Four Seattle Sounders Nominated for MLS Awards

The first set of MLS Awards were announced on Monday and will continue to be announced leading up to MLS Cup on December 7th. I will be taking a look at two of the four awards that the Sounders players/coaches have been nominated for in this article.

The first set of awards Monday went to Tesho Akindele as he was named Rookie of the Year. Michael Parkhurst of the Columbus Crew took home the XBox Individual Fair Play award for the third time in his career. The Philadelphia Union won the XBox Team Fair Play award for the first time in their five-year history (glad to see they finally won something as a team).

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On Tuesday three more awards will be announced–MLS Defender of the Year, MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year and Referee/Assistant Referee of the Year. In all honestly there are only four awards that I care about. They are MLS Defender of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Coach of the year and MVP.

All four Sounders that are up for nomination face stiff competition. It won’t be easy and quite frankly I won’t be happy with less than two of the four awards going to Seattle (I want all four but I don’t want to sound greedy).

MLS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR

Nov 23, 2014; Carson, CA, USA; Seattle Sounders defender Chad Marshall (left) and Los Angeles Galaxy forward Robbie Keane (right) battle for the ball during the first half of the Western Conference Championship at StubHub Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

I’ve been saying it all year and I am sticking by my guns. Chad Marshall deserves this award more than any other player. He has been instrumental to the back line of the Sounders all year. Look at what happens when he isn’t on the pitch. Marshall missed the July 28th match at home against the Los Angeles Galaxy and the team lost 3-0. It was 3-0 after 36 minutes as the Galaxy had their way with Seattle’s back four. The next match wasn’t as bad, but the team still lost 1-0 on the road to San Jose. Earlier in the year against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Marshall missed the match due to illness and was fortunate to settle for a 2-2 tie.

I’m not taking anything away from the other two nominees–Bobby Boswell or Omar Gonzalez but we all can see exactly how much Marshall means to the Sounders. In saying that, Marshall is your rightful winner of the 2014 MLS Defender of the Year award.

COMEBACK PLAY OF THE YEAR

Nov 23, 2014; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy forward Alan Gordon (9) attempts a shot on Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei (24) during the second half of the Western Conference Championship at StubHub Center. The Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the Seattle Sounders 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

This one is not as clear cut for me. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei is going against some very good competition for the award. He is going against Charlie Davies of the New England Revolution and Rodney Wallace of the Portland Timbers. Wallace was coming off an ACL injury while Davies has been battling injuries for most of the season. More notably he is five years removed from an October 2009 car accident that nearly took his life.

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Frei sustained a broken fibula during training during the first month of the 2012 season. Frei would have to undergo surgery to repair ligaments in his left ankle, missing the entire season. In 2013 he entered as the season as the first choice keeper, however he suffered a minor injury prior to the season opener.

The 2014 MLS season has been the first time in two years that Frei was fully healthy and able to hold onto the starting position. Frei has had his up and downs during the season and has been at his best the past five matches, which includes the playoffs. As I said earlier I don’t see this one but as easy and I see this as being one of the awards the Sounders do not win in the coming week.

Please check back with playingfor90.com as I will have the final two awards the Sounders players/coaches have been nominated as finalists.

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