Omar Gonzalez was named Rookie of the Year today. (Getty Images)

Another season award came down today, this time it is the league’s Rookie of the Year. For the second straight year a LA Galaxy defender has won it as the honor went to Omar Gonzalez today.

Gonzalez helped a defense go from one of the worst in league history to one of the better ones this season. Last year the Galaxy gave up 62-goals while this year thanks to Gonzalez that total was cut in half to 31 goals.

Gonzalez beat out DC’s Chris Pontius and Toronto keeper Stefan Frei for the honor.

While I had New England’s Darrius Barnes as my ROY choice, Gonzalez did gain my second place vote. For me it came down to the fact that Barnes played every minute of every game for the Revs and for the fact that it wasn’t just Gonzalez that helped turn the Galaxy defense around in 2009, a lot of that credit can go to keeper Donovan Ricketts I think.

Still Gonzalez definitely earned this award as he did enjoy a stellar season with the Galaxy. I can only hope the duo of him and last year’s ROY winner Sean Franklin is one we will see in this league for years to come, because it is certainly a good one to watch.

Add another award for Zach Thornton on the season. Today the league named Thornton it’s Comeback Player of the Year. At the same time the league also announced Fredy Montero as the Newcomer of the Year.

Montero was one of the league leaders in goals scored this year. His 12 goals on the season blew away any other newcomer in that category. While he didn’t win a Golden Boot award he did gain a lot of attention for his flashy play and sometimes questionable diving. Still there was little doubt for the majority of the season that Montero wasn’t going to be the Newcomer of the Year.

As for Thornton, last week he won the Goalkeeper of the Year and now is the Comeback Player of the Year. Thornton was considered a lost cause last year when he came to Chivas from New York to fill in for the departed Brad Guzan. Most expected he wouldn’t be back for 2009 because of his weight issues but Thornton got himself into top shape and his play this season spoke for itself. He led Chivas USA to a 13-11-6 record and posted a career best 12 shutouts and 0.87 goals against average.

Keeper of the Year (to be announced Nov. 4)
Kasey Keller, Seattle
Donovan Ricketts, Los Angeles
Zach Thornton, Chivas USA

Defender of the Year (Nov. 5)
Geoff Cameron, Houston
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Seattle
Chad Marshall, Columbus

Comeback Player of the Year (Nov. 10)
Brian McBride, Chicago
Ben Olsen, DCU
Zach Thornton, Chivas USA

Newcomer of the Year (Nov. 10)
Kasey Keller, Seattle
Freddie Ljungberg, Seattle
Fredy Montero, Seattle

Coach of the Year (Nov. 11)
Bruce Arena, Los Angeles
Sigi Schmid, Seattle
Robert Warzycha, Columbus

Rookie of the Year (Nov. 12)
Stefan Frei, Toronto
Omar Gonzalez, Los Angeles
Chris Pontius, D.C. United

MVP (Nov. 19)
Jeff Cunningham, Dallas
Landon Donovan, Los Angeles
Shalrie Joseph, New England

For me the only two shockers were Chris Pontius for Rookie of the Year and three Sounders up for Newcomer of the Year. While I thought Pontius has a great rookie season I really felt Darrius Barnes had a better season for New England. As for the three Sounders we know Montero will win but I really thought David Ferreira from Dallas deserved a look for this award too. Still Keller and Ljungberg weren’t far off my list as well for it.

So who will win these awards folks? Can Donovan add another trophy to his case this year? Can Thornton take home a couple awards?

I’ll have to admit some awards were tougher to vote on than others but I tried to span the entire season’s body of work as much as I could for these awards. The way you vote for these awards is to give your first, second and third place votes for each. Now I will leave out the lesser awards like best PR from a club and best ref of the year. The rest I will list below.

Robert Warzycha was the best coach fo the year for me. (Getty Images)

Coach of the Year:

1. Robert Warzycha (Columbus): Some will definitely disagree with me on this one and I will be honest I really went back and forth on this award but at the end of the day I had to give it up to a guy that kept things just the way they were and got this club to a second straight Supporter’s Shield trophy. Consistency is key in this league and its even more amazing to see it happen after a coaching change.

2. Sigi Schmid (Seattle): I think anytime you take an expansion team to the playoffs you deserve some big time credit for it.

3. Bruce Arena (LA): I kind of have a feeling he will end up with this award but he didn’t get my top vote but not because he didn’t deserve it. The job he did in LA was definitely one of his best. I am just waiting to see if it turns into a MLS Cup before I call it his best work.

Defender of the Year:

1. Geoff Cameron (Houston): One of the easier award for me to vote on. Cameron was consistent and easily the best defender of the year in my eyes.

2. Chad Marshall (Columbus): Had he stayed healthy through the entire season he would have won back-to-back votes from me for this. It was close but his injuries hurt him I thought for this award.

3. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle): The biggest X-factor on that Seattle defense is Hurtado. The guy is that good folks.

Goalkeeper of the Year:

1. Zach Thornton (Chivas USA): His stats are huge and so was his season.

2. Kasey Keller (Seattle): Keller was a very close two for me in this award. Just amazing that he is still on such good form for his age.

3. Donovan Ricketts (LA): Best pickup by the Galaxy in probably the last two years.

Rookie of the Year:

1. Darrius Barnes (New England): There is something to be said for a rookie picked in the third round to play every minute of every game in his first year. That’s consistency folks and Barnes proved he will be a big time player for years to come in this league.

2. Omar Gonzalez (LA): I expect him to actually win this award and for good reasons too. I did feel at times early on he was a little overrated but the combination of him and last year’s ROY Sean Franklin will be a good one to watch for the next couple of seasons.

3. Stefan Frei (Toronto): I think injuries got in the way of him sneaking up the board late in the year but this kid definitely had a great rookie campaign for the Reds.

Comeback Player of the Year:

1. Zach Thornton (Chivas USA): This one was tough for me between Thornton and Olsen. I just could get by the fact that Thornton had been so bad for a few years and then lost weight over the winter last year and came back stronger and better than ever.

2. Ben Olsen (DC United): Again it was tough for me on this one since Olsen finally had a pretty full season with DC for a change. But something in me just didn’t give it to him.

3. Ty Harden (Colorado): Amazing to believe that when you leave the game for a year for personal reasons that you can come back and still play well with a new team. Harden proved that.

Newcomer of the Year:

1. Fredy Montero (Seattle): Very little doubt who was the best newcomer this season.

2. David Ferreira (Dallas): I didn’t care for this pickup earlier in the year but once he finally got a hold of things with Dallas in the middle of the summer things really turned around for him and for Dallas.

3. Kasey Keller (Seattle): Hard not to list him here, he would have been number two for me had Ferreira not made a late charge with Dallas.

MLS MVP:

1. Landon Donovan (LA): This one was tougher than ever but at the end of the day I just couldn’t get over Donovan’s worth to his club over the entire season. Not the final month or even the final game but the entire season. Take him away and LA is no better than Dallas or Kansas City in my mind.

2. Jeff Cunningham (Dallas): Had he helped get Dallas into the playoffs he would have won this award. I guess a Golden Boot award isn’t so bad either though.

3. Shalrie Joseph (New England): His team is in the playoffs and no doubt a lot of it had to do with him.

WVH Best XI

Keeper: Zach Thornton (Chivas)

Defense: Chad Marshall (Columbus), Geoff Cameron (Houston), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle)

Midfield: Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto), Landon Donovan (LA), Shalrie Joseph (New England), Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle), and David Ferreira (Dallas)

Forwards: Fredy Montero (Seattle), Jeff Cunningham (Dallas)

Notes:

Voting structure was a 3-5-2. Oddly enough last year they had Columbus’ Guillermo Barros Schelotto as a midfielder but this year they listed him under the strikers. Had he been listed as a midfielder I would have easily voted him in as one of the best eleven on the year. Also, two months ago this would have easily been a debate between two Colorado teammates in Conor Casey and Omar Cummings. They were easily passed over by Cunningham in the end for me.

