The Atlanta United dynamic duo of Miguel Almiron and Josef Martinez headline the list of finalists for the MLS MVP Award, along with superstars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney.
MLS announced the finalists for its year-end awards on Wednesday, and Almiron and Martinez top the MVP nominees, a quintet that also includes Mexican star and Los Angeles FC playmaker Carlos Vela.
Atlanta United head coach Tata Martino has been named a finalist for MLS Coach of the Year for a second straight year, joining Bob Bradley and Peter Vermes among the finalists.
Ibrahimovic, Rooney and Vela will go against each other for MLS Newcomer of the Year honors.
Here’s the full list of nominees for each of the league’s post season awards:
MLS MVP
COACH OF THE YEAR
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Corey Baird (Real Salt Lake)
Mark McKenzie (Philadelphia Union)
Chris Mueller (Orlando City)
The lack of Red Bulls on this list is disappointing. Tim Parker, Bradley Wright. And if Rooney qualifies as MVP why not Armas as coach of the year? The hype at the beginning of the year was all on Atlanta and NYCFC but the RedBulls went out and claimed the shield.
MVP is such as strange category. Take Josef Martinez. Hard to argue that a guy who smashed the single season goal record should not be on the very short list for MVP. But really, one could also easily argue that he isn’t the most “valuable” player on his own team (I’d think they’d prefer to have Almiron if they could only have one of the two). Personally, I’d take Rooney, but I understand the criticism that a guy who only played half the season should not be considered for the award.
To NOT have Schmetzer on the coach of the year award is just stupid. He should be winning that award. Probably the best half of season ever, 14 wins!……….after an insane amount of injuries in the first half, that are STILL affecting the team
Look at the impact he’s made in such a short time. I will say the partnership with Acosta is big and all these home matches as well.
I think Luciano Acosta should have also been a candidate for MVP. He had a sick year as well, and it could be argued his impact was just as big, if not bigger than Rooney.
How does Rooney qualify for MVP, didn’t he join in August?….I would think that he should have played more than half the season to be eligible…
Plus he wasn’t really that great. Some great plays for sure. DC played all their games at home when he joined and they went on a run, but homefield in MLS is HUGE.
So many other players you could pick.