WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Sean Franklin takes home the ROY honors. (Getty Images)

Yup, LA Galaxy defender Sean Franklin has been named the 2008 MLS Rookie of the Year after beating out New England’s Kheli Dube and Houston’s Geoff Cameron. Franklin started 26 out of 27 games and recorded one assist.

Honestly, I know Franklin is a big talent for LA and will be a staple of that backline for a few more years but I really felt he didn’t deserve this award. Sure the first half of the year he was the clear front-runner for this award but after June he was clearly not.

I know he was the only quality player on the LA backline but he was a member of the LA backline that gave up 62 goals this year. Yes, 62. I know the rookie field was very slim this year in terms of who to give this award to but I just don’t agree giving an award to a defensive player (rookie or not) who’s club gave up a league-high in goals this year.

I felt Dube had a better year even though he was hurt a bit more. And I also think Cameron is going to be a very solid defender in his own right for Houston.

Anyways, congrats to Franklin, he becomes the first Galaxy player to win the award. He also joins a decent list of previous ROY winners, mostly defenders:

2007: Maurice Edu – Toronto FC
2006: Jonathan Bornstein – Chivas USA
2005: Michael Parkhurst – New England Revolution
2004: Clint Dempsey – New England Revolution
2003: Damani Ralph – Chicago Fire
2002: Kyle Martino – Columbus Crew
2001: Rodrigo Faria – MetroStars
2000: Carlos Bocanegra – Chicago Fire
1999: Jay Heaps – Miami Fusion
1998: Ben Olsen – D.C. United
1997: Mike Duhaney – Tampa Bay Mutiny
1996: Steve Ralston – Tampa Bay Mutiny

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