His hat trick last Saturday night sent the New York Red Bulls into the playoffs, and Amado Guevara picked up a hat trick of hardware when the team announced its awards Wednesday. The Red Bulls captain was named the 2006 Red Bulls Honda Most Valuable Player, the newyorkredbulls.com Player of the Year and the Red bulls Budweiser Golden Boot winner with eight goals.
But the Red Bulls' Mr. October -- he was also named the MLS Player of the Month for October -- doesn't care about the awards.
"That's not relevant at this point," he said through a translator Thursday. "My main goal and what makes me happy is that we first, made the playoffs and second, we have the chance to win the championship."
And thanks to a tremendous second half of the season by Guevara, the Red Bulls have at least accomplished one of the Honduran's goals.
"I think he understands his responsibilities and the impact he has on the field with his teammates in making the important plays of the game," head coach Bruce Arena said of Guevara.
But for a while it seemed certain Guevara wasn't going to be part of this team.
Guevara saw himself in the center of a storm of controversy with former team president and general manager Alexi Lalas in the offseason for his decision to train with and play in a friendly his former club Motagua in Honduras. He then reported to training camp 11 days late because of green card snafus as trade rumors swirled.
On May 13, Guevara was subbed in the 55th minute of a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire. He opted to sit with his wife in the stands rather than on the bench with his teammates. He was fined by Red Bull New York, then was a healthy scratch for its next game and the trade rumors continued.
But things changed in July for Guevara. Gone were both Lalas and coach Mo Johnston, Richie Williams was in as interim head coach and he immediately made a point to speak with Guevara.
More importantly, he decided to give Guevara the captain's armband, a responsibility that was shared by Youri Djorkaeff and Tony Meola to that point. For the first time since being sent off just before halftime of a 3-0 loss at D.C. on Aug. 10, 2005, Guevara was back as captain and he scored the winning penalty kick goal July 14 against Colorado at Giants Stadium.
"There's few players in this league who can make a difference in the game like Amado, like Youri, only a handful of players can change the game and he's one of them," Chris Henderson said. "I think it always helps when you get the armband and you feel the staff is behind you, they want you to take that leadership role."
There were a few slipups along the way -- a red card Sept. 9 at New England and being criticized for his defensive work in a 4-3 loss Sept. 23 at D.C. United -- but he was massive when the Red Bulls needed him most. He scored all three goals, including two from the penalty spot, in a 3-2 win against Kansas City to wrestle the fourth and final playoff berth from the Wizards in the Red Bulls' regular-season finale.
"It's tough -- in the beginning of the season there's a couple of things going on behind closed doors. He just needed some confidence to get back into it and it just shows he is the best player on the team," defender Jeff Parke said. "Whatever way he goes, we go."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
