In a year where a 20-goal scorer1 won the Golden Boot and led his team to the Players Shield, choosing a wing back as the most valuable player may seem counterintuitive. What Jack Gurr did week in and week out to take the Sacramento Republic to the top of the Western Conference says otherwise.
Gurr, a 27-year-old Englishman, is truly excellent in every phase of play. The Republic use a 3-4-3 shape in which the wing backs must push up field to add width in attack before dropping into a back five to defend their own box. On the right flank, Gurr did all that and more. He barely missed a game, making 30 starts and totaling more than 2,600 minutes.
Compare the wing back to every other defender in the USL over the last five seasons, and the impact becomes clear. In terms of expected goals and expected numbers, only one other player put up 0.24 xA and 0.18 xG per match or more. Gurr is in rarefied air.
Of course, the Englishman’s game is best understood on film, where his endless work rate and incredible spatial intelligence are constantly the driving force behind Sacramento’s success.
The timing of Gurr’s runs is impeccably good, and it keeps him in position to recover back into his own half while still offering a potent offensive threat. Here, Sacramento initiates a move long from the back against a San Antonio side with a lightning-quick counter, and Gurr sits back; he isn’t even in frame until 0:11 here.
By then, the Republic are in attack mode. All three forwards in the 3-4-3 are in the box, and the guests are pinned. It’s then that Gurr chooses to crash towards the far post, and he strikes true with a clean volley upon meeting the cross. His finishing took a real step up in 2023, ending above the 10% mark after hovering around 3% over the last three years.
Gurr’s sense for intelligent movement that can overload a defense applies equally when Sacramento is in all-out attack mode. Here, the Republic build down the midfield of the pitch, and their striker drops low to get a touch and keep the progress coming.
As that forward comes low, Gurr - again, playing as a wing back here - can be seen making a pure No. 9’s run beyond any of the members of the front line. The first pass doesn’t connect, but #2 keeps at it and positions himself well in the counterpress. When Sacramento regains, Gurr goes right back into attack mode and makes a smart cut in the box to keep Russell Cicerone open for a goal.
Even when Gurr, a former member of Atlanta United 2 and Abderdeen FC, isn’t scoring for himself, he’s making the reads that let his teammates take the glory.
Of course, the Englishman’s interventions can also be more obviously influential. As the Republic break down an opposing back five here, Gurr drops into the open space on the sideline, picks up the ball straight from Danny Vitiello in goal, and dribbles past five defenders before drawing a foul.
There’s speed and power on display throughout the sequence, but watch how well-considered every touch is. The first knock takes Gurr inside; every defender has to turn their hips and re-orient themselves. Another slight cutback ensues, all as the wing back fends off pressure from behind.
A minute later in that same match, you see Gurr receive the ball on the flank, once again cutting inside before right-footing a stupendous through ball to earn an assist. Gurr is masterful at modulating his speed to catch defenders off balance and open up lanes.
That assist is typical for #2, but he’s also a fantastic crosser. He completed more than five crosses per match this season on 23% accuracy, which is above average for USL players at his position.
That leaves the defensive half of the game, where Gurr is similarly excellent. When the Republic are pressing, the wing back uses his breakneck acceleration to close down hard. You see it above in the first example, where he closes hard against Ryan Doghman, one of the primary cogs of Orange County’s offense. Gurr’s ability to mark those key sorts of creators and take inside positions as needed is unsung but vital.
In that same match, you also see #2 defend against a long ball over the top. He recovers quickly, boxes out a pursuing forward with advantageous momentum, and uses that strong build to see the pass crawl over the endline. Here is a player that knows how to leverage his body.
Over the course of the year, Gurr won more tackles (50) than any other Republic player. He also pitched in 19 interceptions and 34 clearances, wholly respectable numbers for a player with heavy offensive responsibilities. When the moment counted, the wing back was always in position - he’s a massive reason why Sacramento finished with the best defense in the USL.
Can you separate Gurr’s excellence from that of the Republic at large? The numbers seem to say so. With their talismanic wide man on the field, Sacramento was about 0.8 goals better than their opponent per game. Without Gurr, albeit in only about 500 minutes, they were slightly below water. #2 finished with the second-best on-off split on the squad.
Soccer is a team sport, and what the rest of the Republic roster did in 2023 was excellent, but Jack Gurr was the linchpin. Plenty of USL Championship players had wonderful seasons, but Gurr brought that level of quality in a way that simply felt more valuable every time he put on the Sacramento shirt. For me, he’s the MVP of the league.
For reference, my MVP ballot went Gurr, Dikwa, and Molloy in that order.