I also went back and forth on Ferreria in the midfield. At the end he scored a vote over guys like Stuart Holden and Brad Davis from Houston.

Anyways, I’ll have a full rundown next week of who I voted for and why. Not to say that I won’t take some input from you all on these matters. Tonight I wanted to go into another award race that is pretty tight as the one I discussed earlier in the day. The Defender of the Year.

This is another award that is going to be very tightly contested between a number of players. Last year we saw Columbus’ Chad Marshall run away with the award, and while he is in the running yet again for it this year I don’t believe he has completely won everyone over for it this season.

Who exactly do I see in the running? I have a few guys here listed below that I think are all candidates for this award. If you feel I left anyone out just comment below with a good reason and they may get my consideration.

Chad Marshall (Columbus): Yes Marshall is in the running and you got to believe he will get his fair share of votes this season. The thing is his injury issues will keep him off some folks ballots and at the end of it all I kind of doubt he will repeat as Defender of the Year.

Geoff Cameron (Houston): Had the season ended last weekend you could bet Cameron would be the top choice for this award. More than likely we should see Cameron walk away with the award this season for many reasons. He’s been by far one of the most consistent defenders in the league and how sick was the bicycle save last week?

Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle): Some say Kasey Keller has been the reason why the expansion Sounders have been fairly solid on defense this year but I would argue that it is mostly been due to the play of Hurtado. This winter addition has been one of those that you have to give the Seattle front office credit for because he’s been a total gem of a find.

Wilman Conde (Chicago): About two months ago I would have said he was the top choice for this award but as the Fire have slipped lately so has Conde’s play. Conde is still one of the best defenders in the league but something tells me the in-house issues in Chicago still remain and Conde won’t be there next year.

Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas): One of the reasons why Chivas USA has been near the top all year is due to the consistent play of Bornstein. He missed a decent amount of time this summer with the National team but it hasn’t kept him from picking up the slack when he is with the Goats. The Chivas defense would be nothing without him I think.

Omar Gonzalez (LA): The LA rookie has been very good, so good in fact that he has a shot at two awards (other being rookie of the year).

Others in consideration: Darrius Barnes (New England), Bobby Boswell (Houston), Tyrone Marshall (Seattle).———————————————————

Playoff Scenarios Will Make Your Head Hurt

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I’ve come close to posting the playoff scenarios for this weekend but there are so damn many of them that it makes my head hurt even trying. Thankfully Beau Dure has us all covered.

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Hello Mr. Gulati

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Ever wanna know what it is like to actually talk to USSF president Sunil Gulati? Well new writer Brian Morse over at MatchFit USA has you covered. Seriously, this is real conversations between a fan like yourself and Gulati. Guess the USSF does care when you email them. Very cool read.

For each award I’ll give a quick rundown of guys in the running for the award. Each list is in no real order at this time since it would be almost silly to rank each player (or coach) at this point with so much left to do this season.

Feel free as always to give your thoughts on the awards and who you think should be at the top of each list.

MVP

Players in the running:

• Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus
• Landon Donovan (LA)
• Fredy Montero (Seattle)
• Brad Davis (Houston)
• Shalrie Joesph (New England)

This will be a very tight race if some parties stay hurt (GBS) or are gone for national team games (Donovan). I put Joesph on the list because I’ve always been a fan of how underrated he is in this league. Without him New England would be close to what Dallas and San Jose are right now in the standings. Montero gets on the list because of the excitement he has brought to Seattle this year, and his numbers are really good. Davis is another underrated guy that more people need to look at. Houston wouldn’t nearly be as well run in the midfield if it weren’t for him.

