Camilo wins final Player of the Month award for 2013 By Steven Sandor Posted on October 31, 2013 Comments Off on Camilo wins final Player of the Month award for 2013 0 705 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Camilo PHOTO: TONY LEWIS/CANADA SOCCER Even after the Whitecaps have wrapped up their playoff-less season, Camilo continues to earn the accolades. On Thursday, Camilo won his second Player of the Month honour of the MLS season. He got the most first-place votes out of the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters. Camilo’s been player of the week four times, player of the month twice, and he’s won the Golden Boot as the top scorer in MLS. Had the Whitecaps made the playoffs, even the play-in game, we’d be talking about the Brazilian as the leading MVP candidate. Instead, that vote is wide open. Camilo scored six times in October, including a hat trick in the final regular-season match of the season after the Whitecaps had already been eliminated from the playoffs. How The 11 voted: Because Camilo scored three of his six goals in a post-elimination regular-season lame-duck match, it was hard to put him at the top of our ballot. So, we swallowed our pride. Last year, this site was quite critical of the play of Donovan Ricketts when he tended goal for the Montreal Impact. We lauded the Impact’s front office for making a deal that sent the Jamaican to Portland. But, Ricketts was simply the best player in MLS in October. And he got our vote. Had it not been for Ricketts, the 2-2 tie the Timbers got with the Whitecaps at the beginning of the month would have been a two- or three-goal win for the Caps. In three of the four Timbers’ matches in October, Ricketts recorded clean sheets. And, he was an integral part of the Timbers’ run to the regular-season Western Conference title. Ricketts performed when the pressure was on.
