Well, the East versus West angle really does yield a different perspective. New Jersey's Ives Galarcep has the trade the Galaxy made for Chris Klein as one of the season's worst.
Meanwhile, out in the West, the local writers turned in their ballots for making Klein LA's Most Valuable Player.
It's the first time a player who was not on the LA roster for the entire season has claimed the title. That Landon Donovan didn't win, despite by far being the most productive Galaxy player (8 goals, 12 assists) is a trivial travesty. He did win the Golden Boot - because that's won on merit alone, unaffected by anyone who thinks he should play in Europe and doesn't like his penalty kick ritual.
To me, this is similar to those who argue that Benny Feilhaber should have won the Honda Player of the Year based on his goal against Mexico alone.
Klein had that spectacular goal versus Pachuca in the SuperLiga. He was a good soldier for the team in both his willingness and effectiveness on the defense, but I don't see that as MVP work. Still, it makes for an amusing contrast versus the "biggest trade bust".
4 comments:
Those stats for Donovan are pretty average and for the MVP of the Galaxy its average again. The golden boot winner for the Galaxy only has 8 goals for the season? Granted the team was torn apart during the season.
I am not of the opinion that playing in Europe is the cure all for every American soccer player. But to me, I believe Donovan has always played sharper after his 2 stints in Germany. As the months go by his play has become more and more average. He has become more of a play maker, which is not a total bad thing. But at his age you still look for him to be more of a scoring threat.
Klein, meanwhile, has exactly one league goal for the Galaxy.
I'm not knocking Klein - I had him on my MVP list, too, along with Cobi. I'm also not going to claim that Landon had a great season. But as far as who was the most valuable player for his team, in an admittedly rather crappy year, especially considering the time Landon missed for the Gold Cup, I still think it's a weak argument to go with anyone else.
Didn't Landon win Golden Boot & MVP while Chris wonmDefender of the year? At least that's what the FSC guys said last night. Not that they always have their information straight.
8 Goals and 11+ assists is a pretty good number, especially given that Landon missed quite a number of games due to USMNT commitments. Also, if his striker partners had been better, he would have a few most assists (maybe a few more goals too as some of the Gordon and Pavon passes back to him in a wide open position have been suspect at best).
If LA had a playmaker to get balls to Landon in a dangerous position all year, I am sure his total would be higher. Many times it was just him all alone making good passes and runs, and even tracking back on defense as his tired team mates went through the motions.
Ty Harden won Defender of the Year.
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