Inspired by the MVP thread, discuss who you think will a) be on the league's official shortlist (as they do every year... http://www.mlsnet.com/content/01/mls1009awards.html ) and b) the winner. These were the awards last year, so assuming they stay the same give your choices for any or all of the following: Honda Most Valuable Player MLS Defender of the Year Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year MLS Coach of the Year Kellogg's Rookie of the Year MLS Goal of the Year ACE Comeback Player of the Year MLS Fair Play Award (Individual)
Honda Most Valuable Player CARLOS RUIZ Taylor Twellman Ronnie Ekelund MLS Defender of the Year WADE BARRETT Tenwya Bonseu Alexi Lalas Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year TIM HOWARD Joe Cannon Jon Busch MLS Coach of the Year FRANK YALLOP Tim Hankinson Sigi Schmid Kellogg's Rookie of the Year KYLE MARTINO Kelly Gray Brad Davis MLS Goal of the Year RONNIE EKELUND ACE Comeback Player of the Year ? MLS Fair Play Award (Individual) CHRIS KLEIN Mark Chung Leo Cullen
Re: Re: 2002 League Awards This is a crime. Mr. Busch is your winner. With everything else I think you've done a good job.
Re: Re: Re: 2002 League Awards Darn right, you gotta put Nicky Rimando on there. DC goes on a 10 game winless streak but he only gives up 12 goals in those games... He made more big saves than anyone else.
Goalkeeper of Year: Rimando (Cannon doesn't deserve to be on there) Coach of Year: Schmidt (possible SS winner w/limited talent; Open Cup finalist) Comeback Player: Lalas Goal of Year: Ekelund (got to see it in preview of Quakes v. Galaxy match: spectacular) Co-Mvp: Ruiz & Twellman Defender of Year: Barrett Rookie of Year: Martino or Davis (can't decide) Fair Play: Chung
Re: Re: 2002 League Awards As Far as goaljkeeper of the year, the only two who really need to be considered are Jon Busch and Nick Rimando. Without them tehir teams have been a mess, their play has carried their teams. Howard has had some spectacular saves, but overall an off year, and Thorton is living off his name. Joe Cannon, has a great team in front of him, he maybe should be third behind Busch and Rimando. But the Rookie of the Year is correct here.
MVP: Carlos Ruiz. Defender: Tenywa Bonseu. Goalkeeper: Jon Busch. Rookie: Brad Davis. Coach: Mike Jeffries. Dallas wern't expected to do anything this season. Comeback: Alexi Lalas. This is a good call. Fair Play: Mark Chung. No cards and only 30 fouls committed playing (mainly) as a center mid. Goal: Ronnie Ekelund/Richard Mulrooney.
Comeback from what? he was injured but he still performed well last yr. Comeback players are dramatic like defeating cancer or having your leg snapped on tv. Alexi would fit this since he's spent 6yrs in the doldrums and even retired 2 couple yrs back to being the most steady defender for the galaxy and is 2nd on his team in goals. I heard that Jeffries is a shoe in for Coach of the Year. I hate to say it but I agree w/ preston norte except IMHO wade barret is more valuable to the clash than T-Bone is to the Burn and I think that despite being peppered most of the yr Tim Howard is the only reason the Mets aren't in last place.
