While Barbra Banda has set the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) alight with her record-breaking goalscoring feats, compatriot Rachael Kundananji has struggled to find the back of the net.
The former has been setting records this season for Orlando Pride in the US women’s top flight. She recently became the fastest player in NWSL history to score 10 league goals, doing so in her first 10 appearances.
In contrast, Kundananji has endured a tough start to life in the United States with league debutants Bay FC. The Copper Queens forward has only registered two goals in the first 11 outings of her NWSL career.
These numbers are not what many expected from a player who set a world record-breaking transfer fee of $860,000 when she moved from Spain. During her time at Madrid CFF, Kundananji amassed an impressive 33 league goals from only 34 starts.
Now the question is whether it’s lack of service from teammates or failure to convert her chances that has led to the Zambian’s dry spell in front of goal.
BolaNews’ insight into Kundananji’s statistics this season and how they compare to those of Barbra Banda could give us some answers.
In terms of their shooting numbers, both Kundananji (6th) and Barbra Banda (3rd) rank among the players with the most shots attempted in the 2024 NWSL.
However, the big difference is in the accuracy of those shots. Banda boasts a shot accuracy of 52% compared to Kundananji, with only 26%, according to the football data collection platform OPTA. This suggests that the Bay FC striker’s shots are mostly off target and, as a result, not likely to end up in the back of the net.
What was the expected number of goals for each?
Now let’s look at their xG, which ‘imagines’ how many goals a player should have scored based on the quality of chances presented to them. According to OPTA Analyst, Banda overperforms her xG by +2.61 (goals scored: 10, expected goals (xG): 7.39). This means she’s been so good at finishing that she even scores from chances that are not easy.
On the other hand, Kundananji underperforms her xG by -1.91 (goals scored: 2, expected goals (xG): 3.91), which shows that she could make better use of her chances.
Overall, statistics reveal that Kundananji could utilise her opportunities better and test the opposition goalkeepers more often.
While Banda has been a much more effective finisher than her compatriot this season, we cannot ignore the significant gap in the quality of their respective teams.
Compared to the high-flying Orlando Pride, Bay FC have been quite poor this season. As per Sofascore, they are the 4th worst at creating big chances and have conceded the 3rd most goals in the US women’s top flight. The team’s poor performance as a whole has also contributed to Kundananji’s goal drought this season.
It’s worth noting that while the Bay FC forward’s goalscoring numbers have not been pretty, her piercing runs and flamboyant dribbling skills have caused problems for opposition defenders. It’s just a matter of time before she starts scoring again.
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