Our favorite forward/midfielder, Landon Donovan, is this year's MLS MVP! It's actually the first time he has won the award, but after the smokin' season he has had it should come as no surprise.

With all the awards he has been receiving this year, I'm continually reminded of that scene in Forrest Gump.

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Landon Donovan was named the 2009 MLS Most Valuable Player on Thursday, and while it is tough to argue against awarding the U.S. national team star for his performance this season, the MVP results still raised a glaring question.

What about Shalrie Joseph?

It isn't a question so much about choosing between Joseph and Donovan, which is a subjective debate that has supporters on both sides.

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Landon Donovan was named the 2009 MLS Most Valuable Player on Thursday, and while it is tough to argue against awarding the U.S. national team star for his performance this season, the MVP results still raised a glaring question.

What about Shalrie Joseph?

It isn't a question so much about choosing between Joseph and Donovan, which is a subjective debate that has supporters on both sides.

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Oh man, I twisted the holy hell out of my ankle last night. Came down from a jump halfway on someone else's foot in the last minute of the game. Suddenly, my four flights of stairs up aren't so charming...#1 - Landon Donovan is your MLS MVP. He also won Goal of the Year. Somehow, he was beaten out for Save of the Year by Pat Onstad. Click to continue reading...

OK, after taking this week off to mostly just troll other blogs and not comment too much on MLS or soccer in general after letting last week's loss sink in, I do have some thoughts on a rash of topics:
(But before I begin, I have to tell you my favorite lines from anyone about events so far this week. Click to continue reading...

Landon Donovan won his first MLS MVP award yesterday, beating out fellow finalists Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Cunningham. Donovan's win is hardly surprising, and while he was not MFUSA's pick, to say...

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Landon Donovan was named the 2009 MLS MVP. (LA Galaxy)

The 2009 Major League Soccer MVP was announced today and the result isn't going to shock most of you as LA Galaxy star Landon Donovan takes home the award.

For the first time in his career, Donovan took home the league's highest honors by beating out New England's Shalrie Joseph and Dallas' Jeff Cunningham.

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Hoy en la mañana me mandaron algo que me parecio raro y gracioso a la vez. Dicen que el beisbolista y MVP de los New York Yankees, Hideki Matsui, tiene una coleccion de Porno que llega hasta los 55,000 videos! En estos momentos dicen que Elvis Crespo esta que busca el numero de Matsui antes de su proximo vuelo. Click to continue reading...

I'm putting my money on Shalrie Joseph for MVP; as Al Hopkins says, he played out of position, scored goals and put his team in the playoffs. Who are you putting your money on? Click to continue reading...

We have three new contenders on the National Soccer Hall of Fame players ballot: Chris Henderson, Eduardo Hurtado and John O'Brien.
Welcome to the ballot, gentlemen. Now take a number.
On the ballot for the last few years, we've had ...
- Thomas Dooley. U.S. captain in the 1998 World Cup and perhaps the best overall player on the U. Click to continue reading...

So, a nice, relatively comfortable win on Monday brought us up from ninth to joint fifth.

We got the three points we so desperately needed, as well as a little bit of reassurance for the players and fans. Beating a team like Larissa with a score of 3-1 is always a nice thing. Sure, Larissa might not be at their best, but they are rarely an easy team to win against (I feel like I've said that many times already this season).

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Over the next few days bloggers far and near are going to be offering up their opinions on the MLS Year End Awards nominations.
The main reason for this isn't that they honestly care that much. Almost no one really does.
But for a blogger - and I know whereof I speak - this provides one of the "automatic topics", like the traditional six part "Preseason Preview" or more recent "Playoff Preview", whose main value is to relieve the author of the nerve wracking chore of coming up with something to write about. Click to continue reading...

FCD striker on the heals of his remarkable second half of 2099 that landed him the MLS Golden Boot has been named a finalist for MLS MVP. Landon Donovan of LA Galaxy and Shalrie Joseph of the New England Revolution are the other two finalists. Cunningham scored 13 goals in his final 12 games of 2009 and led MLS with 17 goals. Click to continue reading...

With J Hutcherson -- Credit Columbus Crew coach Robert Warzycha with one thing: he's not afraid of creating a potential problem. That's what happens with the roll of the dice that was leaving out his club's designated player. Who is also Major League Soccer's reigning MVP... averaging a goal every other game this season. Click to continue reading...

It wasn't the prettiest match either team has played this season, but Real Salt Lake stole a late goal Saturday afternoon to claim a 1-0 victory over a defensive-minded Columbus Crew squad. Seemingly happy to leave Rio Tinto stadium with a draw, Columbus coach Robert Warzycha fielded a surprising lineup devoid of reigning MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto or attacking options Alejandro Moreno and Emmanuel Ekpo. Click to continue reading...

Real Salt Lake took a major step toward a potential first-round series upset on Saturday, scoring a 1-0 victory in the opening leg of its series vs. defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew.

Robbie Findley tapped home a Yura Movsisyan pass in the 88th minute to send RSL into Thursday night's Game Two in Columbus up a goal.

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Real Salt Lake took a major step toward a potential first-round series upset on Saturday, scoring a 1-0 victory in the opening leg of its series vs. defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew.

Robbie Findley tapped home a Yura Movsisyan pass in the 88th minute to send RSL into Thursday night's Game Two in Columbus up a goal.

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The Columbus Crew begins defense of its MLS Cup title today at Rio Tinto Stadium against Real Salt Lake in Game One of their Eastern Conference series (6pm, Direct Kick).

The Crew will come into the match with a surprising lineup that does not include MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto or forward Alejandro Moreno.

