Early in 2019, Kacper Przybylko asked if he would ever get his own head on a stick. The IBX fatheads promotion placed a few players’ headshots on sticks for a late-season giveaway and the big striker at that point far from a double-digit goalscorer, thought it was wonderful.
That light-hearted, goofy attitude disappears when Przybylko steps onto the pitch. In two games against DC United this season, he tore through the district’s finest, earning a penalty and scoring two goals. Last Saturday, Przybylko scored five minutes into the match, and by the 36th minute he had added two assists. At halftime, he hadn’t misplayed a single pass and when the fulltime whistle blew, Przybylko had showed why it is he — and not Wayne Rooney, who missed Saturday’s match after being ejected the previous game for an elbowing incident — that should fill the front line on a 2019 Eastern Conference Best XI.
Przybylko’s goal came off a hard run to the front post to meet Kai Wagner’s cross. The movement was crisp and pointed, and for the second straight time against DC it gave the Union the early lead they needed to play with confidence.
Far more impressive, though, was everything else the striker did before halftime. Check his passing chart and you’ll see him occupying the No. 10 space in the center of the pitch, drawing in defenders so Ilsinho and Brenden Aaronson could decision-make with time on the wings. Watch Przybylko’s pressing and you see an initiation that guide Jamiro Monteiro and the rest of the midfield as they spring traps in midfield. Since tearing up USL early in 2019 and making the leap to MLS, Przybylko has continued to build his stamina and the breadth of his game. Few teams feature such a complete player up top, and that is why so few have scored as many goals as the Union this year.
Many great MLS goalscorers arrived without hype: Bradley Wright-Phillips, Chris Wondolowski, and Dom Dwyer all forced their way into the top tier of finishing talent in the league. Przybylko will need to repeat this season numerous times to rank in their company, but right now he’ll settle for putting everyone on notice: Learn to spell the name, because it’s going on this week’s Team of the Week, and you’ll need it when writing about the best strikers in MLS at the end of this season.
