11.11.2008 7:29 pm
Donovan wins Honda Player of the Year Award
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
With the 213 Honda Player of the Year voters apparently on autopilot, Landon Donovan won the Honda Award as the top U.S. national team soccer player for 2008. He beat out Tim Howard, who I voted for, 297 to 249. Clint Dempsey was third with 176 votes.
As I seem to recall, when I put the question to readers here, Donovan didn’t get any support.
How sad. Howard was the best U.S. National team player. I’m guessing the majority of voters looked at stats only. Since a ton of Donovan’s goals came on Penalty Kicks I don’t think it tells the whole story.
A few years ago, when Eric Wynalda set the national team scoring record, I thought that mark would last for a few years, but Donovan broke it in no time, in part because he has played so many games and taken so many penalty kicks. It really has upped his goal totals. Though there’s also a lot to be said about having a guy who can always convert a PK. Missed PKs can be devastating. So you have to give him credit for that.