Double the games, double the impact for Vako.
The San Jose Earthquakes attacker had a monster week, scoring two goals in a 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday, before notching a goal and an assist in a 3-0 California Clasico victory over the LA Galaxy on Saturday at Stanford Stadium. As a result, Vako has been voted MLS Player of the Week for Week 17 of the 2019 MLS regular season.
The Georgian international, in his third season with the Earthquakes, came alive in June, getting off to a good start in a comeback U.S. Open Cup win before leveraging that into the big week just completed. In MLS play, the 26-year-old now has four goals and two assists in 15 appearances this season.
The Quakes came out of the Gold Cup break looking to make a move up the Western Conference standings, and Vako stepped up to the challenge, beginning on Wednesday. His first goal came as a terrific flick at the near post off a corner kick routine, and he iced the result with a well-taken evasion maneuver and diagonal blast late in the match.
In the highly-anticipated Cali Clasico clash, the Quakes were well up for the occasion, and Vako set the tone early, with another blast, this one from the other side of the box, to give San Jose the early lead. He followed that up with the assist on Shea Salinas' strike late in the game to seal the three points.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
