LOS ANGELES, CA (Nov 22, 2008) MLS -- Major League Soccer’s 2008 year-end awards concluded today, on the eve of MLS Cup 2008, as the League unveiled the 2008 Best XI team, and announced that FC Dallas forward and Best XI member Kenny Cooper received the Comeback Player of the Year award.
The Best XI is an annual award recognizing the League’s top 11 players at each individual position on the field – one goalkeeper, three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards. The MLS Comeback Player of the Year recognizes a player who has battled adversity and to returned to perform at the highest level in Major League Soccer.
Cooper, 24, a native of Dallas, Texas, played and started all of FC Dallas’ 30 regular season games this year after suffering a broken right tibia eight games into the 2007 MLS season. He returned in 2008 and set the League ablaze, scoring 18 goals and recording three assists. He finished second in the Budweiser Golden Boot, awarded to the League’s top goal scorer, behind Landon Donovan (20 goals). Cooper tied for first in the League with four game-winning goals, ranked second to Donovan with four multiple-goal games, and he led the League in shots and shots on goal.
Cooper was a First XI selection for the Sierra Mist MLS All-Star team that defeated West Ham United and was twice named the MLS Player of the Week (Week 18 and 19). In his three MLS seasons he has 33 goals and nine assists. Cooper signed with FC Dallas on Feb. 6, 2006 following four seasons with Manchester United Reserves.
The 2008 MLS Best XI includes seven first-time recipients of the honor. This season’s Best XI goalkeeper, Jon Busch, is receiving the honor for the first time. Busch also earned his first Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year award this season.
The defense is led by four-time Best XI member Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), and rounded out by two first-time recipients in Visa Defender of the Year Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew) and Bakary Soumare (Chicago Fire).
The 2008 Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player, Argentine attacking midfielder, Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), highlights the midfield, earning the honor for the second consecutive season. Midfielders making the Best XI for the first time are Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew) and Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA). Joining that quartet in midfield is Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), earning his third Best XI honor.
The Best XI forwards are the League’s top two scorers, Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) and Cooper (FC Dallas). Donovan, the Budweiser Golden Boot winner, is a two-time Best XI winner, while Cooper has earned the honor for the first time in his three-year MLS career.
The Columbus Crew, Supporters’ Shield winners and an MLS Cup 2008 finalist, placed three players on the Best XI team, as did the Chicago Fire. Chivas USA, FC Dallas, the Kansas City Wizards, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the New England Revolution each had one player selected to the Best XI squad.
The winner of the Comeback Player of the Year and the Best XI members received the most votes from the media, MLS players and MLS coaches and general managers.
MLS 2008 Best XI
GOALKEEPER (1): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire)
DEFENDERS (3): Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Bakary Soumare (Chicago Fire), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA)
FORWARDS (2): Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Courtesy of MLS Communications
