NEW YORK - Major League Soccer announced its finalists for this season's year-end awards, included on that list are Kansas City Wizards defenders Jimmy Conrad and Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. who are both up for MLS Defender of the Year.
Conrad, the 2005 MLS Defender of the Year, and Burciaga Jr., the leading scorer among MLS defenders this season, are joined by D.C. United's Bobby Boswell as the three finalists for the award which will be announced on Tuesday, October 24th.
"We are honored as an organization to have Jose [Luis Burciaga Jr.] and Jimmy [Conrad] nominated for this award," said Wizards head coach Brian Bliss. "It is a statement to the type of guys that we have here at Kansas City and they are very deserving of these nominations."
Burciaga Jr. logged a team third-best 2590 minutes this past season, leading the team in scoring following 21 of the 32 matches KC played. The fifth-year player wound up finishing second on the team in goals scored with eight while tying for the team lead in assists, also with eight.
"It is an honor to be named as a finalist for what I go out and do everyday," said Burciaga Jr. "It is nice to get noticed for what I've done all year and to be recognized alongside such a good group of players in Jimmy [Conrad] and Bobby [Boswell]."
Although Conrad only appeared in 15 matches for Kansas City this year, missing substantial parts of the season while with the United States National Team for the FIFA World Cup and while recovering from a broken jaw, the UCLA grad once again proved to be one of the league's top defenders. This year's nomination marks the MLS All-Star's third consecutive season in which he has been named as a finalist the league's defender of the year award.
"It is an honor to be recognized by my peers and the people I compete against," commented Conrad.
