Landon Donovan was named the 2009 MLS MVP. (LA Galaxy)

The 2009 Major League Soccer MVP was announced today and the result isn’t going to shock most of you as LA Galaxy star Landon Donovan takes home the award.

For the first time in his career, Donovan took home the league’s highest honors by beating out New England’s Shalrie Joseph and Dallas’ Jeff Cunningham. Donovan was also named to the league’s Best XI this year and scored the Goal of the Year.

Donovan led his club with 12 goals and six assists in 25 games, despite missing a month of the season while at the FIFA Confederations Cup with the US National Team. He also helped get the Galaxy back to the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

Some won’t like Donovan winning this award but I can’t say I am totally one of them here as I did vote for him. Joseph did deserve the award I will admit that as he did get my second place vote. But it was just something with the way Donovan carried himself this season, this entire season that caught my eye in the voting. It wasn’t easy folks and I can bet it wasn’t easy for other voters too.

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.

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.

Goalkeeper (Nov. 4 announcement)
Jon Busch, Chicago Fire
Will Hesmer, Columbus Crew
Matt Reis, New England Revolution

Fair Play (Nov. 4)
Juan Pablo Angel, New York Red Bulls
Michael Parkhurst, New England Revolution
Chris Rolfe, Chicago Fire

Comeback (Nov. 22)
Jon Busch, Chicago Fire
Kenny Cooper, FC Dallas
Santino Quaranta, D.C. United

Defender (Nov. 6)
Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City Wizards
Chad Marshall, Columbus Crew
Bakary Soumare, Chicago Fire
(I actually voted for Gonzalo Segares, Chicago Fire)

Rookie (Nov. 13)
Geoff Cameron, Houston Dynamo
Kheli Dube, New England Revolution
Sean Franklin, Los Angeles Galaxy

Coach (Nov. 11)
Dominic Kinnear, Houston Dynamo
Sigi Schmid, Columbus Crew
Frank Yallop, San Jose Earthquakes

Most Valuable Player (Nov. 20)
Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chicago Fire
Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy
Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew

Newcomer (Nov. 11)
Darren Huckerby, San Jose Earthquakes
Claudio Lopez, Kansas City Wizards
Andre Rocha, FC Dallas

You have five players to pick from on the right and one “other” option. If you pick the “other” option use this post to submit your player that you think should be this year’s MVP.

But let’s look at the award real quick. I’m kind of hoping this is the year that someone other than a 18 goal scorer wins this award. Most Valuable Player. Think about the meaning for a second. It should go to the best player right? Absolutely. But it should also go to a guy that is valuable to his club. Meaning you take him out of the line up for a week due to an international call up or a something like that and the club looks completely different without him.

Sure most big time goal scorers deserve this award when this time comes around. But this year I think we are seeing a different trend of players that are of a higher value than those big scorers.

It may still be early to some but this is my shortlist right now for the MVP race and yes it is in an actual order (no messing around here).

1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew – I talked about GBS earlier in the weekly award talk. Hopefully you’ve had some time to review his stats and what he does for this club. Five goals and 14 assists (six more than the next three in that category). For me you take this guy out of the Crew’s line up and this club may not even be a playoff team. That’s how valuable GBS is to the Columbus Crew. He may not knock in as many as some would like for a MVP but he damn well creates enough for his club.

But the big knock on him to some may be on the issue (if you can call it an issue) of giving him this award even though he wasn’t an All-Star this year. Its a crap issues and probably something that will come up in some voters minds. Not mine though, not mine.

2. Shalrie Joseph, New England Revolution – Another guy that if you take him out of the line up his club looks a bit different. Sure the Revs are a little deeper than the Crew are but Joseph is a total beast. I said after the All-Star game that he looks like he owns this league with the way he plays in the midfield. Look at the SuperLiga (I know it’s not going to help his cause but it could to some), Joseph pretty much owned that tournament this year for the Revs. Four goals in that short tournament, helping them claim the North American crown.

His biggest knock, do you really give out an MVP award to a defensive midfielder? Hard to imagine voters going that way even though Joseph deserves it more than most out there.

3. Kenny Cooper, FC Dallas: Now some will say, “yes, a goal scorer, finally.” Yes SuperCooper is having a monster year (13 goals, 3 assists) and to take him away from FC Dallas would have been killer to that club.

I think his only knock may have been the fact that he has yet to full overcome Landon Donovan for the Golden Boot race.

4. Jamie Moreno, DC United: If you went on stats alone you’d probably have to include Moreno. Nine goals and eight assists on the year. Very Ben Olsen like from a year ago. He may not get the love for this award but clearly his play has spoken for itself in a year were DC is posed to end up with a wild record of something like 15-14-1.

5. Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy: I had trouble even including Land-o on this list but I also had trouble ignoring those stats. A league leading 14 goals and then seven assists to go along with it. That is reason alone to include him here. Thing is he hasn’t been nearly as deadly as we saw early in the year. I don’t know if it is due to all of his international callups or if it is due to defenses figuring out how to defend LA (which I think is the case). Still Land-o has had a monster year and still looks to be on pace to get 20 goals before its all out.

Others in the running: Juan Pablo Angel, NY; Luciano Emilio, DC; Sasha Kljestan, Chivas USA; and Steve Ralston, New England.