MLS awards finalists announced

NEW YORK -- Major League Soccer announced Wednesday the finalists for the 2005 year-end awards. Winners for each award will be announced in the coming weeks, beginning with the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and Kraft Global Fair Play winners later Wednesday.

The San Jose Earthquakes, already winners of the Supporters' Shield as the team with the best record during the regular season, lead all teams by placing a member of their team as a finalist for six awards. The New England Revolution are next with four candidates, followed by D.C. United and the Kansas City Wizards with three each and the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chicago Fire being represented twice. The U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year will be determined by the U.S. Soccer Foundation, Major League Soccer and MLS club representatives and announced on Tuesday, October 25.

Awards Finalists

Gatorade Rookie of the Year Finalists
Michael Parkhurst - New England Revolution
Chris Rolfe - Chicago Fire
Scott Sealy - Kansas City Wizards

MLS Comeback Player of the Year Finalists
Ronald Cerritos - San Jose Earthquakes
Herculez Gomez - Los Angeles Galaxy
Chris Klein - Kansas City Wizards

MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Finalists
Joe Cannon - Colorado Rapids
Pat Onstad - San Jose Earthquakes
Matt Reis - New England Revolution

Kraft Global Fair Play Finalists - Individual
Brian Carroll - D.C. United
Ronald Cerritos - San Jose Earthquakes
Justin Mapp - Chicago Fire

MLS Coach of the Year Finalists
Dominic Kinnear - San Jose Earthquakes
Steve Nicol - New England Revolution
Peter Nowak - D.C. United

MLS Defender of the Year Finalists
Danny Califf - San Jose Earthquakes
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City Wizards
Tyrone Marshall - Los Angeles Galaxy

Honda MLS Most Valuable Player Finalists
Dwayne De Rosario - San Jose Earthquakes
Jaime Moreno - D.C. United
Taylor Twellman - New England Revolution

OSI Referee of the Year Finalists
Brian Hall
Abbey Okulaja
Kevin Stott

Schedule of Awards Announcements:

Wednesday, October 19
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year
Kraft Global Fair Play Award (team and individual)
Honda October Player of the Month
Sierra Mist Goal of the Year voting begins on MLSnet.com

Tuesday, October 25
MLS Defender of the Year
MLS Comeback Player of the Year
OSI Referee of the Year
U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year
U.S. Soccer Foundation Team Humanitarian of the Year (Passback)

Tuesday, November 1
Gatorade Rookie of the Year
MLS Coach of the Year

Monday, November 7
Announcement of MLS Team Exec Awards

Thursday, November 10
Honda MLS Most Valuable Player

Friday, November 11
RadioShack All-Time Best XI
Sierra Mist Goal of the Year

Saturday, November 12
RadioShack Best XI