Maybe I am being a little bit picky, but I really do not understand the consensus on the voting for Yahoo!'s end of the season awards. Take Goal Keeper. Brad Guzan wins and that's fine he's had a great year. The only other keeper mentioned is Matt Reis. Was Pat Onstad ineligible for this vote? Reis has had a very poor year even according to New England supporters. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13059798&postcount=7 Defense is also a bit strange. While Conrad and Parkhurst are both very good players, their teams were both very poor defensively. Conrad's Wizards were very poor with only LA and Toronto giving up more goals than they did. New England was only 2 goals better than the Wizards as well. Suarez was a fine choice and Barrett was solid as well, but its hard not to imagine players like Eddie Robinson or perhaps someone from DC's backline (Boswell?) and Chivas could have gotten a second player in as well, but perhaps that was Bornstein nudged out by Barrett? The midfield is pretty good. Blanco and Schelotto are no brainers and Ben has had a great year. Shalrie Joseph seemed to underperform a bit here, but he is still as good as they come in MLS. Other midfielders really deserving a look are Kljestan, Ralston, and Gomez although they did put Kljestan on the honorable mention. For what its worth Gomez may have been the best midfielder for the season (although Blanco may be better in his limited games). Up top its hard to argue with their choices. Emilio and Angel are obviously the impact forwards of the year, but Galindo was just arriving in the wrong year.
And Joe Cannon should have at least been mentioned for his heroic efforts despite the abysmally awful Galaxy defense.
Not a bad list. I had been thinking about my own Best XI for the year and it's hard to disagree much with their choices. I personally would have selected Kljestan over Joseph, but just because I think Kljestan deserves more pub than he's been getting, not because Joseph would be a bad choice. I would have put Eddie Robinson on there, too, to give more recognition to Houston's defense. There were a lot of great additions to the league this year. Angel, Emilio, Schelotto, and Blanco all made the list, and you could make a case for Toja although he did trail off some in the second half of the year. Sure, there were some busts too, but that always happens. If you're lucky you can keep the guys that work out, dump the guys who don't, and get even more good players the next year. Didn't Galindo play in a couple of games last year? If not, put him in the list of great additions for this year. What a great story.
In my opinion, Parkhurst is probably the best defender in the league, and unquestionably in the top 4. His inclusion is as big a no-brainer as Angel & Emilio. I'm a NE fan, so take it with a grain of salt if you'd like, but I don't think there's any competition between Parkhurst & guys like Robinson & Boswell.
My MLS Best XII (yes, 12) : ---------------------Cannon---------------------- Harrington----Robinson-----Parkhurst------Dunivant ----------------Kljestan-----------Joseph---------- Richards---------------Blanco-------------Alvarez-- ---------------Emilio------------Angel-------------
Its just hard to reward a defender on a team that gave up 43 goals. I mean, the Revs were not a good defensive team at all. And for all its worth, I think Ralston was their best player this year and yet Joseph and Parkhurst get more accolades. I'm just not seeing it even though Parkhurst is a very good player.
The Rev's defensive woes have more to do with Riley and Heaps. Also, in recent games Matt Reis seems to not be playing up to 100%. Maybe it is because we see Parkhurst more, but he is easily one of the top defenders in MLS, and I really hope he gets called in for some WCQ by Bradley.
It seems Heaps is getting slower so it probably is not a good idea to play him in a 3-man D BTW I thought Avery John was starting in NE not Riley
They have been alternating. Heaps was also injured for a game or two. For now, it seems Heaps and the 3-man D are here to stay
Pretty good list, which is no surprise if you look at the voters. Boswell was benched for a stretch midseason, and with good reason. Namoff was probably DC's best defender from start to finish. But I wouldn't pick him for the first XI. I would have picked Robinson over Conrad. Joseph is probably my favorite non-DC player in the league, but to my eye, he underperformed his (very high) standard. Going only on how he performed this year, I'd take Ralston or Klejstan over him. Probably Sacha. I don't disagree with the selection of Blanco, but for me, personally, I would have a hard time voting for a guy who only played half the year. But man, what a half season!! Put him on a team with better finishers, and he would have been getting up near 20 assists. CASL in the hiz-ouse!!! As for the selection of Cannon...he was great the last part of the season, but average the first part.
as a CUSA fan its nice to see the guys getting some deserved publicity. Can't comnplain about anyone on the list really. I would have Onstad over Reis but the rest is in the ball park