Chivas USA's Dan Kennedy Finishes Second in MLS Goalkeeper of the Year

MLS announced the winner of their Goalkeeper of the Year award this morning, and Chivas USA's Dan Kennedy, a finalist for the award, ultimately finished second to Jimmy Nielsen of Sporting Kansas City. Nielsen won the award by a wide margin, earning more than 49 percent of the club votes, more than 70 percent of the media votes, and more than 26 percent of the player votes. In contrast, Kennedy earned 12.28 percent of the club votes, tied with third-place finisher Michael Gspurning of the Seattle Sounders, just 3.08 percent of the media votes, by far the worst of the five keepers announced, and 14.94 of the player votes, second overall to Nielsen.

Following Gspurning in third, Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando finished fourth and the Columbus Crew's Andy Gruenebaum, the breakout keeper of the season, finished fifth. Interestingly, Kennedy's team had by far the worst record this season among the top five, and three of the five keepers went to the playoffs, with Gruenebaum's Crew barely missing out.

Obviously, it would have been great for partisans of Chivas USA to have seen Kennedy win the award, because he deserved it, but given the records of the other goalkeepers in the running, a second-place finish is still quite an accomplishment. Hopefully, the Goats will have a defense strong enough for the whole season in 2013 to help Kennedy get over the top and win it next season.

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