New England Revolution Players Favorites For 2014 MLS Awards
The 2014 MLS Awards Finalists officially came out today and three New England Revolution players made the cut. Lee Nguyen for MVP, Charlie Davies for Comeback Player of the Year and Jermaine Jones for Newcomer of the Year. Each player was incredibly instrumental in shaping New England’s success this season. Not only did their contributions boost their overall value, but it also made each a front-runner in their respective category.
Of the three Revolution players nominated for awards, Nguyen faces the toughest competition. MLS fans knew the race for MVP would be close and next to impossible to decide a winner. Nguyen faces competition from Seattle Sounders forward, Obafemi Martins and LA Galaxy forward, Robbie Keane.
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While Martins and Keane played valuable parts of their respective teams success in 2014, there were others on their club that also carried the workload. Unlike Keane and Martins, Nguyen was the soul driving force for the New England Revolution. The eight game winning goals by Nguyen propelled the Revolution into the 2014 Eastern Conference playoffs and now have them just two games away from a trip to the 2014 MLS Cup championship. No player in MLS carries the same amount of value to their club, like Nguyen does for New England.
If you were to take away Martins or Keane from their respective clubs, there would be others very capable of picking up the pieces and finishing off the season. If you look at New England however, the absence of Nguyen would have New England sitting on the couch now, instead of being a front-runner for the 2014 MLS Cup. There is not much anyone can argue against the fact of Nguyen’s value to his club, over players like Martins and Keane.
Davies finds himself in an interesting and almost surprising category, “The Comeback player of the Year.” It is no secret for those that have followed Davies career over the past several seasons, it has not been pretty. To be honest, when it was announced last year that Davies signed with the Revolution, I exhibited zero excitement and thought the club was wasting their time and money. Thank God I was wrong about that move.
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Seattle’s Stefan Frei is the biggest competition facing Davies, while Rodney Wallace did play well for the Portland Timbers, the teams overall success will be taken into consideration for the final voting. Frei and Davies each had their ups and downs in 2014, but with their respective clubs in their respective conference championships, their value within their team has skyrocketed. Davies scored two goals during the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Columbus Crew, while Frei stepped up big against the attack-heavy FC Dallas. It is truly difficult to pick a winner in this one, but Davies is viewed as the front-runner in this one.
Finishing off the Revolution 2014 MLS Awards Finalists is Jones. The USMNT midfielder matches up against LA Galaxy midfielder, Stephan Ishizaki and Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder, Pedro Morales. Of the three candidates up for this award, Jones and Ishizaki are favorites to win. The impact that Jones made by joining the Revolution mid-season is comparable to David Beckham joining the Galaxy back in 2007. Ishizaki also is doing well this season and found scoring success at the right time.
Jones made the Revolution a better club overall and is one of the two driving reasons Ne w England is vying for the 2014 MLS Cup.
All three New England players should take home silverware this season, no question about it.