Toronto FC announced Monday that forward Jeff Cunningham has been nominated for Best MLS Player at this year's ESPY Awards. This is Cunningham's first ESPY nomination.
Cunningham, 30, was acquired by Toronto on May 22, 2007 in a trade with Real Salt Lake that sent forward Alecko Eskandarian and a first round MLS Superdraft pick to Utah.
The forward will be up against 3 other nominees, L.A. Galaxy forward Landon Donovan, New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis, and D.C. United midfielder Christian Gomez.
"I was shocked to find out I was nominated, it's quite amazing," said Cunningham. "It's pretty special to get recognized like that, I know I'm up against some tough competition - so we'll see what happens, but it will certainly be exciting to attend the awards in L.A."
This year marks the 15th edition of ESPN's annual sports awards show that honors the year's best sports moments and athletes. The show will be hosted by Cleveland Cavalier's All-Star LeBron James and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
ESPN will televise the ESPYs from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre - site of the Academy Awards - and will air the show Sunday July 15th on ESPN, 9pm ET.
Cunningham is currently 4th on the league's All-Time Scoring list with 95 goals. He is now just 13 goals behind leader Jason Kreis, who is now serving as Head Coach of Real Salt Lake.
He scored 16 goals last season with Real Salt Lake - and received the Budweiser Golden Boot award - which goes to the leading goal-scorer in MLS.
