Major League Soccer announced on Tuesday that Kansas City Wizards midfielder Chris Klein has been named the 2005 MLS Comeback Player of the Year. Klein made 31 appearances for the Wizards this season, registering seven goals and nine assists. He missed the second half of the 2004 season after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee.
Klein finished second in both goals and assists for the Wizards this season, trailing only striker Josh Wolff in each category. He matched or set personal bests in both statistical areas this season, making this his most productive offensive campaign since joining the Kansas City Wizards prior to the 1998 season.
After getting off to a great start in 2004, during which he was named to the Western Conference All-Star Team as a reserve, Klein suffered a torn ACL in a match against the San Jose Earthquakes on Aug. 14. He remained in the game a further 14 minutes until the final whistle and underwent surgery on Aug. 30 to repair the damage.
Klein, 29, worked for the remainder of the 2004 season and through preseason training to get back to full fitness, stepping back on the field for the Wizards when they opened play in 2005 against Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It didn't take him long to get back on the scoresheet, as he opened his account in the league opener against the Colorado Rapids, scoring the decisive third goal in a 3-2 win at Arrowhead Stadium. His other game-winner came against Real Salt Lake, just a day shy of the one-year anniversary of his knee injury.
A product of Indiana University, Klein has been a regular contributor to the Wizards since his rookie season. He was a member of the Kansas City side that won the 2000 MLS Cup, registering an assist on Miklos Molnar's 11th minute game-winning goal.
Herculez Gomez (Los Angeles Galaxy) and Ronald Cerritos (San Jose Earthquakes) were the other finalists nominated for the Comeback Player of the Year award. Gomez returned to the Galaxy this season to score 11 goals after seeing five minutes of action for the club in 2003 and spending last season with the San Diego Sockers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Cerritos returned to Major League Soccer this season to return to his original club. He was released from D.C. United during the 2004 season and returned to his native El Salvador prior to rejoining the Quakes this past winter. He scored six goals and added nine assists for the Supporters' Shield winners.
The MLS Comeback Player of the Year was determined by equal voting from the media (33.33 percent), MLS players (33.33 percent) and MLS coaches and general managers (33.33 percent). With each voting category representing one-third of the total votes, the formula used for determining the award winners involved assigning 33.33 total points to each category for a possible total of 99.99 points. Therefore if a player received 50 percent of the votes in any of the three voting categories, he would earn 16.67 points (half of 33.33) for that category.
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
