Canadian teams dominate the ballots as Earnshaw wins Player of the Week vote

Twenty-five members of the North American Soccer Reporters voted for a Player of the Week. Twenty-three of the first-place votes went to players who represent the three Canadian MLS franchises. On a weekend that saw Toronto FC, the Montreal Impact and the Vancouver Impact all secure wins — the first time all three Canadian franchises have earned maximum points on the same weekend — the voters definitely had this country on their minds. Toronto FC’s Robert Earnshaw, who scored twice in the Reds’ dome-opening win over Sporting Kansas City Saturday, got 16 of those first place votes and earned Player of the Week honours. Earnshaw pounced on a lazy lateral pass from Matt Besler that was intended for Aurelien Collin, and then expertly finished for the opening goal, then smartly converted a penalty for the second. Besler and Collin, meanwhile, both had games to forget. Both struggled with the pressure from Earnshaw and attacking mid Hogan Ephraim. Besler, the reigning MLS Defender of the Year, and Collin, who was a nominee for the award, had a game filled with indecision, positional issues and giveaways. But, Whitecap Kenny Miller, who scored the game winner against Columbus, got three POTW first-place votes. His teammate, Daigo Kobayashi, who scored the sparkling opener, got one. Montreal’s Patrice Bernier got two first-place votes for an excellent game in the centre of the park in a win over Portland, and teammate Hassoun Camara got one, spurred by his crazy bicycle-kick opening goal. Canadian teams are a combined 5-1-0 through two weeks of play, and that one loss came about because Vancouver beat Toronto. In games versus U.S. clubs, the Canadian teams are 4-0-0. How The 11 voted: Earnshaw got the nod over New England’s Matt Reis, who made a couple of spectacular saves to preserve a 1-0 win over Chicago. RELATED: TFC’s veteran additions make difference in dome-opener win over SKC (CLICK) Magee wins first MLS POTW award of 2013 (CLICK)