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.

Goal of the week is always more fun to find out because you just never know who will pop in a stellar shot. For me this week it came down to two different goals. A one-timer by Brad Davis of Houston against KC and a shot that hit the right side of the post by newly acquired RSL striker Will Johnson against LA.

In the end I went with the Canadian and his lucky strike (which was also a rocket of a one-timer in its own right). I think RSL got a steal of a deal with Johnson.

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.

Now as for the goal of the week it was a little bit harder but there was a couple worth mentioning. You had Toronto’s Jim Brennan striking early for the Reds against Chivas; Darren Huckerby’s game-winner of Kansas City; and Brian Mullen’s far post strike against Chicago.

But the goal that stood out to me was Landon Donovan’s second of the night and 16th goal of the season. Just a perfect threw ball from Eddie Lewis to Donovan and he made it look so simple against New England.

Just watch and see the magic…

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.

Goal of the week was another fun one. You had a 40-yard bomb by Dallas’s Andre Rocha; a turn-and-shoot goal out of Toronto’s Chad Barrett; or any one of New York’s three goals against Houston. Then you have Joe Vide’s one timer or Santino Quartana’s blast.

Tough decisions but I had to go back to Thursday night’s lone goal out of Galaxy-killer John Thorrington. A beautiful give-and-go as Thorrington bends a nice shot by LA’s Steve Cronin.

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.

Goal of the Week is a tough subject this week. You have a nice strike from Ronnie O’Brien, a game-tying goal by Alan Gordan, a break-away by Mike Magee, Jeff Cunningham’s 100th career goal, and just about any one goal from the seven-goal game in Houston.

The one that stood out for me was one of those goals from Houston. Ricardo Clark’s to be exact. His turn and shoot bomb from distance to the upper-90 was a thing of beauty.

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.

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.

Goal of the week was a little tougher to decide this week. Not that many goals to pick from here. Cooper had a nice one to put the game away for Dallas against Toronto but I felt Houston’s Brad Davis had a great strike in their 2-0 win over the Crew.

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:

But when looking back at the draw-fest that was week 17, one guy took home the bacon. One goal and two assists nearly lead Columbus to a Primetime Thursday victory over Kansas City. If you haven’t guessed by now I am talking about Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

GBS started his mark off with a nice free kick goal that caught the entire Wizards lineup off guard. Experience folks, that will do it for ya. Then he went on to set up a game tying goal and a go-ahead goal (the Wizards later tied things back up at 3-3).

While the Crew couldn’t hold off the Wizards, it was Schelotto that lead the way for the Crew. And while guys like Joe Cannon, Nick Rimando, and Jon Busch had stellar games, it was GBS that was head and shoulders above the rest this week.

So Schelotto is my player of the week for week 17, don’t be shocked if the rest of the media and the league agrees.

As for goal of the week, it comes down to a couple for me. I loved Schelotto’s free kick goal but I loved Juan Pablo Angel’s little play just a bit more.

As I said on my weekend recap, if this goal is good enough to make SportsCenter, it should be good enough to win goal of the week. If more players could figure out how to chip like that we would see more sweet shots like that. Also, there is no word if Greg Vanney will be out with an ankle injury next week.

Easily the best week went to Chicago’s John Thorrington. His late game-winner at home against Toronto gave voters little doubt about who to pick in this short week. I’ve said before, Thorrington is quickly becoming one of my new favorites in this league. His pace and energy on the field continues to show up. How this guy was nearly cut a while back is amazing too.

So week 16 goes to Thorrington, oh hey, the league agrees!

The goal of the week was a little bit of a different story. We really had little to pick from (12) but a couple were nice. Chris Rolfe’s strike in the fifth minute against Toronto was sweet and cool as they come but the goal that got my attention the most was a Primetime kick by Chivas USA’s Ante Razov. Honestly it was vintage Razov.

A few good choices for player of the week but none stood out more to me when I looked at everything like Columbus Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The Argentine’s two assists proved to be enough to get the Crew back in their game with Chicago from a 2-0 hole. Both passes to Emmanuel Ekpo and Steven Lenhart were spot on and allowed the Crew to steal a point late from the visiting Fire.

A lot of people don’t realize just how good he is until he makes passes like those two.

So to me, it was Schelotto’s week by far over everyone, including the two goals from New England’s Adam Cristman (who will more than likely take home the award this week).

Goal of the week was pretty easy to figure out for me as well this time around. A few late heroics were in the mix. I loved the timely headers by Cristman and Abe Thompson, as well as the quick feet of Lenhart, and the four strikes by four different Rapids against New York.

But to me the best strike was a late free kick by Chivas USA’s Ante Razov. Upon first glance I said “yup, goal of the week right there, no doubt about it.” I think you all will see why.