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Davis, DeRosario and Shea up for MVP as MLS Award finalists are announced

BradDavis (GettyImages)

Brad Davis, Dwayne DeRosario and Brek Shea were named finalists for the MLS MVP Award on Monday as the league announced the finalists for all the season-ending awards.

Here are all the finalists for the awards, with winners set to be announced over the course of the next two weeks, starting with MLS Rookie of the Year on Tuesday:

2011 MLS AWARD FINALISTS (announcement date in parentheses) 

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (Tuesday)

Michael Farfan (Philadelphia Union)

Perry Kitchen (D.C. United) 

C.J. Sapong (Sporting Kansas City) 

FAIR PLAY AWARD (Tuesday)

Darrius Barnes (New England Revolution)

Kosuke Kimura (Colorado Rapids)

Sebastien Le Toux (Philadelphia Union)

TEAM FAIR PLAY AWARD (Tuesday)

Chivas USA

Philadelphia Union

Portland Timbers

DEFENDER OF THE YEAR (Wednesday)

Nat Borchers (Real Salt Lake)                     

Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy)                

Jamison Olave (Real Salt Lake)

HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR (Wednesday)

Zak Boggs (New England Revolution)

Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo)

Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

REFEREE OF THE YEAR (Wednesday)

Mark Geiger                      

Ricardo Salazar

Kevin Stott 

ASSISTANT REFEREE OF THE YEAR (Wednesday)

Sean Hurd

Corey Rockwell

Adam Wienckowski

COACH OF THE YEAR (Nov. 14)

Bruce Arena (LA Galaxy)                                    

Sigi Schmid (Seattle Sounders FC)        

Peter Vermes (Sporting Kansas City)  

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR (Nov. 14)

David Beckham (LA Galaxy)

Charlie Davies (D.C. United)

Dominic Oduro (Chicago Fire)

GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR (Nov. 15)

Kevin Hartman (FC Dallas)

Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC)

Faryd Mondragon (Philadelphia Union)

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR (Nov. 15)

Eric Hassli (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)           

Luke Rodgers (New York Red Bulls)       

Mauro Rosales (Seattle Sounders FC)

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER (Nov. 18)

Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo)                   

Dwayne De Rosario (D.C. United)               

Brek Shea (FC Dallas)

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What do you think of these finalists? What do you see as the biggest snubs? Who gets your MVP vote?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. What has Sigi done this year that Arena hasn’t? I dont count US Open Cup because that’s not an MLS competition.

    Arena has won more, and was defeated less (incl the reserve squad trotted out vs Houston). He’s undefeated at home.

    Sure, Seattle lost Zakuani to an unfortunate incident, and Sigi gets credit for making the adjustments, but that was a long-term plan in place at the early stage of the season…

    Arena, on the other hand, lost his #1 GK (Ricketts) for a large chunk of season, and lost major starting depth on the back line (Leonardo) early on as well. Not to mention, unlike Sigi, in addition to “the usual” injuries, Arena was pulling wins during the first half of the season with an invisible primary striker (Angel) and a revolving door of strike partners, not to mention the occasional stretches without your Captain, who was called to national duty.

    Arguments can be made for either man, but for me, Bruce Arena has done something few coaches have: Create a back-to-back SS winner using his uniquely shrewd talents in mixing veteran talent with inspired rookie talent.

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  2. This is MVP of the regular season. Not MVP of playoffs and last third of season. So why don’t you figure out the facts before posting your opinions as well. Senor Dumas

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  3. i must not know what comeback player of the year is for since Derosario is not an option. Comeback from what i guess, and not mean starting slow?

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  4. He would have been top 3 for Defender and had a good shot to make the best 11 if he kept playing like he did prior to his failed Blackburn move, but his performance definitely suffered after that.

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  5. My picks…
    Rookie: C.J. Sapong (Sporting Kansas City)
    Fair Play: Sebastien Le Toux (Philadelphia Union)
    Defender: Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy)
    Humanitarian: Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
    Coach: Sigi Schmid (Seattle Sounders FC)
    Comeback: David Beckham (LA Galaxy)
    Goalkeeper: Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC)
    Newcomer: Mauro Rosales (Seattle Sounders FC)
    MVP: Dwayne De Rosario (D.C. United)

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  6. Thank you for providing some info on why Shea should be MVP. I disagree because I think there are better candidates (Beckham, for one, and Mondragon, for another). I also think Shea is quite overrated. But leadership should be more of a consideration than raw stats.

