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SBI MLS Player of the Week: Jermain Defoe

JermainDeFoe (USATodaySports)

By IVES GALARCEP

As far as debuts go, Jermain Defoe turned in one of the better MLS debuts in a long time.

The English striker scored a pair of goals to help lead Toronto FC to an impressive season-opening 2-1 win against the Seattle Sounders, earning SBI MLS Player of the Week honors in the process.

The TFC Designated Player raced onto a quality Jonathan Osorio pass to open the scoring with a sublime finish, then pounced on a poor Seattle turnover before finishing expertly past Stefan Frei for what wound up being the game-winning goal.

Defoe beat out a strong field of candidates that included Victor Bernardez, Mauro Rosales and Sebastien LeToux for this week’s honors.

What did you think of Defoe’s debut? Which MLS player impressed you the most in MLS Week 2?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Defoe looked great but contrast that to Dempsey. Defoe looked poised, confident and self controlled, Dempsey looked rattled, worried and played like a hockey ‘enforcer’. All those jabs, kicking out etc. What on earth happened to that guy?

    Reply
    • It is tough to watch. Lashing out, etc. the announcer said its part of his game, his motivation, or something to that effect. Bradley used to play with a hot head, but has since been able to channel that in a different way…. And became a more successful player for doing it. Seems like Dempsey doesnt have the career left to make the change in constitution. It’s a real liability going into the summer if Jurgen and sigi don’t call him out soon…. Mls will hopefully do it for them this week “disciplinary committee”

      Reply
  2. BRING in Zlatan and Lampard. They’re 32 and 35 but we will reap the benefits. Give them say 10 million a year and 5 million more with endorsements and all that crap

    who is Jermaine Defoe? Sure he’s been a pretty good striker for the past decade but he’s no Torres or Suarez or RVP. He’s basically the best English striker who has never been “world class”

    is he worth 5 million a year? will he bring in the fans?

    Reply
    • Lampard missed the ship on MLS. We don’t need any more 35 year-old mids.

      Now, Zlatan, that’s a different story. He’s destroying Ligue 1 right now (25 goals, plus 10 UCL goals); think what he’d do in MLS?

      Reply
  3. Just for fun, name your top 3 guesses or wish list (realistically) for big (ish) name DPs to cross the pond in the next 2 years.

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  4. I would have given Bernardez the player of the week because Bernardez is a defender. It’s great to see Bernardez score that way and also do his job as a defender. He had to play extra hard to make up for the fact that two of the Earthquakes’ usual starting defenders were not on the field during the game. Defoe looked really great, though.

    Reply
      • yah, a fair bit, but he was the only regular starter out there and the midfield was not adjusting well to RSL’s game plan. probably deserves more demerits for that terrible free kick, actually.

  5. By the way, Alonso only tackles and runs at players and has zero creativity. He needs to become a defender because as a midfielder, he screens red card.

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  6. MLS needs more dps like Defoe and hopefully MLS 3.0 will have that, like Miami, nycfc mad even Orlando might take MLS to the promise land of dps.
    MLS needs to add at least 1 more do spot, and make it 4 dps and maybe a 5th also.
    There is galaxy, sounders, red bull and tfc only using their dps with real dps but if I was Defoe, I would have also considered ,Dallas, Denver, Houston, LA2, DC, Chicago but they don’t open their wallets.
    MLS needs to give dps tour of MLS markets, either send them videos of MLS markets and inform them with info about the city.

    Reply
    • Just to play devil’s advocate, where would we want to cap the # DP slots? Or would we?

      I like parity, so I would cap it at 5 per team. The idea is that we should cap the number of *established* high value players (Defoe, Henry, or a Kaka, and so on) to force room on a given 18 for the emerging stars and prospects. I also think it helps keep the sport fresh and growing. Now, I like the EPL and the tradition that comes along with promo/rel, the “Big 4” and “Drop Day” and what not. But for a country as big as ours with a sports culture bent on winning versus blind fandom, parity is the better option. Add player development and financial security to the mix, and I think it’s a no-brainer.

      Reply
      • Interesting thing if you look at the Mexican or Dutch League they have larger budgets than MLS teams but they don’t have any players making Henry, Defoe or Bradley money. I wonder if MLS had a cap of say 12 million would teams still want DPs or just spread the money more evenly?

      • I think Portland has done a good job bringing in relatively high-quality, relatively inexpensive, decidedly unknown talent, in the vain you’re describing.

        The problem with a $12 million payroll that features no big names is that in the US, a lot of markets still need those big names to bring in fans. Not all, obviously, but some. Defoe is a high-quality, just-past-his-prime striker, but even he was used as a marketing tool in Toronto (“It’s a big bloody deal,” etc.). Portland and a few others have set an example of what can be done with a measly $3 million+. Hopefully we see a higher cap and more shrewd moves in “MLS 30..”

      • I think it makes sense to have the dp cap set at 5. This means that in an theoretically ideal scenario, a team could have a starting 11 made up of half dos and half home-growns.

    • Or worse. Alonso is a destroyer. He toes the line between agressive and dirty. If he were Dutch, his name would be DeJong.

      Reply
      • Good question. That was my second thought after seeing the picture of him fly at a player boot up. For the fans of mls soccers growing status though the world, last thing we need is a questionably dirty player taking out a top new talent. Ozzy needs therapy and refs need to help him realize that.

    • I wouldn’t say in his prime. He’s just passed it. On the decline but definitely on a higher level than 90% of the forwards in the league. Also, we’ve he’d another world class striker join at about the same age in Robbie Keane and it’s been fun to watch. I’d personally take Robbie over Defoe but they are both great talents for this league.

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      • Keane and Defoe couldn’t be more different, but I agree. I’d take 31 year-old Robbie Keane over 31 year-old Jermaine Defore. Problem is, Keane isn’t 31 anymore, and he’s got two new Achilles’ this season.

      • No, I agree they are different players. All I was saying was that having a world class striker near the top of his game isn’t new for MLS.

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