MLS end-of-season awards | OneFootball

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Daniel Issroff·15 December 2017

MLS end-of-season awards

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Another MLS season is in the books.

2017 was just as wacky and wild as we’ve come to expect from one of the strangest, most unpredictable leagues on the planet.


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Now is as good a time as any to reflect on the season and pick out some winners and losers for our first ever Onefootball MLS awards.

Best team: Toronto FC

Some years, the team that wins MLS Cup is decidedly not the best team in the year. That is, after all, part of the fun of MLS and the play-off system.

But this season there can be no debate. Toronto FC used last year’s play-off run as a springboard to develop into possibly the best team in MLS history. They capped it all with a magnificent MLS Cup performance to deliver their first ever championship and the first treble in the history of the league.

Best player: Miguel Almirón

Nemanja Nikolić scored bag-loads of goals. Sebastian Giovinco and David Villa were typically brilliant. Diego Valeri broke records and was a deserving winner of the league’s MVP award.

But there is only one player in MLS (as far as we know), who is attracting the attention of top European clubs like Arsenal, Milan and Inter: Miguel Almirón. The Paraguayan was an authentic revelation for Atalanta United, scoring nine goals providing 14 assists and capturing the imagination of fans across North America.

Best signing: Nemanja Nikolić

Almirón was tremendous but he was always going to be tremendous. He was recognised as one of the most exciting young players in South America and cost Atlanta a potential MLS record $8m fee.

Nikolić, on the other hand, was a 29-year-old who had played all but one season of his career in Hungary. Plucked from relative obscurity, there was nothing to suggest he was going to be a reliable goalscorer in MLS.

The Hungarian was an inspiration for a re-invigorated Chicago side, scoring 24 goals and picking up the Golden Boot. At $3m, he came out to approximately $125,000 per goal — a price well worth paying.

Best goal

There were a lot of long-range screamers in MLS this season but the very finest goal came from pretty close.

With the help of some pretty questionable defending, Nicolás Mezquida created something from absolutely nothing for Vancouver Whitecaps’ fourth goal against FC Dallas in July.

You thought he’d lost the chance when he made the seemingly strange decision to turn around control the ball on chest but Mezquida had a plan all along.

He sat the ball up and then exploded into a flawless bicycle kick, slamming the ball through the tiniest of gaps to score — a triumph of technique and imagination.

Biggest disappointment: FC Dallas

FC Dallas were the best regular-season team in MLS over the previous two seasons. They started 2017 well too, going ten games without defeat to start the season.

Then, for reasons that still to this day remain unclear, they collapsed. Óscar Pareja’s side won only six of their 24 games after May 15, slipping out of the play-off places.

It was a Texas-sized disaster and one of the biggest questions in the league heading into next season will be how FC Dallas respond.

Biggest villain: Anthony Precourt

Much like the team of year award, there isn’t much in the way of competition here.

Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt is a prick. Precourt demanded that the city of Columbus help finance a new stadium for the club and when they refused (because taxpayer-funded stadiums are almost always bad for cities), Precourt declared his intention to move the team to Austin.

Clubs are not toys — or at least they shouldn’t be. They are important parts of the fabric of communities and MLS must realise that it’s in their long-term interest to understand that.

Biggest hero

Clearly, Jozy Altidore is a polarising figure.

He was booed by fans across America for his role in the country’s failure to qualify for the World Cup and he was never that popular among certain fans to begin with.

But one person’s villain is another’s hero and Jozy has achieved icon status in Toronto after playing through the pain to score the winning goal in MLS Cup.

Altidore has become a very decent striker and played an integral role in the best single MLS team season ever. He also did a lot of charitable work, spoke his mind in one of the great drunk sports speeches of all time and formed a power couple with US Open winner Sloane Stephens.

And he did it all in the face of constant criticism from all corners. Hero.