Landon Donovan Named MLS MVP

LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan was today named the 2009 Volkswagen Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player. Donovan claimed the award, the first MVP award of his MLS career, over fellow finalists Jeff Cunningham of FC Dallas and Shalrie Joseph of the New England Revolution after garnering the most votes in polling of MLS players, general managers, coaches and members of the media.

The winner of the Galaxy’s Most Valuable Player and Budweiser Golden Boot awards this season, he led the club with 12 goals and six assists in 25 games, despite missing a month of the season while at the FIFA Confederations Cup with the U.S. National Team. This was the fourth time in his five seasons with the Galaxy that he led the team in both goals and assists. He was a finalist for the MLS MVP award in 2008 when he scored a career-best 20 goals, but lost out on the award to Guillermo Barros Schelotto of the Columbus Crew.

Three of Donovan’s 12 goals this season were game-winners while five of his goals came in the final 15 minutes of games to turn loses into draws or draws into victories. The Player of the Month for July, Donovan helped lead the Galaxy to a first place finish in the Western Conference with a 12-6-12 record on the season, just one year removed from finishing the season tied for the worst record in the league.

The 27-year-old Donovan, who was named to the MLS All-Star Team for the ninth consecutive season, is also the leading scorer so far in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs, scoring in all three of the Galaxy’s playoff games this season. His goal against Houston in extratime on Friday was the 17th postseason goal of his MLS career, making him the all-time leading scorer in MLS postseason history.

Donovan joins Carlos Ruiz as the only Galaxy players ever to be selected the league’s Most Valuable Player. Ruiz was named the MLS MVP in 2002 when he scored a club record 24 goals to lead the Galaxy to the first MLS Cup championship in club history.

This will be the sixth time in league history, and the second straight season, that the MLS MVP will also play in the MLS Cup. Three of the previous five MVP winners who went on to reach the MLS Cup ended up winning the title, with all three of those, Tony Meola in 2000, Carlos Ruiz in 2002 and Guillermo Barros Schelotto in 2008, also winning the MLS Cup MVP award.

We caught up with Landon to get his thoughts on the award.

Heading North

The Galaxy went through their final training session this afternoon at The Home Depot Center before flying to Seattle.

We'll check in with everyone once we get up there, but be sure to check this space at 2 p.m. (PT) to see if Landon Donovan has won the Volkswagen MLS MVP award.

See you all in Seattle!

Catch Landon Donovan on the BS Report

Over at ESPN.com, the Sports Guy Bill Simmons caught up with Landon on the BS Report to talk about Sunday's MLS Cup, the bizarre win over Houston, his history as a penalty taker and the National Team heading into the 2010 World Cup.

Be sure to give it a listen here.

Also, check out World Football Daily later today when Eddie Lewis joins the guys to talk about Sunday's MLS Cup and how the team has gotten to where it is at this point of the season. The show starts at 10 a.m. and Eddie will join pretty early in the podcast.

Postseason Tour Cancelled

With spirits high as the club prepares for their first MLS Cup since 2005, it is with much disappointment that Tom Payne, the Galaxy's President of Business Operations, is forced to issue this statement regarding the Galaxy's now cancelled postseason tour of Germany.

“We are very disappointed to announce the cancellation of our 2009 Postseason Tour due to a lack of communication and performance by the tour’s organizer and promoter IMC Group, Inc. Unfortunately, IMC Group Inc has not performed their obligations of the agreement thus far, nor do we have faith that they will be able to do so in the future.”

“With MLS Cup 2009 this weekend in Seattle, we feel that it is important to make this decision now and remove the potential distractions to our team, rather than continue to hold out hope that the tour will indeed take place.”

“These matches were to be a great way to conclude the year and we looked forward to playing two excellent matches against top German teams and in front of the great fans in Germany. I certainly understand that many fans will be disappointed not to see the Galaxy on tour, but we look forward to one day being able to play on German soil. We regret this decision but were left with no other choice.”

Getting Ready for Seattle

Not only are the guys getting ready for Seattle, but so is the city itself. Yesterday, workers installed the LA Galaxy logo atop Seattle's famed Space Needle, 550 feet above the ground, to commemorate MLS Cup 2009.

