As I am sure you know by now, Gyasi Zardes is a 24 year old who grew up in Hawthorne, California and has logged over 100 games with his local soccer team, LA Galaxy. In fact, Zardes made his MLS debut on April 27th, 2013 against Real Salt Lake as a sub for Jack McBean in the 53rd minute. Just three years later, he has played 102 games for LA Galaxy and produced some phenomenal moments for the club in the process.
Earlier this month he was a guest on Men In Blazers podcast (link: http://meninblazers.com/2016/04/08/mibpodspec-zardes/) with a 20-minute interview covering a ton of topics and he provided some interesting perspective on his career. He talks about growing up and playing soccer with his older brothers on concrete in a courtyard of his apartment complex. I personally would attribute this to helping Zardes play the game at speed in his current day career. He talks about his American soccer inspiration was Landon Donovan and how he has always admired his consistency.
Rog Bennett asked him “Do you enjoy being played all over the field and what do you believe is your best position?” Zardes replied with almost zero hesitation, “I love playing up top. I love just being that striker that holds the ball up or lay it off and move.” He also mentions his love as a winger but that initial response was so quick and I personally feel that is where Zardes really wants to play and where LA Galaxy can bring out the most value from him. With Robbie Keane on the bench it has allowed Zardes to highlight his strengths up top.
Gyasi Zardes left the podcast with a great and reassuring quote that his current goal is to play more consistently and to help his team win games. I don’t think any LA Galaxy fan can ask for much more from their homegrown star. Here is how some of Zardes stats break down from his first 102 games with Galaxy.
GYASI ZARDES LA GALAXY CAREER BY THE NUMBERS:
- 89 Games Started
- 227 Shots
- 79 Shots on Goal
- 31 Goals
- 11 Assists
- 81 Fouls Committed
- 23 Offside
- 5 Yellow Cards
GYASI ZARDES’ LA GALAXY CAREER BY MINUTES (8,275 MINUTES PLAYED)
- 81.1 Minutes Played Average Per Game
- 36.4 Minutes Per Shot (2.2 Per Game)
- 102 Minutes Per Shot on Goal (1.25 Games for every SOG)
- 266 Minutes Per Goal (3.2 Games Played Avg.)
- 752 Minutes Per Assist (9.2 Games for every Assist)
- 102 Minutes Per Foul Committed (1.25 Game Average Per Foul)
- 359 Minutes Per Caught Offside (4.43 Games Between Offside)
- 1655 Minutes Per Yellow Card (20 Game Average Per Yellow)
LA GALAXY PERFORMANCE WHEN GYASI ZARDES STARTS
Career Total
- 44 W
- 23 T
- 22 L
2016
- 4 W
- 1 T
- 1 L
2015
- 11 W
- 8 T
- 8 L
2014
- 18 W
- 7 T
- 6 L
2013
- 11 W
- 7 T
- 7 L
Yep, the LA Galaxy wins 49.4% of the time when Gyasi Zardes has started the game in his career and only lost 24.7% of the time. Those are some statistics I think Zardes can be very proud of! Sorry to bring Math class into the CorneroftheGalaxy.com universe but I think when you breakdown the LA Galaxy hometown hero by the numbers, you can see the proof is in the pudding so to speak that Zardes has made a positive impact on the club. We cannot wait for the next 100 games with you wearing the crest Zardes!