For much of the voting period for Major League Soccer's MVP, we were told how hard this year's choice was going to be. No fewer than five players, at least, could lay legitimate claim to being the running. Turns out, voters coalesced around one candidate pretty significantly: DC United's Dwayne De Rosario.
Major League Soccer MVP: Dwayne De Rosario Wins Handily
Despite being traded twice this year and playing for a team that missed the playoffs, De Rosario garnered a weighted total of nearly 73 percent of the vote. The midfielder won all three voting blocs, with the players voting for him by a nearly 20 percent margin. The media and club voting were significantly closer, with De Rosario winning those blocs by about 5 percent.
Clearly, voters were willing to overlook De Rosario’s shortcomings in order to focus on his impressive statistics. De Rosario won MLS’s Golden Boot after tying for the league lead in goals (16) and finishing fourth in assists (12). Most of that production came with United, where he scored 13 goals and had seven assists in just 18 matches.
Those numbers were mainly responsible for De Rosario becoming the first player in major North American sports to win the MVP in a year in which he was traded twice and the first MLS MVP to win the award despite his team missing the playoffs. De Rosario also becomes the first MLS player to win MVP twice.
Here’s the complete vote breakdown:
Players | Club Vote | Media Vote | Player Vote | Total |
Dwayne De Rosario (DC) | 20.43 | 25.91 | 26.38 | 72.72 |
Brad Davis (HOU) | 15.05 | 21.24 | 7.36 | 43.66 |
Brek Shea (DAL) | 9.68 | 9.33 | 8.59 | 27.59 |
Landon Donovan (LA) | 13.98 | 5.18 | 7.36 | 26.52 |
Mauro Rosales (SEA) | 3.23 | 9.33 | 6.75 | 19.30 |
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