Chris Pontius
D.C. United’s Chris Pontius notched a hat trick in a 4-1 triumph over the New York Red Bulls, and got the most POTW votes from the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters.
Two of Pontius’ strikes were Goal of the Week worthy. First off, after stealing the ball from Thierry Henry, the American midfielder-converted-into-striker strolled down the field and unleashed a 20-yard drive into the top corner.
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Thierry Henry
The star striker of the New York Red Bulls has been named the MLS Player of the Week for the third consecutive time. Never before has anyone been named POTW three times. But, in a league where many of the Designated Players have disappointed, Henry has staked his claim as the league’s most exciting, electric figure — and Commissioner Don Garber should be writing Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer a thank-you note.
Henry got the most votes from the North American Soccer Reporters.
He’s also the reigning Player of the Month.
He has seven goals in five matches. Is it too early to start the Roy Lassiter goal watch? Lassiter holds the MLS record with 27 goals in a season, done in an era of mini-games and shootouts.
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Thierry Henry
Henry, who had five goals and three assists for the New York Red Bulls through the club’s first four matches, got 17 of the 25 first-place votes from the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters. Vancouver Whitecaps’ keeper Joe Cannon — who has yet to give up a goal this season — finished second in the voting.
But it wasn’t close. Henry got 17 first-place votes, Cannon got… ahem… three.
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Thierry Henry
The New York Red Bulls’ striker scored three times against the Montreal Impact Saturday, leading his team to a 5-2 win. Over the last two weeks, Henry has found the net five times. And, he spoke to the team at halftime of the Impact game; with the score tied 2-2, the French great urged his team to do better. Guess he likes to lead by example, as it was his play that spurred the Red Bulls to life.
Henry will have to score a lot this season if the Red Bulls, whose suspect defence was again exposed, are to be beasts in the East.
The Red Bulls’ most famous Designated Player capture 21 of 25 first-place votes among the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters, so it wasn’t even close.
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Thierry Henry: Hat trick
But, the realist will have to admit that the Impact gave way too many gifts to the offensively charged Red Bulls. And, a team that makes as many glaring errors as the Impact can have no qualm about taking zero points from match.
Suspect goalkeeping, poor passing out of the back and some awful marking contributed to New York’s, ahem, three goals that didn’t reek of controversy. And, while apologists may point to the Impact’s solid first-half effort which saw Montreal score twice, you can’t paper over the cracks that were apparent on defence and in goal.
New York will have its fair share of games with scorelines like this — on both the winning and losing ends. With the likes of Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper in attack, New York will score goals. But, with a back line that is flat and unsure, clean sheets will be rarity for the Red Bulls. Still, the Red Bulls had more Dr. Jekyll than they had Mr. Hyde on Saturday.
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Through the first two weeks of the season, the MLS players of the week weren’t exactly household names — Portland’s Kalif Alhassan and Seattle’s David Estrada.
Well, no such worries with the current edition of the Player of the Week. New York Red Bull Thierry Henry, the brightest soccer star in the biggest media market in MLS, got the POTW nod after the votes from the North American Soccer Reporters were counted.
Henry and teammate Kenny Cooper each scored twice Sunday as the Red Bulls trounced the Colorado Rapids 4-1. But Henry gets the nod as, not only did he score twice, but he was the provider of Cooper’s first goal with a wonderful through ball that pierced the Rapids’ defence.
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The 11’s Steven Sandor, Mark Polishuk and Aman Dhanoa held a virtual round table, discussing how they foresaw the 2012 MLS season.
Will the Galaxy repeat? Will any of the three Canadian teams make the playoffs? Who will be the MVP?
We tallied up our votes, and came up with our list of how the teams will finish, who will win MLS Cup and who will be the league’s MVP. No need to play the season, now. We have it all figured out.
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It’s a safe bet that, for Canadian soccer fans and journalists, wel’ll all have our eyes peeled for the name “Dwayne De Rosario” when the MLS Players Union releases its salary update this spring.
The union updates the salary list twice a year and publishes it on its website. Because MLS and its teams do not release salary details, the union creates a bit of a media feeding frenzy (OK, about as strong as a media frenzy can be in North American soccer) whenever it releases the numbers.
But, for sure, “what does DeRo make?” will be the first question fans will want answered.
De Rosario, the first Canadian ever to be named MLS Most Valuable Player, signed a contract extension with D.C. United Monday, a deal which takes out his current deal, which would have paid him just under US$500,000 this year.
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One of the classiest players to ever wear a Toronto FC jersey is coming back to Canada — to take over as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The Whitecaps announced today that Toronto FC day-one player and ex-co-captain Carl Robinson will become an assistant coach in Vancouver. Robinson and Jake DeClute were added to coach Martin Rennie’s staff on Friday.
“Carl and Jake are great additions to the club, as both bring a unique skill set that will complement our current staff,” said Rennie. “Carl has played the game at the highest levels and has a strong understanding of Major League Soccer. Meanwhile, Jake has risen through the North American soccer coaching ranks, while also bringing coaching experience from his time in Scotland, and has also shown a keen eye for talent.”
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Peri Marosevic
The team announced Friday that both Iro and Marosevic won’t be back this season.
“Both Andy and Peri declined our contract extension offers and now the club is ready to move on,” said Toronto FC Head Coach and Technical Director Aron Winter in a release issued by the club. “We met with both players at the conclusion of the season and presented them with fair offers that they have declined. I’d like to thank them for their contributions to our club and wish them well in the future endeavours.”
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