Greg Vanney has been named the MLS coach of the year, beating out Gerardo “Tata” Martino and Veljko Paunovic for the honor. The Toronto FC boss won with an average of 37.07 percent of the player, club, and media votes.

Vanney, who was also named SBI’s MLS Coach of the Year last week, led Toronto FC to the best record in MLS regular season history with 69 points. He now has the team one win away from their second consecutive Eastern Conference title, which would see them hosting the MLS Cup Final for the second year in a row.

Vanney took over Toronto FC in 2014 and has led them to three straight playoff appearances.

red bulls EXERCISE buy option on murillo’s loan

The New York Red Bulls are buying Michael Amir Murillo outright after his loan from San Francisco FC in Panama expires.

“We are pleased to add Amir on a permanent basis,” said Sporting Director Denis Hamlett. “He showed well and has made progress as a player during his time here. He is building on the positive qualities we saw when we were scouting him, and we look forward to him contributing to our success moving forward.”

The Panamanian defender made 17 appearances for the Red Bulls in 2017 at both central defense and full back. He scored twice and was a stout presence in their back line when he played. He’s a regular for the Panama national team, who will play in their first World Cup next summer.

Impact, whitecaps, d.c. united to face las vegas lights fc in preseason friendlies

A number of MLS teams announced they will head to downtown Las Vegas to face USL expansion side Las Vegas Lights FC in a preseason friendlies in February at Cashman Field.

The new club will start off by facing the Montreal Impact on February 10. The Vancouver Whitecaps will go to Sin City the following weekend and D.C. United will play them on February 24.