreno is one of the best all-around creative players ever.  

Also, Jaime's assist last night was also the 99th in his career.  With 122 career regular seasons goals under his belt, one more assist would make #99 the first player in League history with both 100 goals and 100 assists. And... no one else is even close.  To date among active players:
 
Player - Goals/Assists
Jaime Moreno - 122/99
Ante Razov - 114/66
Jeff Cunningham - 104/60
Taylor Twellman - 99/28
Landon Donovan - 83/69
Carlos Ruiz - 82/17
Steve Ralston - 69/128
 
Outside of Ralston and Moreno, no other active MLS player currently has more than 75 assists.
 
Finally, Jaime is the only United player who has been a part of each of the team's 12 major championships.  That's a lot of trophies. 
 
What say you?  Is Jaime the best ever?  If not, who is?