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Henry, 2012
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From Donadoni to Amaya: three-assist games
September 26, 2023
Something strange happened between the time the Metro-DC thriller ended and the next morning. MLS reviewed the scoring and awarded Frankie Amaya not one, not two, but three secondary assists, meaning he joins a very rare club. If you think hat-tricks are hard to come by, three-assist games are even more rare. Amaya is the 10th in Metro history to do it.
July 28, 1996: MetroStars 4, San Jose 1; Roberto Donadoni
Before we delve into the details, one must remember that earlier MLS gave away assists more liberally, awarding in case of deflections and rebounds. So it's hard to say if these early games would count in the modern game. That being said, it all started with Donadoni, and all of his were primary. The Italian maestro assisted on the first three Metro goals, by Rob Johnson, Peter Vermes, and A.J. Wood.
June 13, 1998; MetroStars 3, Miami 1; Mike Sorber
The third time Metro played Miami... no, not THAT Miami, the original Miami. All of Sorber's assists were secondary: two to Giovanni Savarese, who played with a bloody lip due to a vicious elbow, and one to Eduardo Hurtado.
August 16, 2000; Tampa Bay 4, MetroStars 3; Clint Mathis
You know, this game, right? The one where Mamadouchebag Diallo broke Mike Ammann's ribs? We're pretty sure that Mathis' three (two to Alex Comas, one to Adolfo Valencia) would not today. For example, one of Comas' goals came on a give-and-go from his fellow Colombian, so how did Mathis get an assist? Weird early MLS.
August 26, 2000: Dallas 4, MetroStars 6; Alex Comas
You know, this game, right? It was Comas' turn to play provider as he helped Mathis' still-record five-goal game, assisting on the first three. All primary assists, to boot!
June 15, 2002; MetroStars 5, Los Angeles 0; Andy Williams
And here is Diallo doing it for Metro, abusing Alexi Lalas and scoring four, including two from Williams assists. (The third one was to Brad Davis.) Lalas sucked. Diallo sucked. They were both Metros. Metro history sucks sometimes.
September 29, 2012; New York 4, Toronto 1; Thierry Henry
MLS changed its assist logic after the 2002 season (if we remember correctly), so it took a decade and the greatest Metro ever to pull it off. The French ubermensch served a corner to the head of S. Markus Holgersson, sent a no-look pass to Kenny Cooper, then juggled and fed Cooper again. And then he scored one himself! Luis Robles made his debut in this game! Metro history is awesome sometimes.
October 27, 2013; New York 5, Chicago 2; Peguy Luyindula
You know, this game, right? Metro clinched its first major trophy as Luyindula fed first Henry (goal 1) on the thunderous equalizer, then Lloyd Sam (goal 3) on the eventual game-winner, then Eric Alexander (goal 4) on the one that made it academic. Metro history is awesome sometimes!!!!!
July 12, 2014; New York 4, Columbus 1; Thierry Henry
And here is Titi again, coincidentally setting Metro's all-time league assist record. (Since broken by Sacha Kljestan). First he fed Bradley Wright-Phillips. Then he scored one himself (of course!). Then, he nodded the ball to himself and fed Lloyd Sam. In injury time, Alexander was the beneficiary. We miss you so much, Titi!
March 5, 2022; Toronto 1, New York 4; Patryk Klimala
Klimala recorded three assists in his awful 2022. All of them came in this game, all of them came to Lewis Morgan. At least one of them was a miss-hit ball that Morgan somehow capitalized. Clearly, this is the most illogical three-assist game in team history.
September 23, 2023; DC United 3, New York 5; Frankie Amaya
And now we have Amaya, in an eight-goal thriller, with all secondary assists. First to (eventually) Omir Fernandez, then a corner to (eventually) Cameron Harper, and in injury time to (eventually) John Tolkin. Welcome to the exclusive club, Frankie!
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