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.D.C. United's Luciano Emilio Named MLS MVP
The announcement was just made on ESPNews.
It was always going to be a toss-up between the league's top scorer Emilio (20 goals in 28 games) and New York's Juan Pablo Angel (19 goals in 24 games) for the MVP award (Cuauhtemoc Blanco didn't play in enough games despite his productivity for Chicago).
Personally, I thought Angel was more of a multi-faceted player for New York, but the two were so close that either could have won.
Two of the three finalists were designated players (Emilio was not), so this is vindication for MLS loosening the purse strings a little and for its policy of unearthing cheaper talent in Latin America (the Brazilian last played in Honduras).
Full details on Emilio and other MLS award winners is here.
Check out the Emilio highlights: