The Union Get Disrespected in their Bye Week
The MLS Regular season has come to a close and the MLS Cup playoffs are upon us. Even though the Union clinched the 1 seed in the East and a first-round bye, the disrespect still found its way to them.
The end of the regular season brings us to the award nominees. While the Union is indeed well represented, that doesn’t mean they weren’t disrespected. Primarily a certain Hungarian midfielder.
Union Nominees
Before we get to the Union snubs, let’s go over where the Union players were given their due.
First, Union Goalkeeper Andre Blake is one of the 5 finalists for MLS MVP. As well as one of the 3 goalkeeper of the year finalists.
Kai Wagner and Jacob Glesnes are 2 of the 3 finalists for MLS Defender of the Year.
Captain Alejandro Bedoya is a finalist for Humanitarian of the Year.
Finally, Jim Curtin is a finalist for MLS Coach of the Year.
Who Will Win?
While the Union has its hands all over the awards, they won’t win them all.
Andre Blake won’t win MVP. He will win Goalkeeper of the year. Him even being named a finalist is a testament to his play this season.
Kai Wagner will likely win Defender of the Year. On top of his stellar defense, he stayed around the top of the league in assists.
Jim Curtin won’t win coach of the year. Simply because what Wilfred Nancy did with Montreal was just more impressive and deserving.
The Biggest Snub of Them All
The big disrespect to the Union was the MVP finalists. The 4 other nominated players are Chicho Arango of LAFC, Sebastian Driussi of Austin, Hany Mukhtar of Nashville, and Chicharito of LA Galaxy.
Think someone’s missing?
What about Union midfielder Daniel Gazdag? Gazdag was the runner-up in the golden boot race. Finished second in goals and assist contributions with 32. 22 goals and 10 assists on the first seed in the Eastern Conference.
This feels like one of those league situations where they shove LA into the conversation to increase publicity. That’s not to say Chicho Arango and Chicharito weren’t great this year. However, Daniel Gazdag just did more for the whole season.
Arango helped LAFC clinch the Supporters Shield and Chicharito was hot down the stretch to push the Galaxy into the playoffs. Unfortunately for them, MVP isn’t an award for a stretch of games.
MVP is for the best player for the entire season. Daniel Gazdag not being in the conversation of finalist is disrespectful to what he helped the Union accomplish this year. Gazdag may not have done enough to win it but he was certainly a top 5 player in the league.
The Union is rightfully well represented in the year-end rewards. However, the snub should leave a sour taste in their mouth.
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Categorized:Union