Luciano Emilio is racking up the awards quicker even than he racked up goals for D.C. United this season.
Emilio, who scored 20 goals in 2007 and became the first MLS player to hit the 20-goal plateau since 2002, was named Newcomer of the Year on Saturday night at the annual MLS Gala Awards dinner. It's the third year-end individual award for Emilio, who also was chosen as MLS Honda MVP and was the Budweiser Golden Boot winner.
In addition, the D.C. United forward was selected to the MLS Best XI. The announcement of that group also came on Saturday and included eight first-time recipients.
Emilio, 28, said he expects to return to MLS in 2008 and wants to build on his 2007 accomplishments.
"I'm going to be working very hard to get ready for next season," Emilio said. "We have a good team that will be looking to win a championship."
Emilio, who joined D.C. United from CD Olimpia of Honduras, helped his team win its second consecutive Supporters' Shield with a 16-7-7 regular season record. Emilio had four game-winning goals and five multi-goal games. He was named MLS Player of the Week in Week 11 and Week 18 and earned Player of the Month honors in September.
Emilio's forward counterpart on the Best XI is New York's Juan Pablo Angel, who is another first-year player and a Honda MVP finalist.
The midfield is made up of four international players and one from the USA. That group includes Argentinean attacking midfielders Christian Gomez (D.C. United) and Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew). Grenadian defensive midfielder Shalrie Joseph (New England), Canadian attacking midfielder Dwayne De Rosario (Houston) and veteran U.S. midfielder Ben Olsen (D.C. United) were also selected.
The Best XI defense is an all-U.S. group, with Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year Brad Guzan (Chivas USA) in net and Visa Defender of the Year Michael Parkhurst (New England), Eddie Robinson (Houston) and Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA) completing the unit.
The first-time recipients were Guzan, Parkhurst, Robinson, Bornstein, Olsen, Schelotto, Emilio and Angel. For Joseph, it was his second selection to the Best XI (also 2005), while selected for the third time were both Gomez and De Rosario (both 2005 and 2006).
The MLS Best XI team was determined by voting from the MLS players, MLS coaches and general managers and media.
Robert Falkoff is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