Rookie of the Year:

Player in the running:

• Chris Pontius (DC)
• Rodney Wallace (DC)
• Stefan Frei (Toronto)
• Steve Zakuani (Seattle)
• Darrius Barnes (New England)
• Omar Gonzalez (LA)

Pontius and Wallace make a tough one-two punch for this running for each other really. Both deserve a look. Frei is the only rookie keeper that starts and I’d imagine TFC wouldn’t be contending if it weren’t for him in goal. We know what Zakuani has done in Seattle, but playing may hurt him in the running here down the strech. Barnes was an amazing find late in the draft by Steve Nicol. Last and not least is Gonzalez who has really helped turn the LA defense into a very underrated bunch this season that isn’t letting in a lot of goals. He may very well be a darkhorse in this race.

Newcomer of the Year:

Players in the running:

• Fredy Montero (Seattle)
• Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle)
• Eduardo Lillingston (Chivas)
• Donovan Ricketts (LA)

In all honesty this award will have to go to a Sounder. Just make a pick really to which one. In the end it will between Montero and Alonso. Both have been just as important as the other for this club so far this season. My money would be on Montero though I know Alonso is the better pick here.

Coach of the Year

Coaches in the running:

• Preki (Chivas)
• Dominic Kinnear (Houston)
• Rob Warzycha (Columbus)
• Bruce Arena (LA)
• Sigi Schmid (Seattle)

A bunch of western coaches and one lone eastern coach (for now). I put Warzycha over the other eastern coaches for getting this club back at the top of the table here after the slow start. Plus he had to deal with a load of injuries to this club at the start of the season, he weathered the storm and is doing really well with this bunch right now.

Arena may end up with this award if LA reaches the playoffs this year with the circus that is going on in LA-land. As long as things stay semi-normal out there and the club continues to do well, I really can’t see anyone else winning this award but Bruce. A lot of games left though so we will see how he holds things together out there.

Goalkeeper of the Year

Players in the running:

• Zach Thornton (Chivas)
• Pat Onstad (Houston)
• Donovan Ricketts (LA)
• Kasey Keller (Seattle)

Some may get angry to not see a keeper from the eastern conference on the watchlist but right now not a single one has made a legitimate case like these four have. I know Thornton and Chivas have cooled off but there is no denying what they’ve done this season as a whole. Ricketts may be the single biggest reason to why LA is doing well this season and Keller and Onstad just have amazing stats right now. This one is still wide open though.

Defender of the Year

Players in the running:

• Wilman Conde (Chicago)
• Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle)
• Bobby Boswell (Houston)
• Geoff Cameron (Houston)

Boswell and Cameron may end up canceling each other out by the end of the year for this award. Hurtado is a beast that more people need to start talking about here. And Conde is what he is, some games he is just so amazing in the back for the Fire.

Kenny Cooper takes home the Comeback Player of the Year award. (Getty Images)

The last of the 2008 awards were handed down today. The league announced their Best XI for the year and named Kenny Cooper the Comeback Player of the Year.

Cooper played and started all of FC Dallas’ 30 regular season games this year after suffering a broken right tibia eight games into the 2007 MLS season. He returned in 2008, scoring 18 goals and recording three assists. He finished second in the Budweiser Golden Boot, behind Landon Donovan (20 goals).

While I don’t disagree with Cooper getting this award, I really felt DC United’s Santino Quaranta deserved the award a little more for what he came back from. Anytime you overcome drugs and abuse of those kinds of things I think is more remarkable than just coming back from a knee injury.

Still, it was good for Cooper and big congrats to him for the award.

Cooper was also named to the best XI along with a pretty easy field to project for this year’s honor.

2008 MLS Best XI:
GOALKEEPER (1): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire)
DEFENDERS (3): Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Bakary Soumare (Chicago Fire), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA)
FORWARDS (2): Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

The only real shock for me was the selection of Columbus’ Robbie Rogers. I pretty much had a similar Best XI except for Rogers and a couple on the backline. I had RSL’s Javier Morales in the midfield instead of Rogers.

What do you all make of these honors? Cooper really deserve the Comeback award? How about the Best XI?

Huckerby was seen as one of the biggest reason to why the Quakes even made it close to the playoff picture in their first year back in the league. Huckerby joined the Earthquakes July 14 when the Quakes acquired his rights from Toronto FC. The former Norwich City star immediately made an impact on the field scoring six goals and with four assists in 14 games.

