Honda Player of the Year

Discussion in 'USA Men' started by Brunssen, Oct 8, 2002.

  1. Brunssen

    Brunssen New Member

    Jun 3, 2000
    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Landon Donovan was selected Honda Player of the Year on Tuesday after leading the U.S. team to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
    The 20-year-old forward/midfielder received 497 points in voting from 277 U.S. journalists who cover soccer.

    Brad Friedel finished second with 382 points, and Claudio Reyna, who won the award in 2000, was third with 274 points.

    Donovan also plays for Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquake and helped lead them to the 2001 MLS championship in his first season with the team.

    Donovan became the youngest winner of the 12-year-old award, which goes to a member of the U.S. national team.

    He scored six goals at the World Cup, which ended for the United States with a 1-0 loss to Germany.
     
  2. Speedball

    Speedball Member

    Feb 27, 1999
    Harrison Stadium
    Man, I must have been watching a different World Cup!
     
  3. yanks02

    yanks02 New Member

    Mar 19, 2002
    Houston
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    yeah thats some nice investigating there.
     
  4. Lanky134

    Lanky134 New Member

    Oct 25, 1999
    134, 3, 6
    What's amazing is that there are apparently 277 US journalilsts covering soccer...
     
  5. photar74

    photar74 New Member

    Jun 25, 2002
    West Philly
    Man, those were six beautiful goals.
     
  6. rymannryan

    rymannryan New Member

    Aug 27, 2002
    N.N., Virginia
    I read the real article and it says he scored two at the world cup and 6 goals in this YEAR for the national team. Not in the world cup. Just go to www.ussoccerplayers.com

    that's where i read it first
     
  7. StingRay37

    StingRay37 Member

    Dec 4, 2000
    North Carolina
    The fix is in!!



    Seriously though what a joke.
     
  8. Ringo

    Ringo Member

    Jun 10, 2002
    Rough and Ready
    Club:
    Yeovil Town FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    it's meaningless ... it's like being ranked no. 8 in the fifa rankings. nice window dressing, but that the end of the day it doesn't mean much.
    also, his play with the national team landon was as consistent as anybody this year. not a bad choice at all.
     
  9. railguitar

    railguitar New Member

    Sep 23, 1999
    Grand Rapids, MI
    I wouldn't call it meaningless. The award has been established in the public eye as the designation of America's top soccer player. And while that portion of the public that follows soccer is still pretty small, it'll probably at least appear in the sports briefs sections of most papers. Now, I'm not sure I would have voted for LD in this, though it's a reasonable choice. I would've liked to see John O'Brien in the final three; I would have voted for him.
    Wonder what kind of Honda LD gets?
     
  10. chayes

    chayes New Member

    Feb 29, 2000
    Raleigh, NC
    Fixed ESPN story...

    http://espn.go.com/soccer/news/2002/1008/1443080.html

    277!!!

    Where are they all hiding???
     
  11. Buzz Killington

    Buzz Killington Member+

    Oct 6, 2002
    Lee's Summit
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    seriously how could it not be fixed, I mean at times Friedal singlehandedly got our team through games. Why didn't he get it?
     
  12. yanks02

    yanks02 New Member

    Mar 19, 2002
    Houston
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think they took into consideration what Landon did for the sport here in the US. He brought a last place team to the championships, and he was on more talk shows and more magazines than any other player. He has been more of an ambassador to US Soccer than Friedel or Reyna. Plus, I believe that the award focuses on his playing from last fall until the end of the world cup, and he definitly exploded in the MLS playoffs and the World Cup. I think he deserved the award, I only wish he would start playing like that again real soon. Oh yeah and he gets a Honda Accord EX V-6 Sedan. Kinda shabby next to the beamer huh.
     
  13. rymannryan

    rymannryan New Member

    Aug 27, 2002
    N.N., Virginia
    Do they take into account what the players did professionally or only internationally?
     
  14. Tejas

    Tejas Member+

    Jun 3, 2000
    Tejas
    Pretty sure this isn't an MVP of the World Cup team award, and thus it takes much more into consideration than just WC performance. In which case I think the kid completely deserves it.
     
