March already?!?! It’s hard to believe, especially when it feels like it was only yesterday that Sporting Kansas City won the 2013 MLS Cup. Now with the new Major League Soccer season just four days away, I feel like now is as good a time as ever to make my MLS Predictions for the end-of-season awards.
For those of you keeping track, this is my third attempt at making official predictions. The first, my examination of the 2013 MLS MVP race, went pretty well. My second, my preview of the 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft, didn’t.
Predictions are what they are. As much as people bring them down to a science, it only takes one small moment of discrepancy for everything to go sideways. With my predictions I am trying to achieve a middle ground between viewing through a microscope and viewing blindfolded. No guarantees here whatsoever, but in my opinion here is how 2014 will go down.
Rookie of the Year:
This one is always tough. Not only is there the fact that only once has this award been won by the first overall pick in the SuperDraft (2007: Maurice Edu, Toronto FC), but with the rise in Home Grown players there is a larger field of candidates. Going off the rest of the stats for this award, the winner will either be a defender (8 times previously) or midfielder (7 times previously), will have come out of the SuperDraft (only once has a Home Grown Player won since the rule was introduced in 2008), and will have been picked somewhere from roughly eighth to fourteenth (7 times previously, including the last three in a row).
Last year the Colorado Rapids finished 1-2 in Rookie of the Year voting, with Dillon Powers taking top spot over teammate Deshorn Brown. This year, I like the chances of Marlon Hairston, the midfielder picked twelfth overall by Colorado. My buffer picks are defender Ben Sweat, who was picked fourteenth overall by Columbus, and forward Tesho Akindele, picked sixth overall by Dallas.
Comeback Player of the Year:
I won’t say too much about this one. If Portland midfielder Steve Zakuani can rediscover the form he had with Seattle back in 2010, he is a lock. Backup candidate #1, Vancouver defender Jay DeMerit, might have a chance if Vancouver can make it to the playoffs. My other backup choice, New England Revolution forward Teal Bunbury, has a great chance and is playing on a great team. But the press that Zakuani has gotten has been far more than either of these wounded birds.
Newcomer of the Year:
My beloved Toronto FC have two excellent candidates for this award in forward Jermain Defoe and goalkeeper Julio Cesar. If he can strike a chord with Robbie Keane, Los Angeles forward Samuel may be in it with a shout. I am picking Defoe as the winner, just because this award, like many others, trends towards attacking players.
Coach of the Year:
For this award, I’m going with a guy who isn’t even his club’s official head coach in Colorado’s Pablo Mastroeni. At some point they will remove his interim tag, and at some point this year his young team will make a big leap forward. My mulligans for this award are Jay Heaps in New England and Peter Vermes in Kansas City
Goalkeeper of the Year:
This is where Julio Cesar could really shine. Easily the best goalkeeper in the world back in 2010, Cesar is still one of the best in my opinion. He will be more than up to the task of delivering a first-ever playoff berth for the fans in Toronto. Since we’re talking about goalkeepers here, I’ll go with two of the safest options possible as backups: Nick Rimando in Salt Lake City, and Donovan Ricketts in Portland.
Defender of the Year:
Over the past few seasons Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City have set a new standard for MLS backlines. Both have had one of their defenders win this award. I have RSL’s Nat Borchers and SKC’s Aurelien Collin as my backups. My winner? Bobby Boswell of D.C. United. He won the award back in 2006, and he will be the main man behind an immense defensive improvement from D.C. in 2014.
Golden Boot:
This is one of those awards that really can be solved logically. The more quality forwards a team has, the more its goal pool gets shared among them. Even a 1A player in a dynamic duo is at a disadvantage to a forward who works alone. There are lots of players who could win this. In all likelihood the winner won’t even come from my top three. But as I see it, Philadelphia’s Jack McInerney has a pretty good midfield behind him. If he didn’t go in hiding after May of last season, he would have won it easily. This year he isn’t going to be shy about his chances. D.C.’s Eddie Johnson and New England’s Diego Fagundez could give him a run for his money though.
Most Valuable Player:
Oh boy. The big one has always been a difficult one to predict. Two of the past three years it has been won by a player on a non-playoff team. The league’s talent pool is better than ever. It seems like every team is going all in for this season.
Similar to the Golden Boot, this one has recently gone to one-man armies. But the fact is a team still consists of 11 guys on the field at the same time.
Here goes nothing. I’m picking my favourite player, Tim Cahill, the star of the New York Red Bulls midfield. He has taken over from Thierry Henry as the best player on the team, and he will be playing his heart out in what could be his, and Henry’s, final season.
Backup choices? I could list lots. But the two that I will list are Graham Zusi of Sporting Kansas City and D.C.’s Eddie Johnson. The SKC midfielder is the prime example of the standout on a great team, and if Johnson can score in bunches he will have to be considered.
Supporter’s Shield and MLS Cup:
Just when I thought making these predictions couldn’t get any harder.
Okay, Shield. Sporting Kansas City. They won the U.S. Open Cup in 2012 and MLS Cup in 2013. Why not get the last big one in 2014? My picks to challenge are the Portland Timbers and the New York Red Bulls.
Now to MLS Cup. At least I can pick a few more teams if I’m going by conference.
East: New York, with backups in Kansas City and New England
West: Portland, with backups in Colorado and Seattle
Cup: New York over Portland. Beckham and Keane won two cups. At least give Henry and Cahill one.
And now we wait. Likely for this whole season to go completely opposite to how I just laid it out, but waiting nonetheless.
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