Coming over in the midseason he beat out two guys for the award that had a full half season on him. That just shows what kind of impact he made and how low on new talent the league really was this year.

Huckerby joins DC United’s Luciano Emilio on the Newcomer Award list.

Columbus Crew head coach Sigi Schmid also took home the award given to the league’s best coach. He beat out San Jose’s Frank Yallop and Houston’s Dominic Kinnear.

The Black & Gold went 17-7-6 and shattered the club record for points in a season (57) this year. Columbus also set new club marks for wins and goals (50) in the post-shootout era (since 2000). According to the Crwe’s website, based on points earned in the standings per game played, the Crew’s 2008 regular season (1.90 ppg) ranks as the fifth most successful in MLS history after the 1998 Los Angeles Galaxy (2.13), 2001 Miami Fusion (2.04), 2005 San Jose Earthquakes (2.00) and 2001 Chicago Fire (1.96).

Schmid finally put together a real winner in Columbus that saw the Crew win the league’s Supporter’s Shield trophy, given to the best overall record in the regular season. It marks the second time that he has won the Coach of the Year award.

Previous coaching winners:

2007: Preki – Chivas USA
2006: Bob Bradley – Chivas USA
2005: Dominic Kinnear – San Jose Earthquakes
2004: Greg Andrulis – Columbus Crew
2003: Dave Sarachan – Chicago Fire
2002: Steve Nicol – New England Revolution
2001: Frank Yallop – San Jose Earthquakes
2000: Bob Gansler – Kansas City Wizards
1999: Sigi Schmid – Los Angeles Galaxy
1998: Bob Bradley – Chicago Fire
1997: Bruce Arena – D.C. United
1996: Thomas Rongen – Tampa Bay Mutiny

For most people Chad Marshall was the best defender in the league this year. I may have not voted for the guy but I can’t argue that fact that he was so dominate this year for Columbus. He’s big, physical and a guy that should get looked at for minutes by the US National Team.

Marshall just edged out Kansas City’s Jimmy Conrad and Chicago’s Bakary Soumare.

His stats should speak for themselves. Marshall started and played 29 games during the regular season. He helped the Crew capture their second Supporters’ Shield trophy. Marshall scored four goals in 2008, tied for fifth on the team with striker Steven Lenhart.

Marshall goes down with some of the best defenders in the league history by winning this award. Here are the past winners:

2008: Chad Marshall – Columbus Crew
2007: Michael Parkhurst – New England Revolution
2006: Bobby Boswell – D.C. United
2005: Jimmy Conrad – Kansas City Wizards
2004: Robin Fraser – Columbus Crew
2003: Carlos Bocanegra – Chicago Fire
2002: Carlos Bocanegra – Chicago Fire
2001: Jeff Agoos – San Jose Earthquakes
2000: Peter Vermes – Kansas City Wizards
1999: Robin Fraser – Los Angeles Galaxy
1998: Lubos Kubik – Chicago Fire
1997: Eddie Pope – D.C. United
1996: John Doyle – San Jose Earthquakes

Not bad company really. Congrats to Marshall and the Crew for this award. He definitely deserved it.

GK: William Hesmer – Columbus
DEF: Gonzalo Segares – Chicago
DEF: Bobby Boswell – Houston
DEF: Chad Marshall – Columbus
MID: Guillermo Barros Schelotto – Columbus
MID: Dave Van Den Bergh – New York
MID: Sasha Kljestan – Chivas USA
MID: Shalrie Joesph – New England
MID: Javier Morales – Real Salt Lake
FWD: Kenny Cooper – FC Dallas
FWD: Landon Donovan – LA Galaxy

You may disagree with some picks and not with others. That’s how I voted anyways. It would have been different if there was a different formation given but the 3-5-2 set up wasn’t too bad to deal with in voting.

Who’s in your best XI for the year? Post your’s below.