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My votes for player of the week, month
Colorado Rapids striker keeps the ball from the Galaxy defense earlier this season at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)
Apparently you had to be named Casey/Kasey to get my vote this month.
Here’s how I voted with the North American Soccer Reporters for player of the month for May and player of the week for week 11.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
First choice: Conor Casey, Colorado Rapids
Casey easily could have 10 or 12 goals at this point. He missed a PK
against Houston that may have influenced Coach Gary Smith’s decision
to let Ballouchy take the penalty kick against the Red Bulls on
Saturdeay. And he’s also had SO many close calls at the net that if
his luck were a little better his stats would be spectacular at this
point.
Second choice: Kasey Keller, Seattle Sounders
Soccer goalies’ stats tend to look good because of the nature of the
sport, but Keller’s play this season makes the stats legit. He has
been a joy to watch, and his play has eclipsed the performances of
other players who have come to MLS from Europe. Without him, some of
those ties are losses for Seattle, and the team is not sitting so high
on the Western Conference table.
And speaking of Casey’s missed PK, The Best Eleven compiles the MLS Stats of Shame after the first one-third of the 2009 season. Check it out here (it’s worth reading, and the Rapids are nearly nowhere to be found!).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
First choice: Conor Casey, Colorado Rapids
Brilliant game Saturday at New York. League’s leading scorer could’ve had at least another goal off the noggin.
Second choice: Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago Fire
Then head over to the NASR Web site to see who actually won the weekly tally and see which writers voted for which player. I’ll spoil some of the mystery: Casey was nearly a unanimous choice. Here’s the link to the NASR voting.
A LATE ADDITION TO THE GAME STORY: The American Soccer News’ Red Bulls page has some interesting player grades for New York. The Red Bulls’ back line got some low marks because of its inability to control Casey. I added this link today to Saturday’s game story. But here it is in case you missed it there.
George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an associate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.
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