On Friday, Cuauhtemoc Blanco was awarded the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year; in July, Juan Pablo Angel was named the MVP of the MLS All-Star Game and David Beckham's impact on the league since his arrival in Los Angeles this summer in terms of overall attendance and merchandise sale goes without saying.
Yes, in many ways, the 2007 MLS season will be known as the Year of the Designated Player, but perhaps it's not a coincidence that the two teams vying for the MLS Cup title on Sunday got there without that foreign star.
"I think it says a lot about the talent here in the U.S.," Nate Jaqua said. "New England's a very good team as well and if you get 11 guys that are all honest and work hard for each other, I think that does a lot more than just one player."
With few exceptions, Houston and New England will field the same teams that took the field at Pizza Hut Park last year.
"There's some sort of game plan that Steve Nicol and Dominic Kinnear know about," Richard Mulrooney said. "If I was another coach in the league, I'd obviously take a look at what's going on here. To have the same pieces year in and year out, it's obviously getting success and I don't know if I'm giving a secret out, but that's what has worked for us."
It certainly has worked. And with a solid core of players, Kinnear said he'd be leery of going after a designated player even next year.
"It takes a big chunk of your salary cap and for us, we have a pretty mature team, we've been around for a while and guys have been compensated for good play in the past," Kinnear said. "If we were to go out and get a designated player, we would have to let some very important players go. Right now, from what I see from my guys, I don't think that's worth it."
It also goes beyond the players. Nicol and Kinnear are two of the longest tenured coaches in MLS. It's no surprise that they're also the two most successful.
"You're looking at coaches who have been at their jobs the longest and they're going with what they know," Kinnear said. "A new guy comes in maybe has different ideas for the team and brings in different players."
CAN YOU REPEAT THAT? With Houston attempting to become the first team since D.C. United in 1996-97 to repeat as MLS Cup champions, Kinnear was asked if he ever brought up the difficulty of winning back-to-back titles with his team.
"We talked a little bit in the beginning of the season because we stumbled a little bit," he said. "We said teams are going to be gunning for us, it's hard to repeat. But I think once we found our stride and got some good results, we left all that talk behind."
Kinnear also said there's been a change in his team's mentality when it comes to winning MLS Cup.
"We're not here to defend our championship," he said. "We're actually playing to win another championship. Once we took that attitude, I think it was for the better."
Nate Jaqua was also asked about the difficulty of repeating as champions. But, the veteran forward wasn't part of the Houston roster a year ago.
"For me, it's not really an issue since I wasn't here last year," he said. "I'm trying to win the first MLS Cup of my career. For the team, I think we know our roles real well and Dom does a very good job of preparing us, so it's not something we think about too much."
THE TARTAN ARMY: The minds of several key personnel from both Houston and New England might wander for brief spells Saturday afternoon wondering the score of the crucial European Championship qualifier between Scotland and Italy.
"I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to watch it actually," laughed a half-serious Steve Nicol, New England's coach knowing his team will be training through most of the match, which kicks off at 12 noon EST.
His good friend John Spencer is a Dynamo assistant coach and head coach Dominic Kinnear, though weaned in the United States, was born in Scotland.
"Oh yeah, Spencer and I have been on a few Scotland squads together. Spenny is pure Glasgow," said Nicol.
Dynamo also have a couple of players that will keep an eye on that match as well.
"We have a couple of Scottish-born people in our locker room ... but there is a big game for Scotland on Saturday, so I think a couple of us are going to try and watch that," said a smiling Stuart Holden, who along with Kenny Dalglish were born in Scottland.
Holden, born in Aberdeen but raised in Texas, has been known to turn his Scottish accent on and off at will.
The match is perhaps the most significant match in recent Scottish soccer history, with the chance of advancing and knocking out the defending World Cup champions all in one shot.
Dylan Butler and Chris Snear is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
