Sometimes it is just hard to break a good habit. Right now Columbus is finding out just how valuable Guillermo Barros Schelotto is to their club. Another Schelotto performance this weekend against New England. A goal and two assists lead the way over the Revs 4-0.

But for once he won’t be winning the Player of the Week award due to his stellar play. I feel now that its starting to be a common place for him to do what he is doing to everyone in the league that we give this weekly award out to someone else who shined pretty brightly this past week.

We had Nate Jaqua’s two goal effort over Kansas City yesterday in Houston. There was also Edson Buddle’s goal and assist against RSL on Saturday.

But to me it came down to GBS and San Jose’s Darren Huckerby. Since I am being nice and not going the Schelotto way, Huckerby wins it this week with his goal and assist effort against DC.

Most of you know by now I love Huckerby in San Jose. He’s quickly become a fan favorite by the Bay and one of the best additions to this league. I honestly find it hard not to root for the guy too. Also, and probably more importantly, Huckerby has lead the Quakes from the bottom of the barrel in MLS to almost a playoff spot here. Can they reach the post-season dance is the only question now.

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Lots of action in week 23 to count and figure out who shined brighter than who. To make this quick and simple I went with a two goal effort this week over a couple solid one goal efforts and a two assists effort out of a couple others.

I went with Real Salt Lake’s Fabian Espindola’s two goal effort against Colorado on Friday night because not only was it the games two goals but watching Espindola perform on Friday night was fun to watch. He’s back from an injury and looks great. Plus he got some help from some sloppy defending from Colorado.

Again, to be quick, week 23’s Player of the Week goes to RSL’s Fabian Espindola.

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What more can you say about Columbus’s Guillermo Barros Schelotto right now? Two weeks in a row with goals and assists to lead the Crew to a victory. There was really no question in my mind who had the best week in week 22 here.

GBS’s goal and two assists were clearly better than anyone’s lone goal or two goals in the case of Houston’s Kei Kamera (his two against Chivas in the midweek).

Has GBS put himself into the center of the MVP spotlight this year? Absolutely. His five goals and league leading 14 assists had lead the Crew to the top of the MLS table (currently tied with New England for that top spot). It seems as though GBS is turning it on late here as the Crew push for a playoff spot and a Supporter’s Shield trophy.

I think there is a very short list of MVPs out there and GBS is easily topping mine (more on that later). You take GBS out of this Columbus lineup and this isn’t a guarantee playoff club.

Sure there may have been some solid performances this week out of some guys. You had gritty game-tying goal by Jimmy Conrad or some solid performances by Juan Pablo Angel in New York or Taylor Twellman beginning to tear things up. But again it came down to what GBS did on the field against what was suppose to be a solid defense from RSL. He made it look easy as he put in two more assists. Oh yeah and his league leading 14 assists is six better than the other three that are tied for second.

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Now that the league is back on a regular pace for games in a week, things get a little tougher in figuring out who had a better week AND who had a better goal. Week 21 was just that, we had seven solid matches with different players coming up bigger than others and loads of goals that were tough to shift through.

You had a guy like Ronnie O’Brien score two goals in a winning effort over New England, Conor Casey and his two goal effort over Kansas City, two or three different Dynamo players had a solid effort in their wild 4-3 finish with Real Salt Lake.

But in all honesty, none were better than Guillermo Barros Schelotto two assist effort for Columbus over Dallas.

Schelotto showed why he is the MLS assists leader, notching his 11th and 12th of the season in a three-minute stretch of the second half that helped turn a first-half deficit into a 2-1 Columbus victory before the largest crowd this season at Crew Stadium.

That kind of MVP performance gets the job done over a couple of two-goal efforts in my mind. So for another week its GBS winning the Player of the Week award. Continue Reading…

While we are sorting through the mess with the LA Galaxy, it is time to hand out a pair of weekly awards for player of the week and goal of the week. This week there was really no doubt who would win both, so I will make this quick as I can.

While few had solid weekends, only one guy really stood out amoung the rest and that man was New York’s Juan Pablo Angel. His two-goal effort lifted the Red Bulls over DC United 4-1.

Angel not only wins the WVH Player of the Week award but also the Goal of the Week as well. His free kick blast over the wall and into the near post against DC was just pure class. He did have more competition for that award but his classy strike was just a little better than a pair of headers, a knuckle ball and another free kick. See for yourself below.

Okay, so was Angel your player of the week? And was this strike the best of the week or did Barrett’s free kick do it for you? Let’s hear it.

Hear that sound? Its the sound of a cash register running again and again as Kenny Cooper scores. Another weekend and another brace from Cooper, this time on the road in arguable the toughest venue in MLS BMO Field.

A pair of late second-half goals from Kenny Cooper led FC Dallas to a 2-0 win. Cooper is now tied atop the Budweiser Golden Boot standings with Landon Donovan with 13 goals on the year. A couple weeks ago Cooper was only on pace to net about 15 goals this season, now it seems like he could get 20 or even 25 at the current tear that he is on.

There was really no doubt this weekend who was the best player and who had the best game. There were a couple others out there that had a solid weekend but none as good as Cooper’s two goals.

Now if Dallas can just hold on to him for another two weeks they could be looking at a playoff birth with Cooper.

Anyways, week 19 ended similar to week 18 with Cooper on top as the league’s Player of the Week. Continue Reading…

So yeah, its Kenny Cooper day here at WVH. No kidding really, with all the games in week 18 there was really little doubt about who had the best week. With only five games and two of them being draws and the other two being 2-0 wins by road teams, no one shined, or out-shined rather, Cooper’s two goals and assist on Sunday night.

Not only is Kenny Cooper the hands down favorite for Player of the Week this week, he also is my nod for goal of the week as well with this beauty below. Believe me, seeing it live was special and then seeing it over and over again on replays just show how much skill this guy has and how damn good he is.

Take a look for yourself: