I'll amend that by adding that the team with the best record is usually the team with the best player in the league. There have been exceptions, but I honestly don't think the MVP is going to come from a team so far out of the SS race, let alone one scrapping for the playoffs (Blanco, Scheletto). Sure, they improved their teams, but not to the degree that their team was elevated to an elite level.
I think it will be either Emilio or Angel. I think Angel is the better player but Emilio plays on a better team. Blanco could actually be the most valuable player as he single handedly turned the Fire season around but he didnt play enough games.
if he wasn't co-leading scorer in the league when the voting closed for the all star game, he was 1 or 2 behind. and then there was an entire 2nd squad of players that was chosen to be non-playing all-stars, and he wasn't selected for that either. how the leading scorer doesn't make the top, what ....... 36 players in the league is plain wrong. for dave, maybe that is the problem. I was under the impression that the front offices voted for MVP, but is it the sportswriters or someone else?
Having just checked MLSNet's stats page, here's what I see regarding the big four forward choices (Angel, Emilio, Galindo, Johnson): - Angel: 14 goals (4 of them game-winning), 4 assists, 18 games played. Just under 0.78 goals/game. - Emilio: 18 goals (4 of them game-winning), 1 assist, 23 games played. Just over 0.78 goals/game. - Galindo: 12 goals (5 of them game-winning), 5 assists, 21 games played. Just over 0.57 goals/game. - Johnson: 18 goals (6 of them game-winning), 4 assists, 18 games played. Goals/game same as Angel. I think it's still neck-and-neck. If the MVP award goes to a forward, then the stats suggest to me that it should be Eddie Johnson. He, Angel, and Emilio all have pretty much the same strike rate, and the lower numbers for Angel and Johnson are due to fewer games played. Plus, Johnson has 50% more game-winning goals than Angel or Emilio. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of the idea that the MVP should come from the league's best-performing team; I'd rather it went to the player who had the greatest positive effect on his team's fortunes. Thus, I'm open to Schelotto being considered. Even if the MVP does go to someone from the best team, I think Maykel Galindo has a chance to rival Emilio for MVP. True, he's probably not going to score as many goals, but he has far more assists than Emilio, more game-winning goals and assists, and Chivas has the two games in hand on DC to make up the six points separating them. ...And, of course, there are all those intangibles.
I bet we see a repeat of the 2005 travesty, when a completely undeserving forward from a middling-to-poor NJ team is handed the award, while the obvious MVP from the top team in the league is forced to endure the sight from the crowd. His only condolence is adding a(nother) star to his team's crest.
United beat Chivas at RFK and tied at HDC. i.e. United holds the tie-breaker over Chivas. If the teams finish with the same record, United (SHOULD) get the Shield. Especially considering Chivas' rather weak record against teams in the top 4 in the league. Oh, and Emilio WILL be the MVP.
And a better stat would be goal to minutes played ratio. Emilio isn't asked to go the full 90 in every game.
Yes, right, sorry about that, it was a typo. (The goals/game ratio is correct, I just wrote "18" instead of "14.") For the record: - Johnson: 14 goals (6 of them game-winning), 4 assists, 18 games played, same goals/game ratio as Angel. Also, for what it's worth, here are the player of the week/month honors for the MVP candidates: Angel - 2/2 Emilio - 3/0 Galindo - 2 Johnson - 3/1 Schelotto - 1/1 Toja - 1/0 ...which pretty much just means it's a mess stats-wise.
I answered my own question out of boredom. A goals-scored to minutes-played ratio: Emilio: 106.17 minutes JPA: 113.21 minutes Johnson: 114.93 minutes Galindo: 129.83 minutes Also, minutes played per game: Galindo: 82 minutes Emilio: 86.87 minutes JPA: 88.06 minutes Johnson: 89.33 minutes
Technically the MVP should be Ronnie O'Brien. Goals scored with him in the lineup: 18, Goals without him in the lineup: 0. But in all reality there's no way O'brien should even be mentions because the MVP is about the best player, and I'd give it to Angel.