Who is the MLS MVP?

Recently at SB Nation Soccer, we started keeping track of potential MLS MVP candidates. Folks like me who write for the team blogs, plus a few other writers who closely watch the league, have been voting weekly on who we believe should be Most Valuable Player with the season winding to a close. The big topic this week is whether DC United midfielder Dwayne De Rosario deserves to be in consideration for the award. Jeremiah Oshan has written an article discussing the merits and demerits of De Rosario's case. Additionally, the article shows who's leading the pack this week.

Are any Chivas USA players on the list? Why yes, there is one. Nick LaBrocca is hanging out at the bottom with one vote. I have to be honest, I wasn't the one who voted for him this time around. I still think LaBrocca is having a fantastic season, and with all the games over he may prove to be the clear MVP candidate for the Goats. But I also think Dan Kennedy and Heath Pearce are at least in the conversation for team MVP this season. Obviously, LaBrocca is scoring goals and assists, and those are the qualities that normally lead to the individual award. I still may switch one of my votes to LaBrocca if he impresses in the last three games, which will all be big challenges for Chivas.

Continued after the jump

To be honest, perhaps it is total short-term thinking in the afterglow of the victory against Toronto FC, but I think the player who has really contributed to the recent results has been Juan Pablo Angel. He scored two Saturday in the win, he scored two last Wednesday to help Chivas get a draw, and he scored a goal in the loss against Chicago when it looked like Chivas might be able to get a draw (to be fair, he also scored an own goal in that game, but that evened out). He also scored in the match against Colorado, his first with the club, and contributed to a draw. He has 6 goals in 6 matches, so his scoring output can't be beat. Obviously, he won't play nearly enough games to really consider him even a team MVP candidate for the season, but Angel has definitely had a better run with Chivas in a fraction of the games than he did with the Galaxy this year.

For the record, my votes this week went to: Brad Davis (top vote), Brek Shea (second vote), Landon Donovan (third vote). I think it's highly unlikely Davis will win anything, although he has been pretty underrated with Houston, but he's been very consistent. Shea's form has dropped a lot lately, so what seemed like a lock a month ago may fall away completely by season's end. And although the Galaxy isn't really our favorite topic of conversation around here, credit needs to go to Donovan for helping to fire his team to the top of the standings and make them the prohibitive MLS Cup favorite.

Feel free to mock and discredit me (or agree with me) as much as you like below.