Sporting KC's Jimmy Nielsen was named Goalkeeper of the Year
Major League Soccer has handed out three more of it's major awards since announcing their 2012 Best XI on Monday. None of them were particularly surprising, though I suppose one could make a case for at least couple other guys for each award. Here's the rundown:
Sporting Kansas City's Jimmy Nielsen, aka the "White Puma," was named MLS goalkeeper of the year. That's not shocking at all as he was named in the best XI. Nielsen helped lead Sporting to a US Open Cup win as well as the Eastern Conference top seed before they bowed out to Houston in the Playoffs. Chivas USA's Dan Kennedy finished second, for some reason, followed by Seattle's Michael Gspurning (who should have won in my opinion) and RSL's Nick Rimando.
The Comeback player of the year award is always one of the most controversial, as the criteria seems to be somewhat nebulous. This year it was awarded to Seattle's Eddie Johnson, who returned to MLS after a stint in Europe and failing to catch on in Mexico. Johnson helped lead the Sounders to the Western Conference Finals and made a major impact for the US National Team in World Cup Qualifying. DC's Chris Pontius and San Jose's Alan Gordon were also in the running for the award.
The league also handed out it's Newcomer of the Year award, giving it to Frederico Higuain of the Columbus Crew. There's no question that Higuain was a huge plus for the Crew after coming in, but the criticism of this award has been that he only played in 13 games, as opposed to other candidates who played more of the season. San Jose's Victor Bernardez, Seattle's Gspurning, Vancouver's Y.P. Lee, and Houston's Boniek Garcia were also up for the award.
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