031. ECNL BOYS FINALS: 4 PENALTY SHOOT-OUT WINS... IN A ROW?

There are many outstanding stories to-be-told, all related to this year's ECNL Finals. To be onsite - and to witness the swirl of competitive joy and agony across a few age group finalists - it was a special day. From a data-driven perspective, this episode's focus is on the "jaw-dropping statistical anomaly" that was LAFC So Cal ECNL 2010 Boys. They won the 2024 U14 ECNL Boys National Championship in a penalty shoot-out. However, in-order to make it to the Finals, they had to be on the winning-side of 3 previous penalty shoot-outs. Consider this:

For some readers, the concept of winning a national championship after multiple penalty shoot-outs suggests a "lucky streak" for a "lucky team". This would be an unfair assessment. Look at the table above once-again, but this time focus on the group stage line-item:

• Across 2011-2007 Boys age groups, there are only 3 teams (out of 320) that exited their 2024 Playoffs Group Stage with 0 Goals Against (ie: they conceded no goals during their group stage games in California). What happened to those 3 teams during the knockout rounds?
  • LAFC So Cal ECNL B10 - 2024 U14 ECNL National Champions
  • Pipeline SC ECNL B09 - 2024 U15 ECNL Finalist / 2nd Place
  • LAFC So Cal ECNL B08 - 2024 U16 ECNL National Champions

In other words, group stage results foreshadowed LAFC So Cal ECNL B10's knockout round success. Also - as a side note - may we emphasize:

• LAFC So Cal is a club that produced 2 national champion teams that both exited their 2024 Playoffs Group Stage without conceding a single goal.

Penalty shoot-outs have a relatively-recent history in soccer. There was a time when draws were solved by complete game replay, or coin-toss decisions. Ridiculous. Here's a summary - major international tournaments:

In these tournaments, teams never exceeded 2-in-a-row penalty shoot-outs during the knockout rounds.

Across the internet, you'll find stories of very-long penalty shootout events, but these were single non-consecutive events. Top 2 alleged world records:

• 2022, England - Washington vs Bedlington Terriers - Score: 3-3 (25-24 / 54 penalties)
• 2005, Namibia - KK Palace vs Civics - Score: 2-2 (17-16 / 48 penalties)

As a final word, we offer these 2 questions:

1. Will it ever happen again, that a team wins an ECNL national championship after 4 consecutive penalty shoot-out wins?
2. Will LAFC So Cal ECNL 2010 Boys win more ECNL national titles?

We say: no to #1, and yes to #2.

Richard - From SoccerAnalytix