Jeff Cunningham earned MLS Player of the Week honors for Week 10, as he notched his sixth and seventh goals of the season to lead Real Salt Lake to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday, June 3.
Cunningham, who had entered the previous three matches off the bench, got the start in Saturday's match and made the most of it. He scored the game's opening goal in the 57th minute sliding a left footed shot past Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton into the right corner of the goal. He sealed the victory in the 77th minute when he beat Thornton again from 20 yards out with a right-footed chip shot into the top left corner of the goal.
Behind Cunningham's strong play, Real Salt Lake has gone 3-0-1 in its last four games, and the forward has moved into a four-way tie for the MLS scoring lead with Houston's Brian Ching, FC Dallas striker Carlos Ruiz and D.C. United's Jaime Moreno.
The award marks the sixth time in his career that he's been named MLS Player of the Week and the second time this season; he previously won the award in Week Seven.
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)
