MLS Award season starts and so does the controversy
by denz on Nov 3, 2010 9:51 AM MDT
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PrintWell justice has never been the top priority in MLS Award season and clearly with the first set of announcements:
NEW YORK (Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010) - Major League Soccer today announced the 2010 Goalkeeper of the Year, Rookie of the Year, as well as the Xbox 360 Individual and Team Fair Play Awards.
2010 Goalkeeper of the Year: Donovan Ricketts, LA Galaxy
LA Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts earned the 2010 Goalkeeper of the Year award after posting a career high 11 shutouts and allowing just 26 goals through 29 games this season. Ricketts finished the regular season with a goals-against average of 0.90 and currently holds the top spot in the all-time MLS standings with an all-time goals-against average of 0.96. The Jamaican International also helped lead the Galaxy to a record of 18-7-5 and 59 points to capture the coveted Supporters' Shield.
2010 Rookie of the Year: Andy Najar, D.C. United
Midfielder Andy Najar, signed as a Home Grown Player at age 17, wasted no time making an impact for D.C. United this season. Appearing in 26 games during his rookie year, Najar recorded five goals and an assist in league play, earning the team's Golden Boot award. Najar was also honored as the D.C. United Volkswagen MVP for the 2010 season. At 17, he is the youngest MLS Rookie of the Year and the first Home Grown Player to win the award.
2010 Xbox 360 Individual Fair Play Award: Sebastien Le Toux, Philadelphia Union
Sebastien Le Toux started 28 games for Philadelphia Union this year and recorded 14 goals and 11 assists. Through his 2,520 minutes this season, Le Toux committed only 10 fouls and received no cards, cautions, or action from the MLS Disciplinary Committee.
2010 Xbox 360 Team Fair Play Award: San Jose Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes claimed the Team Fair Play award for accumulating the fewest disciplinary points of any team during the 2010 regular season. Disciplinary points are assigned as follow: 4 points for each caution received, 10 points for each red card, 0.50 points for each foul committed and a reduction of 15 points for each game that a team completes without receiving any cards or action from the MLS Disciplinary Committee.
There are a number of people including myself who are left scratching my head about the choices, and I join soccerinsider in calling for the voting results to be made public. They do this for the All Star match, why not the end of season awards.
more after the jump:
We all know that the Keeper of the year award to Ricketts is a bit of a joke, he allowed twice as many goals to be scored on him than did Hartman, his GAA is higher than both Rimando and Hartman, Rimando has more clean sheets despite playing fewer matches. Here are the official stat's:
|
PLAYER |
TEAM |
GP |
MIN |
SHTS |
SVS |
GA |
W-L-T |
SHO |
|
DAL |
20 |
1755 |
68 |
56 |
12 |
10-1-8 |
9 |
|
|
RSL |
27 |
2430 |
96 |
78 |
18 |
15-4-8 |
14 |
|
|
Donovan Ricketts |
LA |
29 |
2610 |
105 |
79 |
26 |
18-7-4 |
11 |
|
NY |
27 |
2430 |
133 |
105 |
28 |
14-8-5 |
11 |
|
|
SJ |
18 |
1620 |
100 |
81 |
19 |
7-6-5 |
7 |
I find less controversy in the Rookie of the year voting but I do wonder how the voting went, one can claim that the 5 goals and 1 assist of Andy Najar was the only bright spot on a very bad DC United team, but how do his numbers surpass Danny Mwanga's 7 goals and 4 assists on an expansion team? Then there is the work of Tim Ream,
Danny Mwanga - 24 matches played, 17 starts, 1,461 minutes played - 7 goals, 4 assists
Tim Ream - 30 matches played, 30 starts, 2700 minutes played - 1 goal
Andy Najar - 26 matches played, 22 starts, 1,983 minutes played - 5 goals, 1 assist
I get that you can make a case for any of these guys, I personally would have voted for Tim Ream. Playing every minute of every game as a rookie, playing a critical defensive role, and being on a team that went from worst to the playoffs. Those are enough facts to win my vote.
