It’s probably an understatement to say that Montreal Impact Designated Player Marco Di Vaio is having a good season.
He leads the league in goal scoring with 18 in just 27 games played, 25 as a starter - two more than his closest rivals, Mike Magee of the Chicago Fire and Camilo Sanvezzo of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
As of last week, he ranks 13th in the world for the number of goals scored over the 2013 calendar year, behind FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi (27 goals in 17 games) and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo (26 goals in 19 games (full list here).
But an interesting fact is that Di Vaio does not have a single PK goal this season.
Three out of Magee’s 16 have come from the spot; same for Camilo. LA Galaxy DP Robbie Keane, in fourth place, has scored 13 goals in just 18 games this season, by far the leader in goals per games played amongst the best marksmen, but he’s netted five PKs.
This is how the leader board would look like if PK goals were removed:
- Di Vaio - 18
- Magee - 13
- Sanvezzo - 13
- Keane - 8
Di Vaio, who has always been a go-to guy in the past, joined the Impact midseason in 2012, when teammate Patrice Bernier was already on a PK goal scoring roll.
The Canadian midfielder has not missed a single PK, scoring six last season and has added another four in 2013, a streak of 10 straight.
While it is an incredible run for the team, it’s unfortunate for Di Vaio on a personal basis because he could have had a few more goals to pad his lead and could have been closer to the league’s record of 27 goals in a season.
But both Di Vaio and Bernier are not focusing on this right now. They’re focus now is qualifying for the playoffs and maybe scoring a goal each in celebration of Bernier’s birthday.
