Columnist Nick Green has written 100 Percent Soccer
since 2005. A
native of England, he began writing about soccer in
the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat
in the stands for one in
the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home
Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas
USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer.
Married to a long-suffering soccer widow, he has a cat
named Pele.MLS Announces 2007 Awards Finalists
Two Chivas USA players as well as Coach Preki and the Galaxy's Cobi Jones are among the local finalists for MLS' year-end awards, the league announced today.
Award winners, as voted by players, team officials and media members, will be named at regular intervals through Nov. 17.
First up Wednesday is the Goalkeeper of the Year Award, with Chivas USA's Brad Guzan (the regular season shutout leader) going up against seemingly ageless Canadian Pat Onstad (who had the best goals against average in MLS) of the Houston Dynamo and former Galaxy goalkeeper Matt Reis of the New England Revolution.
The same day the Galaxy's Cobi Jones will learn whether he won the Individual Fair Play Award. The other finalists are similarly retired defender Eddie Pope and the Revs' Michael Parkhurst.
Chivas USA's savvy veteran defender Claudio Suarez is up for the Defender of the Year Award, against Parkhurst and the Dynamo's Eddie Robinson.
Up against Preki for the Coach of the Year Award are Dominic Kinnear of the Houston Dynamo and Tom Soehn of D.C. United.
Also notable: the Revs' Adam Cristman, Toronto FC's Maurice Edu and New York's Dane Richards are finalists for Rookie of the Year; MVP finalists are Juan Pablo Angel of the Red Bulls, Cuauhtemoc Blanco of the Chicago Fire and MLS top scorer Luciano Emilio of D.C. United.
With no most over-hyped player award, David you know who didn't get a mention.