When I cast my ballot for MVP last October, I thought it was pretty clear-cut. How could Jaime Moreno not win? My colleagues and friends that cover the MetroStars for a living weren't even voting for Amado Guevara. Yet, somehow, the Honduran international took home the trophy later that fall, despite not having a strong finish over the final two months of the season.
This leads me to believe that one too many voters got it in their minds that Guevara was the MVP long before the regular season had come to an end. And once a candidate is cemented in your mind, it's hard to displace.
Those of you who follow baseball know that it was impossible to make a decision between A-Rod and Big Papi. Of course, there were radio talk-show hosts and national columnists that chose sides right around Labor Day. Rather than let the race work itself out right through that last Yankees-Red Sox series the first weekend of October, many pundits argued their cases as though they were lawyers no matter how things changed down the stretch. Being decisive is one thing, but with such a subjective matter as postseason awards, every single voter deserves the right to change their opinion once, twice or as many times as is needed.
I bring this up during this fine morning of the last week of the regular season because I'm doing just that right now. I'm switching my vote for Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Player.
For the past several weeks my mind was set on Shalrie Joseph. He's the engine of the New England Revolution, the top holding midfielder in the league and the one player that always comes up more than any others when talking to coaches and front office personnel. ("We could use a Shalrie Joseph" ... "We tried to get Shalrie two years ago" ... "That Revs defense doesn't do what they've done without Shalrie in front of him").
They're all correct in lavishing their praise, too. Joseph doesn't ever seem to have a bad game, and so much of the Revs high-powered offense comes from the work he does to cut down passing lanes, win balls, and keep the ball moving quickly to the attacking players in transition.
Fortunately for Joseph, the rest of his teammates, and every single fan of the Revs, one of the aforementioned players that is able to reap the benefits of the midfielder's work is Taylor Twellman. It's because of this high-scoring striker that the MVP vote gets tricky.
How does one make a case for Joseph to be MVP when he might not be the MVP of his own team? And how does one choose Twellman ahead of a very strong candidate like Dwayne De Rosario and, to a lesser extent, Christian Gomez when he might not be the MVP of the Revolution?
Well, you watch. It's as simple as that.
What changed my decision over the last four weeks or so was watching the Revolution with Taylor Twellman and watching the Revolution without Taylor Twellman.
In four games last month, Twellman posted five goals and an assist, which included a hat trick against Columbus and a goal in stoppage-time to salvage a tie against the same club less than two weeks later.
Without Twellman, all the Revolution could muster was one shot on goal in a 1-0 victory against Real Salt Lake on Sept. 3. Without Twellman, Steve Nicol's team simply didn't look the same against Kansas City when the two sides played to a 2-2 draw over the weekend. In total, two of the team's seven losses came when the striker wasn't available. He wasn't there in 2-0 loss to D.C. United on June 18, and he wasn't there in 2-0 loss to Colorado on Aug. 17. It's no coincidence that the Revolution failed to score in both of those matches.
Maybe it would be different if we actually got to see how the Revs would look without Joseph, but he's only missed one match. With Grenada long gone from World Cup qualifying, Nicol has the luxury of having his central midfielder on the field at all times when he's healthy.
I'm splitting hairs here, I know. The Revolution would be a playoff team without either Joseph or Twellman. Let's be clear about that. And, believe me, I know the e-mails from the Bay Area have already been sent about DeRo.
There just doesn't happen to be goalscorers littered across MLS. It's also the position on the national team where the U.S. has the least amount of depth. There's a reason why most every team in the league comes into the SuperDraft year after year saying they need more players who can finish.
With scoring at such a premium, Twellman is even that much more valuable. To tally 16 goals is one thing, but to have five of those strikes stand as game-winning goals and six of them from the 89th minute on is impossible to ignore. It's also important to note that the 25-year-old striker hasn't padded his stats by converting on penalty kicks and that he's actually tied for second on the Revs with seven assists.
The fact that the league's scoring champion has won the MVP award only four times in nine years is a good thing. The trophy shouldn't go to the best goalscorer. It should go to the best player. The one that happened to make the biggest impact on his club during the season.
For me, that player is Taylor Twellman.
If Joseph or De Rosario ended up winning the award, I won't have a problem with it. All three play on conference-winning teams and are deserving of such merit.
You just have to wonder about one additional X-factor: Who will the people who voted for Guevara last year vote for?
I shudder at the thought.
Marc Connolly is a freelance writer covering soccer for several publications and regularly writes for MLSnet.com. Marc can be reached at marc@oakwoodsoccer.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
