By FRANCO PANIZO
LA Galaxy II midfielder Kenney Walker enjoyed quite a performance in the club’s inaugural match, and was named USL Pro’s Week 1 Player of the Week as a result.
Walker was voted the winner of the initial award in the 2014 season for his one-goal, one-assist outing in a 3-1 triumph over the Orange County Blues. Walker also was named to the Week 1 Team of the Week, along with fellow LA Galaxy II players Charlie Rugg and Daniel Steres.
Other teams to have three players on the Team of the Week were the Charleston Battery and Orlando City. Charleston’s Mamadou Diouf, Odisnel Cooper and John Wilson were all selected while the Lions saw Austin Da Luz, Darwin Ceren and Luke Boden earn the honors.
Here’s a full rundown of USL Pro’s Week 1 awards:
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kenney Walker | Midfielder | LA Galaxy II
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Odisnel Cooper (Charleston Batter); Daniel Steres (LA Galaxy II), Luke Boden (Orlando City), Fabrice Gautrat (Orange County Blues), John Wilson (Charleston Battery); Kenne Walker (LA Galaxy II), Austin da Luz (Orlando City), Stephen Okai (Orange County Blues), Darwin Ceren (Orlando City); Mamadou Diouf (Charleston Battery), Charlie Rugg (LA Galaxy II)
Honorable Mention: Omar Salgado (Charleston Battery), Aodhan Quinn (Orlando City), Rafael Garcia (LA Galaxy II), Allan Russell (Orange County Blues), Shawn Ferguson (Charleston Battery), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy II), Gabriel Gonzalez (Orange County Blues), Kevin Molino (Orlando City)
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What do you think of Week 1’s USL Pro awards? Agree that Walker was the best player this week? Are there any snubs from the Team of the Week?
Share your thoughts below.
what’s the point of having a 25 year old on the LAG II USL club?
When your USL Pro team is your reserve team and you are permitted to do short-term loans, then you are going to have some MLS players on that team from time-to-time just to give them some minutes. That said, Walker has barely played in MLS since being drafted, so it’s not like the Galaxy stacked the team with a bunch of ringers like Keane and Donovan just to secure a win. They also loaned McBean (age 19), Mendiola (age 19), Sorto (age 19), and Jamieson (age 17) to the Galaxy II roster, so this was still a pretty young roster.
Seems odd to name a team of the week that includes (counting honorable mentions) 19 players after a week when there were only two games played.
Man, LA is stacked.
Did Diouf not get drafted and sign with Charleston or is he on loan from Vancouver?