Pozuelo among MVP finalists
Vanney up for top coach while Morrow is vying for humanitarian award
Toronto FC playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo is one of five finalists for the Landon Donovan MVP Award, while Greg Vanney is up for Major League Soccer coach of the year.
A third member of TFC, fullback Justin Morrow, is a finalist for the MLS Humanitarian of the year, as is Canadian midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye of Los Angeles FC.
Pozuelo joins Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake, Seattle midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro and forward Jordan Morris, and Los Angeles FC forward Diego Rossi as MVP finalists. Pozuelo led the league with19 combined goals and assists in 2020, followed by Morris and Rossi (18) and Lodeiro (17).
“I’m really happy for (Pozuelo),” Toronto president Bill Manning said. “He’s in a good place. He has shown not only what a great player he is but he’s turned into one of the leaders on the team. And he’s invaluable for us. He’s a good person, has good character and has bought into everything. He’s a winner.”
The 29-year-old Spaniard has also proved durable, the only Toronto player to start all 23 regular-season games.
Pozuelo, who was tied for the league lead in assists with 10, is bidding to join Sebastian Giovinco as the only Toronto player to earn the MVP award. Giovinco won in 2015.
Canadian Dwayne De Rosario, then with D.C. United, captured the MVP award in 2011.
Blake backstopped the league’s top defence, allowing18 goals in the regular season for a 0.88 goals-allowed average and a 77.8 save percentage, both league-bests for goalkeepers with 20 or more appearances this season.
Rossi is also up for the AT&T Young Player of the Year award, which replaces the previous rookie of the year award. And Blake is a finalist for the Allstate Goalkeeper of the Year award along with Columbus’s Eloy Room and New England’s Matt Turner.
Vanney, who was named coach of the year in 2017, faces tough opposition in Philadelphia’s Jim Curtin and Orlando City’s Oscar Pareja for the Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year award.
Curtin led the Union to the Supporters’ Shield, edging Toronto for the best regular-season record and Philadephia’s first trophy.
Pareja, the 2016 coach of the year with FC Dallas, turned Orlando around in his first year at the helm, leading the club to its first playoff berth. But neither had to face having to play away from home almost the entire season. Toronto was forced to shift operations to East Hartford, Conn., because of travel restrictions.
“To finish second in the league in points per game under those circumstances is fantastic. And (Vanney is) truly deserving of being amongst the finalists,” Manning said.
Morrow, executive director of Black Players for Change, and Kaye are up against Portland’s Jeremy Ebobisse for the MLS humanitarian award.