Honda Most Valuable Player Marcelo Balboa MLS Defender of the Year Chris Brunt Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year Juergen Sommer MLS Coach of the Year Fernando Clavijo Kellogg's Rookie of the Year Chris Brunt MLS Goal of the Year Eric Denton ACE Comeback Player of the Year Hristo Stoichkov MLS Fair Play Award (Individual) Mike Clark
Honda Most Valuable Player Taylor Twellman (if Revs make Playoffs otherwise Ruiz) MLS Defender of the Year Bonseau Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year Busch MLS Coach of the Year Jefferies Kellogg's Rookie of the Year Kelly Gray MLS Goal of the Year Taylor Twellman ACE Comeback Player of the Year Who came back? MLS Fair Play Award (Individual) Mark Chung
Honda Most Valuable Player 1-Taylor Twellman Nobody is more important to their team. 2-Ruiz 3-Tie: Busch, Ekelund, Rimando, Howard MLS Defender of the Year 1- Morrow He's the veteran who brought that backline together 2- Reyes 3- Lalas Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year 1- Howard without Howard, the Metros are 10 points below any other team. Period. 2- Busch 3- Rimando MLS Coach of the Year 1- Sigi- lots of results, not a ton of talent 2- Jeffries 3- Yallop Kellogg's Rookie of the Year 1- Kelly Gray 2- Brad Davis 3- there is no 3. MLS Goal of the Year no idea ACE Comeback Player of the Year Lalas. easy MLS Fair Play Award (Individual) Mark Chung JMac
MVP: 1) Twellman 2) Ruiz 3) Rimando Defender of the Year: 1) Barrett 2) Morrow 3) Lalas Goalkeeper of the Year: 1) Rimando 2) Howard 3) Toss-up Coach of the Year: 1) Jeffreys 2) Yallop 3) Sigi Rookie of the Year: 1) Martino 2) Gray 3) Davis Goal of the Year: 1) Ekelund (Wow, what a beauty!! Witnessed in person) Comeback Player: 1) Lalas Fair Play Award: 1) Conrad (Haha)
Re: Re: 2002 League Awards Bonseu is the "veteran" that brought the Dallas backline together. Sigi is not the coach of the year. The side only has three new starters: Ruiz, Lalas, and Marshall. Caligiuri was better last year than Marshall. LA has scored 9 fewer goals this year than last year so Ruiz isn't the savior. Lalas is the key, not Sigi. LA was a favorite last year, just as they were a favorite this year - with the same talent.
Re: Re: 2002 League Awards Have you seen Martino play this year? It's one thing to put him 3rd, which I disagree with, its even worse to not oput him in the running. That's way off.
*Honda Most Valuable Player Twellman and Ruiz *MLS Defender of the Year Da-uuuuuu-da Kante *Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year Busch *MLS Coach of the Year Jeffries *Kellogg's Rookie of the Year Martino *MLS Goal of the Year Twellman (June 22nd vs. KC, Bicycle Kick) *ACE Comeback Player of the Year Lalas *MLS Fair Play Award (Individual) Twellman/ Chung
MVP - TnT or Ruiz (playoff factor) Defender - ? i think dallas had a good defense this year. bonseu Goalie - Busch?? hes not that good, ill go with Rimando/Howard Coach - Jeffries Rookie - Martino Goal - either Twellmans bike vs KC or ekelunds blast Comeback - Ralston (wasnt really effective last year) Fair Play - noone from the mutts, dc or revs, thats for sure. probably chung
Honda Most Valuable Player CARLOS RUIZ MLS Defender of the Year Milton Reyes Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year Nick Rimando MLS Coach of the Year Dallas Burn Coach - Jefferies Kellogg's Rookie of the Year Brad Davis MLS Goal of the Year Ronnie Ekelund ACE Comeback Player of the Year Adin Brown MLS Fair Play Award (Individual) Clint Mathis
If DC makes the playoffs, especially if they have any success, Ben Olsen should get consideration for Ace Comeback player.
But playing in a handful of games isn't sufficient. If he rocks next year, then he should definitely be in the running at that time.
League MVP: Carlos Ruiz, Los Angeles Defender of the Year: Wade Barrett, San Jose Goalkeeper of the Year: Jon Busch, Columbus Coach of the Year: Tim Hankinson, Colorado Rookie of the Year: Kelly Gray, Chicago Goal of the Year: Taylor Twellman - 07/06/02 against DC United. Comeback Player of the Year: Alexi Lalas, Los Angeles Fair Play Award: Andy Williams, MetroStars And one more... MLS Best XI GK: Jon Busch, Columbus D: Wade Barrett, San Jose D: Alexi Lalas, Los Angeles D: Tenywa Bonseu, Dallas M: Steve Ralston, New England M: Ronnie Ekelund, San Jose M: Andy Williams, MetroStars M: Mark Chung, Colorado M: Chris Henderson, Colorado F: Taylor Twellman, New England F: Carlos Ruiz, Los Angeles
Re: Re: Re: 2002 League Awards Yep, you're right. I have seen him, I was just drawing a blank on who was a rookie this season. It's a shame Busch can't be considered, since he would run away with it. Excluding players like Twellman and Ruiz, who have played (or at least trained) with a high level league or National team is one thing, but Busch was only in the A-League (no offense to die-hard A-League fans.) JMac
A dark horse candidate for MVP...Mark Chung. He'll be the only MLS player with 10 or more assists and goals this season (soccer's version of a double-double?), no cards over the whole season, and he's been the rock in the Rapids midfield. Agreed, it's hard to pick him over Twellman and Ruiz, but something to think about.