The New England Revolution's Clint Dempsey was named the U.S. national team 2006 Honda Player of the Year on Tuesday at a soccer symposium in Los Angeles. The 23-year-old scored four goals in nine games for the national team in 2006, including the only goal scored by a U.S. player at the World Cup in Germany.
"(Winning the award) gives me a lot of joy. I'm proud to be with the players who have win this," Dempsey told the Associated Press. "And it's great to have my family here. I know my dad's truck has been breaking down."
Dempsey vowed to replace that breaking down vehicle with the brand new Honda Ridgeline truck that he received along with the award. Dempsey's parents Aubrey and Debbie traveled countless miles carting their son from their home in Nacogdoches, Texas, to north Dallas, where Dempsey played his club soccer as a youth.
"We started driving him from Nacogdoches to north Dallas when he was 10. It was tough at the time," said Aubrey, a carpenter. "It was about then that it began to show that he had something special in soccer."
The Honda Player of the Year award is selected by media balloting. Dempsey received 237 points in voting by 207 sports journalists to claim the award. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller finished second with 184 points while forward Brian McBride was third with 127.
Dempsey played college soccer at Furman before being selected by the New England Revolution in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. He went on to win the Gatorade MLS Rookie of the Year Award after scoring seven goals in his debut season as a professional.
He also made his debut with the U.S. national team in 2004 and has made 23 appearances with the Red, White and Blue, scoring six goals. His biggest was last summer in the U.S. side's final Group E match against Ghana, a game that the U.S. would lose 2-1.
"It feels like you're on top of the world," Dempsey said about scoring in the World Cup. "Hopefully I'll be on that stage again."
Dempsey has seven goals and three assists for the Revolution this season in 19 games played.
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
