A lot of end-of-season awards in Major League Soccer are just as tight as the playoff race. I’ve been tracking the Rookie of the Year and MVP races for some time now but I figured I would weigh in on all the awards for once since we are in the final few weeks of the season.

MLS MVP Award:

1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew: His club may be playing well without him but his numbers still make a serious case for MVP this season. He should be back soon, which can only mean his soccer IQ on the field will enhance the Crew even more here.
2. Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy: 19 goals in just 21 games. I think that may be all I need to say here. Earlier I thought his production wasn’t enough for the MVP this year but I am thinking otherwise now.
3. Shalrie Joseph, New England Revolution: He and his club may be stumbling but that should all work itself out once the Revs clinch a playoff spot.
4. Darren Huckerby, San Jose Earthquakes: If this were a half-season MVP I would probably have a tough time picking between Schelotto and Huckerby. Both have been stellar in the second half of the season. Huckerby has only been here for a half season, just think what he can do for a full year.
5. Juan Pablo Angel, New York Red Bulls: He’s forth in goals this season in the league but I don’t think that will be enough to get him this award this year.

Others in the discussion:

Javier Morales, RSL; Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago; Kenny Cooper, FC Dallas; Jamie Moreno, DC United; and Sacha Kljestan, Chivas USA.

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Happy Friday to you all, hope your work week has gone well here as it is almost Happy Hour on the east coast. I figure we may as well get some news out of the way before we start downing some drinks for the start of the weekend. Also, don’t forget to buy yo momma a gift for Sunday! No product placement here but a simple reminder from your neighborhood Hooligan that Mother’s Day is Sunday!

I will start out in the Windy City. It looks as though things are as rosy as we though between the Chicago Fire and defender Wilmam Conde. Last night during MLS PrimeTime Thursday, ESPN2 reporter Pedro Gomez (I love that he is doing soccer these days, so much better than Alan Hopkins) talked about how Conde is still unhappy in Chicago.

Apparently he still isn’t happy with the Fire and after seeing how he didn’t even dress last night, things are probably going back to the way they were before the season. Right now the Fire are playing some of the best soccer that MLS has seen in some time in terms of defense and Conde hasn’t been apart of it. He’s one of the highest paid players on the Fire roster and so far he hasn’t played a full game this season.

Gomez stated that the Fire are still trying to patch things up with him in an effort to keep him in the Windy City. Also he said there was no way that the Fire would even consider trading him to an eastern conference club.

So a trade to New York still remains out of the question.

So what should the Fire do with him? Keep him on the bench until he comes to his senses? Or trade him away to a western conference club that could use his defense and that has some space to do something with him? You have to figure one of the western club has to take a serious look at him (hello LA!!) even with his personal distractions.

Or maybe they wait until the summer transfer window and try to ship him off elsewhere.

Who knows. Either way its still a sticky mess.

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