LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan and defender Sean Franklin were named finalists for MLS year-end awards the league announced Thursday. Donovan, who has already won the Budweiser Golden Boot Award as the top goalscorer in MLS, was named a finalist for the Volkswagen Most Valuable Player award while Franklin is a finalist for the Gatorade Rookie of the Year award. The finalists earned the most votes in polling of MLS players, general managers, coaches, referees and members of the media.
Donovan led MLS in goals this season with 20 in just 25 games, while adding nine assists, which were the seventh most in the league this season. His 20 goals this season made his just the ninth player in MLS history to score 20 or more goals in a season and the second in the last six years. The 26-year old had either a goal or an assist in 16 of the 23 games that he started for the Galaxy this season, while also tallying a league-best seven multi-goal games This is the first time in his eight-year MLS career that Donovan, who was named the Galaxy's team MVP last week, has been a finalist for the Most Valuable Player award and he is just the third Galaxy player ever to be a finalist for the award, joining Cobi Jones (finalist in 1998) and Carlos Ruiz (MVP in 2002). Columbus Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Chicago Fire forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco are the other two finalists for the Volkswagen Most Valuable Player award, with the winner to be announced live on ESPNews on Thursday, Nov. 20.
Franklin led all rookies in games played, games started and minutes played after being the No. 4 pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft out of Cal State Northridge. After being an unused substitute in the Galaxy's first game of the season, Franklin stepped in and quickly established himself as one of the league's top young defenders. Despite being a natural right back, Franklin, who was voted the Galaxy's Defender of the Year, spent most of the season playing in central defense, appearing in 27 of the club's 30 games, making 26 starts and playing 2,385 minutes, which were good for second on the Galaxy. Houston Dynamo midfielder Geoff Cameron and New England Revolution forward Kheli Dube are the other finalists for the Gatorade Rookie of the Year award, which will be presented on Thursday, Nov. 13.
Finally, three of the Galaxy's MLS-best 55 goals this season have been named among the 35 finalists for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year award. David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Brandon McDonald have all had goals nominated for the award. Donovan and McDonald each won the Goal of the Week award for their nominated goals, while Beckham's 70-yard goal against Kansas City on May 24 was one of four goals that were added to the voting.
Fan voting, which determines the Goal of the Year award, begins today and runs through Nov. 5 when the original group of 35 is cut down to 10. That will be followed by another round of voting from Nov. 6 until Nov. 12 which will see the 10 semifinalists cut down to five finalists. Those five goals will then be voted on once again from Nov. 13 until Nov. 18, with the winner being announced on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