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The Columbus Crew begins defense of its MLS Cup title today at Rio Tinto Stadium against Real Salt Lake in Game One of their Eastern Conference series (6pm, Direct Kick).

The Crew will come into the match with a surprising lineup that does not include MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto or forward Alejandro Moreno.

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Halloween begins my Four-fecta of favorite holidays, as well as the beginning of my favorite season of the year. For those that would like to know, yes, I am getting dressed up for Halloween this year. My costume? Popeye. The biggest Popeye ever, but Popeye nonetheless.

Now, here is The Offside MVP John Wolyniec doing "THRILLER!

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The 6th Annual United Awards Reception isn't the only United Awards Reception going on tonight. Because it's also time to announce the winners of the 2009 Benny Awards!

1. The Richie Award for the most underrated player goes to Bryan Namoff
2. The Nelly Award for the best newcomer goes to Dejan Jakovic
3. The Convey Award for the best rookies goes to Chris Pontius
4. The Donnety Award for the biggest disappointment goes to Danny Szetela
5. The Grosy Award for the ballsiest player goes to Ben Olsen
6. The Freddy Award for the biggest story goes to Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace
7. The Harkesy Award for the greatest leader goes to Ben Olsen
8. The Popie Award for the best defender goes to Dejan Jakovic
9. The Etchy Award for the team's MVP goes to Dejan Jakovic
10. The Benny Award for the highest ADR rating goes to Chris Pontius

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The regular season is done, over, finished or whatever other adjective you want to use. For the second straight season WVH got to participate in the league's media vote for the season awards. Voting is now over and I felt it was time to share my votes with you all.

I'll have to admit some awards were tougher to vote on than others but I tried to span the entire season's body of work as much as I could for these awards.

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Individual awards are going to trickle in over the next few weeks. I had the opportunity to vote for them, and like most media in most markets I have way too much focus on the local side, but I think that since I watch more of this sport than I should I will share [...] Click to continue reading...

Hi - I'm sure we're all settling in to see who the last playoff team is, so I just wanted to give some food for thought.
Under the current playoff format, fifth place teams are unbeaten in the first round. This is the third year out of three that it's happened.
Sixth place teams have no record in the playoffs yet. Click to continue reading...

Galaxy 2 San Jose Earthquakes 0

The Galaxy have held on for the win, but Seattle came back from a one-goal deficit to beat Dallas tonight.

The Galaxy are in the playoffs for the first time in four years.

What does that mean in terms of a playoff opponent?

The Galaxy will play the loser in Sunday's noon game between Chivas and Houston in the opening round of the playoffs; if the game is tied they will play Chivas USA.

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If form matters, then Dallas is the one team that the Sounders don't want to face. Since September 1st they earned 16 points, best in the league. Sounders though are tied for 3rd with 10 points over that same stretch. Much of their success has been credited to one Jeff Cunningham, who [...] Click to continue reading...

On my ESPNChicago.com Chicago Fire blog, I name my regular-season MVP for 2009: defender Wilman Conde. Sure, he missed a third of the season, but quite a few others on this team have missed extended time, too. Read the below links from Friday's ESPN Chicago posts:
• Conde is Fire's MVP
• This date in Fire history: Oct. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com
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The 2009 race for MVP may be one of the better ones in league history, with a handful of legitimate candidates garnering consideration for the honors.

Los Angeles star Landon Donovan, FC Dallas goal-scoring ace Jeff Cunningham, Seattle standout Fredy Montero, Colorado striker Conor Casey, New England midfield maestro Shalrie Joseph and reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto are all in the mix.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com
Â

The 2009 race for MVP may be one of the better ones in league history, with a handful of legitimate candidates garnering consideration for the honors.

Los Angeles star Landon Donovan, FC Dallas goal-scoring ace Jeff Cunningham, Seattle standout Fredy Montero, Colorado striker Conor Casey, New England midfield maestro Shalrie Joseph and reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto are all in the mix.

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The end of the regular season has put me in a contemplative mood. Not only because I am left trying to figure out how the San Jose Earthquakes missed the postseason again, but because I am asked to fill out my 2009 MLS Awards Ballot. Following the Quakes as closely as I do, I enjoy access to players and coaches from all MLS teams as they make their way through Buck Shaw Stadium.

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TORONTO - Pistolas FC Toronto made substantial additions to its tournament roster for next Saturday's Toronto-Mississauga Cup.
The biggest news splash came when the team inked 2007 MVP Eddy Meguerian, who had missed this entire year with a knee injury suffered in 2008. Eddy confirmed late Friday that he would play in the tourney, which immediately boosted the teams chances of competing at the highest levels. Click to continue reading...

FC Dallas has announced their media voted awards for 2009 and Jeff Cunningham has been named FC Dallas MVP. Sparking FCD's second half surge with sixteen goals in 14 games was enough to get Cunningham the nod. Dario Sala won the Defender of the year award after showing leadership and stability behind a constantly changing back line. Click to continue reading...

TORONTO - Pistolas FC officially announced their entry today, into the Toronto-Mississauga Cup scheduled for Saturday, October 24th, 2009.
After days of speculation and trying to meet the minimum roster numbers, the team has assembled a cast they feel is quite capable of playing a high octane, competitive brand of soccer. Click to continue reading...

Jeff Cunningham will have to continue his MVP form tonight in San Jose.

You want some playoff type drama? Good because tonight's midweek clash between San Jose and Dallas offers just that. Win and continue on in a the little hope of reaching the playoffs, lose or tie and you season is pretty much over.

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Shep returns in time for MVP and playoff talk. Where the hell was he anyway? Trying on luxurious fur coats? Waiting for the milkman? Was he just staring provocatively into the distance? Maybe it was all of the above. Click to continue reading...