Anyhow, I am sure there will be even more controversy coming up as soon as they announce the next batch of awards.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
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What a Travesty!
I am still shaking my head at the Goalie of the Year award! How in the hell didn’t Nick win the thing. And if not Nick…Hartman was well deserved of it!
As usual, MLS is trying to boost up the LA scene and get more “uppity-uppity” people involved in the sport!
WoW!
Milo S
Awards
It will be even a bigger travisty if Jason Kries is not the Coach of the Year award winner. To me, there is no reasonable arguement why he does not desereve that award.
He won't win it
The reality is that while many of us understand how hard it is to defend the MLS Cup and be the 2nd best team in MLS over the season, to win a group in the Champions League, and break multiple MLS records. They will proclaim the revival of FC Dallas and New York as these great rags to riches stories, the reality is that FC Dallas missed the playoffs last year because they couldn’t get a win on the last weekend and blew their chance. The reality is that New York was much improved over the last 6 weeks of last season and that while Hans brought in some great players to boost their team, they also spent more money on DP’s than anyone else and still couldn’t beat the top teams (they were 2-2-2 vs top 4).
I expect that the big market and the “turn around” of NYDP will be enough to get Hans the award.
I agree
for these manager/coach awards, expectations always figure into it. (see Joe Girardi c. 2006.) More credit is given for a turnaround like NY had than for maintaining or even improving upon solid performance. If RSL weren’t defending Cup Winners, and if NY was only a playoff team rather than Conference Champs, then I could see Kreis winning it, or if RSL had actually pulled off the Supporter’s Shield.
For all of NYs DP spending, the performances that got them the title came from guys like Lindpere, Richards, Ream and Mendes, and the ability of all the players to gel with what the coach is trying to do.
That last phrase could be said about RSL as well, and from what I’ve seen of them their success came from similar kinds of players, mostly finds by the coaches and FO who did well in their respective systems.
RSL had a better season, but NY had further to go. I think Backe deserves the award.
I wonder, though, what are the voting criteria? Is the award given for performance in MLS only, or is it overall performance in all competitions? For me that might throw it more in RSL’s direction…
Award Predictions:
Newcomer of the Year: Thierry Henry
Golden Boot: Edson Buddle
Referee of the Year: David Beckham
Just sayin’.
It is because
they actually pay attention to all the matches. A lot of media members and others with votes I think only tend to watch the matches on ESPN or the highlights and in that case RSL doesn’t get a lot of coverage. You also have to remember that a lot of East coast people miss a lot of matches played by West coast teams because of the time difference.
Goalkeeper
Rimando deserved to win it. Ricketts is an ok choice at first glance, and he definitely had a good year, but when you look at the stats it should have been Rimando. Hartman would have been in the conversation, but he missed a third of the season. For me a huge part of these awards is consistency over the year. To be best whatever of the year, you have to have spent enough time in the position.
That’s why Im bummed that Tim Ream didn’t get ROY. I shouldnt be surprised that an offensive player ended up winning, but it still doesnt go down well. I know Im biased towards him, because he plays for my team, but as with Backe I thought he deserved the award. I dont think you can overstate the importance of the CB position; if your team is to have success, you must be strong here, and consistent. (See LA before Gonzalez arrival vs. since, RSL this year with Olave, NY last year vs this, etc.)
I also don’t see how, in handing out these yearly awards you can somehow separate team performance from individual performance. If you judge merely by the stat sheet, it looks like Mwanga should have won the ROY, as he had more goals and more assists than Najar, and in fewer minutes. His team still ended up in the bottom half, but it was a better finish than DCs, and he had better stats than Najar. Ream played every minute of every game, at a key position, for a team that did better, and still doesnt get the recognition. Im not surprised, but it would have been nice to see a defender get some credit.
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