Most weeks, picking the MLS Player of the Week is easy.
Not this week.
Seattle's Blaise Nkufo, Toronto FC's Dwayne DeRosario and Los Angeles' Landon Donovan all enjoyed stellar multi-goal performances to help lead their teams to victories, and they each would easily win player of the week most other weeks.
Here's a quick rundown of what all three men did:
BLAISE NKUFO– Scored a hat-trick to help Seattle score a vital 4-0 road win against the Columbus Crew.
DWAYNE DEROSARIO– Scored a pair of free kick goals, including a game-winner in the final seconds, to lead Toronto to a crucial 2-1 win against Houston Dynamo.
LANDON DONOVAN– Scored a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes to help LA Galaxy beat D.C. United, 2-1.
These three weren't even the only players to deliver award-worthy performances. FC Dallas rookie Eric Alexander and Kansas City striker Kei Kamara also contributed to key results, each posting a goal and assist this week.
Who do you think should win this week's MLS Player of the Week? Cast your vote here:
Who gets my vote? Eric Alexander looked great on Thursday, but Saturday gave us three amazing performances. Donovan's was good, but torching an awful D.C. defense doesn't carry you as far as Nkufo netting three in Columbus. That said, DeRosario scored two free kicks, including a last-second goal to keep TFC's playoff hopes alive. That's why he gets my vote over Nkufo by a nose.
Who did you vote for?
Share your thoughts on the Player of the Week race in the comments section below.
I don’t think either man would feel wronged if DeRo or Nkufo win the award. They both had outstanding clutch performances. Hard to fault anyone for voting in either direction.
Kamara gets a (spectacular) goal and an assist on the road in a game that KC desperately needs 3 points from = Player of the Week.
DeRo should win. No other player on TFC would have scored those goals so without him TFC’s season would be over.
Going with DeRosario
His team was in the crapper and he pulled them out on his own in a tough venue – even in a down hear for H-Town.
That’s an act of leadership and will that I respect…and those goals were awesome.
DE RO
Hand that man the award and lets move on!
DeRo was barely relevant the rest of the game those two goals are the only shots on goal he had. Nkufo dominated the best defense in the East for most of the game.
How do you compare wins over Houston and DC with an away win against the Columbus Crew?
Although Keller did have a great match, his performance doesn’t cheapen Nkufo’s hattrick. That’s my position. And honestly, I think its silly to ding a guy for not scoring a “last-gasp winner” against a non-playoff team. In my book, if you score three goals against the best club in the east at their place, its a pretty special night.
Love the picture of Nkufo and Zakuani…to be young and in love…
Three goals against the league’s best team takes the cake. Nkufo’s second goal was a jaw dropper.
The fact that Donovan is even considered has to be a joke right? If he is as great as all you donofans think he is, he would have scored 6 goals against DC.
3 goals against the top team in the East, on their home field, to maintain a playoff possition, has to be the winner.
The Columbus D deserve a nod too.. They let every ball drop in the box.
“So basically Nkufo is being punished for Keller making some great saves?”
If this is your position, then you should be supporting Keller for player of the week, not Nkufo.
Not true Columbus was controlling play prior to his excellent finish on the 2nd goal, if he doesn’t score the 2nd goal who knows where the game goes.
It only looks that way because of the final score
Welcome to MLS, Nkufo. You’re a DP that actually adds considerably to the product on the field. C’mon RSL.
Only scoring 2 goals against DC should make you the worst player of the week.
I agree with everything. As crucial as these performances may have been, I have to give the nod to a hat trick on the road against the top team in the east. That is really hard to top. Come on RSL!
Indeed
I would vote in this order.
1. Alexander. The rookie played spectacular all night long. His assist to start the scoring, his solo effort to put his team back in the lead while playing with 10 men, his save off the goal line, and his possesion all night long.
2. Knufo. Hat Trick in Columbus which has established itself as the second best homefield advantage in the league(RSL has the best).
3. DeRo. Both shots were lasers and its always great to go back to a stadium where you were loved and remind all the fans what they lost.
4. Donavon. His goals saved the Galaxy from losing to DC United and prevented the Galaxy from losing their lead on the Supporters Shield but even Arena said after the game that Donavon didn’t play to expectations for the first 65 minutes of the game.
5. Kamara.
Donovan – Like someone said those goals were all important for LA!
Btw check out this cool soccer game on Facebook called Footy!
1! 2! 3! N’KUFO.
Let’s face it, TFC and LAG should have gotten those results. The fact that we went to the best team in the east and crushed them on the back of a N’kufo hat trick seems to me to be more impressive than Donovan helping LA beat the worst team in the league.
So basically Nkufo is being punished for Keller making some great saves? Had Blaise Nkufo scored a game winner (leading to a 1-0 victory or something like that) against a team like D.C., Philly, or a Houston that has no shot at the playoffs it would have somehow looked better than scoring not only his first MLS goal, but a hat trick against a Supporters Shield Contender (read: not winner, that goes to RSL) on their grounds. Yes, that makes sense. Had he not scored sure they still would have won due to the penalty, so his goals are reduced quality because 1)someone else scored 2)his goalkeeper and backline played well and had a clean sheet 3)He scored early rather than late and 4)His goals were not free kicks. Yes, that makes complete sense.
rookie alexander deserves it. 1 Goal, 1 Assist and a save off the goal line??
AGREED
I am not being biased but likewise how Detriot TFC said it would be between Dero and Landovan, even though both teams were down a goal, i think dero gets it because of stepping up in the time of turmoil in the club, and also they were playing away, and got the win which they dont do well on the road.
A hat trick is always impressive, DP or no, but in terms of positively impacting a team in crisis, DeRo should get it. This is not just homerism on my part, DeRo reached deep to get those, he’s been in a slump for quite a while.
the question isn’t who scored the most goals, it was for player of the week.
I would say it’s between LD and DeRo. Nkufo’s hattrick in a 4-0 win is nice but the last goal is meaningless to go up 4-0 so I figure that all three entrants had two goals that mattered and both LD and DeRo led to 1 goal victories.
Still a pretty stout week for POTW choices.
I usually find two goals to be superior to 3 goals as well.
Meh. Gotta be Donovan. Losing to the last place DC United and dropping into a tie with RSL would have been awful for LA, and Donovan prevented that. Sounders would have won the game even without Nkufo’s 3 goals. And Toronto’s playoff hopes are not alive.