If you feel like sharing the photo, feel free to use this link. Also, check out the entire photo gallery of the logos going up here.

While we're sharing links, we also recommend you check out our Facebook page. We've posted 25 fantastic photos from Friday night there. Special thanks to Robert Mora for sharing those photos with us.


Earlier today, Bruce Arena and Landon Donovan met with the media, which was out in full force today. The request for Landon was so big, we had to split up the group into two.

Here's what they had to say.

Bruce...

Landon...

We also caught up quickly with Donovan Ricketts, who was talking to the media about Real Salt Lake and his defenders.

Tomorrow the guys will train in L.A. one final time before flying out to Seattle. The league is announcing the winner of the 2009 MLS Volkswagen MVP as well. Busy tomorrow, be sure to keep it here for all the announcement and some behind the scenes stuff.

Landon Donovan Wins 2009 AT&T Goal of the Year Award

LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan was today named the winner of the 2009 AT&T MLS Goal of the Year Award. With the scored tied 0-0 between the Galaxy and New England Revolution on August 8, Donovan hit a left-footed volley off a New England clearance that beat the diving Matt Reis and curled just inside the far post to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead.

The Galaxy went on to win that game 2-1, stretching their unbeaten streak to six games and giving the club their first regular season road win over the Revolution since July 11, 1999. Donovan’s goal was his ninth of 12 on the season and stretched his consecutive games played with a goal streak to three games.

Donovan’s strike was one of three Galaxy goals on the initial list of 40 goals that was compiled by Major League Soccer for Goal of the Year voting. Eddie Lewis’ late equalizer against Columbus on May 17 made the list but was eliminated in the first round of voting, while Alecko Eskandarian’s first half volley in LA’s 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls on July 16 was one of the ten goals to reach the final round of voting.

Donovan is just the second Galaxy player to win the MLS Goal of the Year award, joining Carlos Ruiz who claimed the award in 2002. His goal against the Revolution was voted by fans as the best of the 571 goals scored in Major League Soccer this season.

Here is another look at the goal and be sure to check below for a complete list of past Goal of the Year winners.



MLS Goal of the Year Winners

2009: Landon Donovan – LA Galaxy
2008: Will Johnson – Real Salt Lake
2007: Cuauhtémoc Blanco – Chicago Fire
2006: Brian Ching – Houston Dynamo
2005: Dwayne De Rosario – San Jose Earthquakes
2004: Dwayne De Rosario – San Jose Earthquakes
2003: Damani Ralph – Chicago Fire
2002: Carlos Ruiz – Los Angeles Galaxy
2001: Clint Mathis – MetroStars
2000: Marcelo Balboa – Colorado Rapids
1999: Marco Etcheverry – D.C. United
1998: Brian McBride – Columbus Crew
1997: Marco Etcheverry – D.C. United
1996: Eric Wynalda – San Jose Clash

Awards and Announcements Aplenty

The final awards of the 2009 MLS season will be handed out this week, with a Galaxy player at the heart of most of them.

Yesterday, Landon Donovan was named to the MLS Best XI for the second straight season and he could claim another prize on Thursday, when the league announces the Volkswagen Most Valuable Player award. Landon has never before won the award and only needs to beat out fellow nominees Jeff Cunningham of FC Dallas and Shalrie Joseph of New England to scoop the top individual honor in MLS.

The team will fly to Seattle on Thursday, so hopefully we'll be able to pass along some good news before we take off.

Speaking of awards, don't forget to go to MLSnet.com on Wednesday to find out if Alecko or Landon has won the AT&T Goal of the Year award. Alecko's long range blast from Giants Stadium was one of 10 finalists, as was Landon's Goal of the Week winner from the August 8 win at New England. No Galaxy player as won the Goal of the Year award since Carlos Ruiz did so in 2002, so be sure to check out MLSnet.com tomorrow morning to find out who won.

As much as the Landon and Alecko would love to win that award, I think that they would be more than happy to bypass that award if they can guarantee to get their hands on this come Sunday evening.