Montreal’s Bernier wins MLS Player of the Month Award by the narrowest of margins

Patrice Bernier PHOTO: CANADA SOCCER/FRANCOIS MELLET

Canadian midfielder Patrice Bernier is currently with the men’s national team, preparing for Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Panama in Toronto.

But, he learned Tuesday that he was named MLS Player of the Month by the narrowest of margins.

Bernier was named Player of the Month based on second-place votes cast by the members of the North American Soccer Reporters. Both he and Seattle Sounder Fredy Montero, who scored six times in August, got eight first-place votes. But Bernier got five second-place votes while Montero got four out of the 19 people who cast ballots. That one extra second-place vote gave the nod to Bernier.

Of the six players of the month named so far this season, two have been Canadian. Dwayne De Rosario won two months ago. Americans have accounted for two POTM awards — both coming from MLS leading scorer Chris Wondolowski.

Bernier was one of the major reasons the Montreal Impact finished August with a 4-0-0 record. Bernier registered three goals and three assists for the Impact, while dominating in the midfield. He also scored twice and assisted on the other in a win over a depleted D.C. United squad at the end of the month.

How The 11 voted: First-place vote to Bernier, second-place vote to Montero.

Instead of lauding Bernier, we’ll handicap the two factors that hurt Montero.

1. Three of his six goals came in one match. And that was a 6-2 win, so take them away and you could argue his Sounders still would have won that game over Chivas.
2. Montero didn’t even start in his team’s 2-0 win over the Whitecaps a couple of weeks ago. Yes, he did score a vital goal in that match, but it’s not like he wasn’t fighting to keep his starting spot. So, when it comes to intangibles, such as minutes played, Montero takes a backseat to Bernier.