Tom Barlow's quest for perfect attendance
September 20, 2022

Roberto Donadoni. Tim Howard. Steve Jolley. John Wolyniec. Juan Pablo Angel. Tim Ream. Joel Lindpere. Luis Robles. Bradley Wright-Phillips. Felipe Martins. Aaron Long. The list reads of who-is-who of Metro greats. Tom Barlow has a chance to join it. (Now, the list also includes Chris Henderson and Florian Valot, but, you know...)

The list? Players who have recorded perfect attendance: appearing in every regular season game. It has happened 26 times in Metro history, most recently last year when Sean Davis and Carlos Coronel both did it. Naturally, Robles appears five times, playing every game from 2013 through 2017.

Which brings us to Barlow, who is just two games away from joining the hallowed elite. With just two yellows to his name (and having never been red carded), he is not in danger of missing out due to suspension. He has also not suffered a major injury since joining Metro. And with Patryk Klimala hurt himself, Elias Manoel struggling to score, and no other viable forward options, it looks like Barlow will sail through the next two games. He'll come off the bench, at minimum.

This is where the strangeness of Barlow's potential accomplishment will lie: every single player before him has done it as a starter. The lowest ratio of starts in a perfect season was Wolyniec's 23/30 in 2004; that comes out to 77%. Barlow is currently at 8/32: an astonishing 25%, for those who cannot easily reduce fractions on their own. Minute-wise, Woly played 76% in 2004; Barlow is at 37%.

And yet, he keeps lumbering on. The "Big, Strong, Fast" defensive forward might not score much, but Gerhard Struber seems to love the chaos that Barlow supposedly brings. And if he gets to the regular season, there is an even more exclusive list: perfect attendance for all competitions.

We never thought we'd say "Barlow" and "perfect" in one sentence; yet, here we are.

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