    Frankly, Vermes should win coach of the year hands down. He took a team that was dead in midseason and won a regular-season conference championship. Kreis should have been nominated for keeping RSL together despite numerous injuries, especially to the back line.

    Why does Rimando get no respect? He should have been GK of the year last year and should have been nominated this year. He played all season with back and neck problems, yet was still his acrobatic self…and, no, I’m *not* an RSL fan. Hartman and Mondragon deserved to be nominated. But I think Keller will get it as a going-away present.

    I know that many media members vote on the nominees. I have no idea why they come up with the people they come up with…and I’m a member of the media!

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  7. Brad Davis finished up strong! Dynamo rode a 9 game streak without a loss all the way to the MLS Cup Final on Nov 20th. More than half of those games, including the Final are away games. Sounds to me that you only follow FC Dallas and nothing else once FC Dallas got knocked out of the playoffs. Go grab a book or look online before you post your opinions.

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  8. dear god how are kevin stott and ricardo salazar both up for official of the year? they are both simply horrendous, especially stott

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  9. why the HELL should chivas get fair play of the year award? will javi morales ever get respect from this league? mondiani chopped him down and the league hardly noticed.

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  10. All are solid choices (and in a couple of categories things might be too close to call), but I’d definitely give the newcomer of the year to Rosales over Rogers.

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  11. I agree with everything except: Sigi for Coach of the Year, Davies for comeback player of the year, Rosales for newcomer, and Davis for MVP.

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  12. Well he was part of 4 road wins: 2 to finish the season strong and then 2 more road crucial road wins in the playoffs (which is only 2 less road victories than FCD and 1 less road win than DC.)

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  13. I’m openly partial, but there’s no way the #2 assist man in MLS (and playoff powerhouse) shouldn’t be getting a look for MVP.

    I love me some Shea, and haters are gonna hate, but in addition to DeRo and Davis, Beckham should also be considered for the top honor. In the same vein that DeRo helped turn around DC – and becoming Toronto/NY’s biggest trade mistake – Beckham is largely responsible for keeping the Galaxy on top during long stretches of the season (and is undeniably the playoff MVP – along with Magee.)

    If he doesn’t win the one award he’s nominated for, it will be a huge travesty and an example of either ignorance, anti-Beckham sentiment or both. Becks has contributed more to his team as a “comeback” player than the other two in his category.

    Rookie: Sapong — Defender: Gonzalez
    Newcomer: Rodgers (it hurts me to say that)
    “Comeback”: Beckham
    Keeper: Keller (had he played a full season, Saunders)
    Coach: Arena (due to his being GM as well, which goes largely uncredited)
    MVP: DeRosario (barely missed playoffs, but never had a chance without him, either)

    No opinion in the other categories.

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  14. wow. George John’s not even a candidate for DOY?? I guess that means he wont make best11 either. He’s been snubbed his whole career for EVERYthing. Shameful

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  15. Davis will win despite not being able to win on the road. Any one and everyone should win at home but a MVP wins on the road.

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  16. I would disagree that Houston was better vs SKC after Davis’ injury. Houston did score both goals after that, but they also had a majority of the truly dangerous chances when Davis was on…they just didn’t put them away. They were barely hanging on after the injury until halftime. Then they got a goal early in the second half and their remaining chances were really because of SKC pushing forward. The possession and the consistent threats were there before the injury, and the success later came mostly from the counter.

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  17. Why Shea should win,

    Stepped up when Fererra went down. Led his team when he was not suppose to yet.

    11 goals in 11 different games 6 of them game winners.

    Why won’t he win, FCD dropped off in the last part of the season.

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  18. Houston was better vs SKC w Davis off and a ball winner on the field. Dude is really good though, just an observation. At some point your teams success matters, I would gIve it to Davis but stat wise DeRo deserves it

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  19. The funny thing is my first thought is Oduro should win comeback player of the year. Except, what exactly is he coming back from? A career of sucking? MLS needs to change the name to most improved or something.

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