Landon Donovan was named U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year on Monday, garnering the award for the fourth time in his career.
Donovan joined Female Athlete of the Year Abby Wambach, Young Male Athlete of the Year Gale Agbossoumonde and Young Female Athlete of the Year Bianca Henninger among those honored on Monday in contests voted on by fans, media and members of U.S. Soccer.
Donovan became the first four-time winner ('03-'04, '09-'10), edging three-time winner Kasey Keller after enjoying one of the best years of his impressive career. Donovan's exploits at the World Cup, including his unforgettable goal against Algeria, made him the easy choice this year.
Wambach also won her fourth Athlete of the Year award, moving within one of five-time winner Mia Hamm. She scored 16 goals in 18 matches for the U.S. Women's national team in 2010.
Agbossoumonde too the Young Male Athlete award after leading the U.S. Under-20 national team to the Milk Cup Championship and after earning his first senior national team cap against South Africa in November.
What do you think of these selections? Agree with them? Who got your votes?
Share your thoughts below.
sds
I don’t understand how Gale won young player. Not that I don’t like him. I think he’s an outstanding player but he spent half of the year without a team and the other half on a reserve team. I just think that there was someone that was more deserving
Landon deserved it. He cemented his place in USMNT history with his World Cup performance. I feel bad for Tim Howard, who has performed at a higher club level, but had a bad World Cup. He was Man of the Match against England, but wasn’t helped by a poor defense in the remaining 3 matches. You can’t really compare the two positions since they are polar opposites, but Timmy deserves at least one award. Maybe shiniest dome award, or best celebration after blocking a shot, like when he kicks the goal post and freaks out like a mad man.
Well done again Landon, but the Holden award run is about to begin.
Hey Ives, Can you call up Sunil and ask nicely if he’ll pass on the list of 30 for you? And if not, what’s taking so long? Hurry, before the two bald-headed aliens over at Sports Illustrated get any ideas.
Donovan demanded the title change. After being falsely accused of impregnating a Liverpool woman during his stint at Everton, he did not want to be referred to as a “player.”
Is there a reason the award is called “athlete” of the year and not “player” of the year? Do they take into account off field contributions as well? It’s just confusing because using the word athlete makes it sound like they don’t just give it to the best player.
Well, Landon was the obvious choice this year, Abby too. I wish the MNT had a forward that could score 16 goals in 18 matches! Congrats to both as well as the youngsters. It will be interesting to watch Gale develop. Hope he got called in to the January camp (haven’t seen the list yet).