  15. CrewDust

    CrewDust Member

    May 6, 1999
    Columbus, Ohio
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I can hear the PTH's squeal with glee. :)
     
  16. TeamUSA

    TeamUSA Member

    Nov 24, 1999
    Tianjin, China
    Club:
    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Would've liked to have seen Friedel get the nod for this honor. We could have heard that wonderful English accent he has going on.
     
  17. MarioKempes

    MarioKempes Member+

    Real Madrid, DC United, anywhere Pulisic plays
    Aug 3, 2000
    Proxima Centauri
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Friedel had a good World Cup. He was, however, responsible for 1st goal against Poland. He was magnificent against South Korea. He was OK against Germany. LD just had a magnificent Cup. As did DMB, however, DMB's club play was not stellar this year, only good.
     
  18. fdp

    fdp Red Card

    Oct 24, 2001
    ``What are you, 10?'' Friedel jokingly asked Donovan. ``

    http://sports.yahoo.com/m/sow/news/ap/20021008/ap-playerofyear.html

    Donovan voted U.S. soccer Player of Year

    By BETH HARRIS
    AP Sports Writer
    October 8, 2002


    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Landon Donovan was selected Honda Player of the Year on Tuesday after leading the U.S. team to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
    The 20-year-old forward-midfielder received 497 points -- including 74 first-place votes -- in balloting by 277 U.S. journalists who cover soccer.

    ``I feel bad, like the young guy shouldn't win,'' Donovan said after the presentation at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

    ``I'm really astonished,'' said Donovan, who received a new car and a trophy.

    Brad Friedel finished second with 382 points, and Claudio Reyna, who won the award in 2000, was third with 274 points.

    Donovan became the youngest winner of the 12-year-old award, which goes to a member of the U.S. national team.

    ``What are you, 10?'' Friedel jokingly asked Donovan. ``It's great for such a young player to win an award like this, especially since he plays in the United States where everyone can see him week in and week out.''

    Donovan plays for Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes and helped lead them to the 2001 MLS championship in his first season with the team.

    He scored two goals at the World Cup, which ended for the United States with a 1-0 loss to Germany. Overall, Donovan scored six goals this year for the American team.

    ``You can make a case for Brad or Claudio or a lot of guys on our team,'' Donovan said. ``I hope I have many years where I can be nominated and I hope they do too, but maybe not, so that's why I feel bad.''

    Friedel, 31, played every minute of every game in goal during the World Cup. The former UCLA player traveled from England, where he plays in the Premier League, to attend the ceremony.

    ``Landon is going to have a tremendous career ahead of him,'' Friedel said.

    Reyna, 29, participated by telephone from England, where his wife is about to give birth to their second child. He is a five-time nominee.
    ------------

    If Reyna's has a son in Germany; and his son becomes a soccer god when he grows up...would he be able to play for the US Nats?
     
  19. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm wondering that too.

    As for Friedel...if it's based on what you do for the Nats, Brad didn't really have a shot at this one. He didn't play in the Gold Cup, where Landon played wonderfully. Whomever you think our World Cup MVP is, Landon was the only player among the serious candidates who contributed in the Gold Cup...and he contributed aLOT.

    If someone had been our hands-down MVP in the World Cup, then maybe you could give it to that player. But there were a half-dozen "candidates," and to me, the Gold Cup would have to be the tiebreaker.
     
  20. TheSlipperyOne

    TheSlipperyOne Member+

    Feb 29, 2000
    Denver
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Re: ``What are you, 10?'' Friedel jokingly asked Donovan. ``

    Reyna is American. Thus his son is American.
     
  21. fdp

    fdp Red Card

    Oct 24, 2001
    If he chose to play for Germany instead of the United States, that would be possible too?
     
  22. Joe Hadar

    Joe Hadar New Member

    Jun 1, 2000
    Midwest
    Did anyone else see John Anderson -- on Sportscenter yesterday -- just laugh about this award? All's fair, but this is a kid who's worked pretty hard to achieve this recognition.

    I wonder if the reaction would have been the same for the most outstanding women's volleyball player of the year. Even for me, the derogatory smirk from the mainstream press is getting pretty old.
     
  23. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It depends on German citizenship laws.
     

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