No surprise here: Lionel Messi is among the finalists for Major League Soccer's MVP award for this season.
In addition to Messi, Inter Miami teammate Luis Suarez is among five finalists for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP announced on Thursday. The others include Evander from the Portland Timbers, Cucho Hernandez of the Columbus Crew and D.C. United's Christian Benteke, who also won this season's Golden Boot for most goals.
Inter Miami finished the season atop the Eastern Conference standings at 22-4-8 with an MLS-record 74 points, winning the Supporters Shield for best regular-season record.
Despite missing a chunk of games because of injury and national team commitments with Argentina, Messi still led Miami with 20 goals and 16 assists in 19 appearances.
“Yeah, he missed some time this year with us, the Copa America injuries and (for) him able to come back and still have that impact — I think it was 30-some-odd goal contributions — he had a great year,” Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender said. “There are plenty of other players across the league who had great years as well. … But the fact that he did what he did this year was pretty amazing.”
Suarez, who joined his former Barcelona teammate in Miami this season, had 20 goals and was also a finalist for newcomer of the year. Inter Miami is set to play Atlanta United in the first round of the playoffs starting Friday night.
Evander had 15 goals and 19 assists for the Timbers, who were eliminated from the playoffs in a 5-0 loss to Vancouver in a wildcard match on Wednesday night.
Benteke had 23 goals this season for D.C. United, which was eliminated from playoff contention after a 3-0 loss to Charlotte in the team's final regular-season game.
Hernandez had 19 goals and 14 assists for the Crew, the defending MLS Cup champions. Columbus opens the postseason with a first-round series against the Red Bulls.
The finalists for the league's annual awards earned the highest average votes from MLS club technical staff, league first-team players, and select media members. The other finalists for this season's MLS awards:
Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year: Chris Armas (Colorado Rapids), Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino (Inter Miami), Wilfried Nancy (Columbus Crew).
Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award: Andrew Farrell (New England Revolution), Darlington Nagbe (Columbus Crew), Ilie Sánchez (LAFC).
MLS Comeback Player of the Year: Robin Lod (Minnesota United), Maxi Moralez (New York City), Lewis Morgan (New York Red Bulls).
MLS Defender of the Year: Jordi Alba (Inter Miami), Steven Moreira (Columbus Crew), Jackson Ragen (Seattle Sounders).
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year: Kristijan Kahlina (Charlotte FC), Hugo Lloris (LAFC), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew).
MLS Newcomer of the Year: Luca Orellano (FC Cincinnati), Gabriel Pec (LA Galaxy), Luis Suárez (Inter Miami).
MLS Young Player of the Year: Diego Gómez (Inter Miami), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Cristian Olivera (LAFC).
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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press
