Beyond the Boxscore: Zusi continues All-Star season

Despite the fact that Sporting Kansas City lost to the Philadelphia Union 1-0 on Friday, winger Graham Zusi continued to show why Sporting KC re-signed the U.S. men's national team mifielder to a contract extention in June.

The veteran midfielder led all players with 20 crosses, third most for an MLS player in any game in 2013. Zusi's contributions, however, were not limited to the team's attack. Zusi recorded six recoveries on Friday, to increase his total to 138 this season. A recovery is defined in Opta as: "An action where a player wins back the ball when it has gone loose."

To view Zusi's complete contribution to the squad, check out the heat map to the right, which shows all of his actions recorded by Opta throughout Friday's match.

While Friday's match is another example of Zusi's contribution to Sporting KC, it was just the latest on a long list.

Among players who have appeared in at least 20 games this season, Zusi is one of three players to record at least 150 crosses, create 75 chances and have at least 100 recoveries. The two players to join Zusi on the list are names familiar to almost every MLS fan: Federico Higuain (Columbus Crew) and Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake).