Real Salt Lake forward Jeff Cunningham helped lead his team to a 1-0-1 record and tallied three goals and two assists during Week 18, for which he earned Player of the Week honors - the third time he's won this season. Real Salt Lake earned four points last week and are now only six points behind fourth place Chivas USA in the Western Conference.
On Wednesday, Cunningham had a goal and two assists in an exciting back-and-forth matchup with Chivas USA that ended in a 3-3 draw. In the 34th minute, Chris Klein delivered a free kick from the right side of the field that was headed out, but only to the chest of Cunningham. The RSL striker settled and then volleyed a dipping rocket from 12 yards out into right side netting. Cunningham's two assists in the game came on goals from Carey Talley and Andy Williams.
On Saturday, Cunningham notched two goals on penalty kicks in the waning moments of the game to help lead Real Salt Lake to a 2-1 come-from-behind upset of D.C. United. Real Salt Lake became only the second team to defeat D.C. United this year and ended United's 14 game unbeaten run.
During this season, his ninth in the league, Cunningham's has racked up eleven goals and five assists in twenty games this year. He's scored 85 career goals and has 51 assists in nine seasons. This marks the third time during the 2006 Regular Season that Cunningham has been named Player of the Week. He also received the honors in Week 7 and Week 10. With eleven goals, Cunningham finds himself trailing only Chivas USA forward Ante Razov by one goal for the league lead. This is Cunningham's first year with Real Salt Lake coming over from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for Clint Mathis.
The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from the Professional Soccer Reporters Association (PSRA).
2006 Player of the Week Winners
Week 1: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)
Week 2: Jaime Moreno (D.C. United)
Week 3: Cornell Glen (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 4: Alecko Eskandarian (D.C. United)
Week 5: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 6: Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)
Week 7: Jeff Cunningham (Real Salt Lake)
Week 8: Jean Philippe Peguero (New York Red Bulls)
Week 9: Jaime Moreno (D.C. United)
Week 10: Jeff Cunningham (Real Salt Lake)
Week 11: Ante Razov (Chivas USA)
Week 12: Scott Sealy (Kansas City Wizards)
Week 13: Troy Perkins (D.C. United)
Week 14: Clint Dempsey (New England Revolution)
Week 15: Nicholas Hernandez (Colorado Rapids)
Week 16: Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas)
Week 17: Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA)
Week 18: Jeff Cunningham (Real Salt Lake)
