FRISCO, Texas -- Major League Soccer today announced that New England Revolution forward Taylor Twellman was voted the winner of the 2005 MLS Honda Most Valuable Player award. Twellman who will lead the Revolution into MLS Cup 2005 on Sunday, November 13 against the Los Angeles Galaxy, will become the fourth Honda MVP to play in an MLS championship game. MLS Cup 2005, played at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, will be televised live on ABC Sports at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Twellman, the third U.S. born-player to win the MLS Honda MVP in the League's 10-year history, claimed two other prestigious awards in a historic season: the Budweiser Golden Boot for leading the League with 17 goals scored during the regular season and the Honda Most Valuable Player of the 2005 Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game.
Throughout the regular season the 25-year-old Twellman came through for the Revolution by scoring timely goals on their way to capturing the Eastern Conference Championship. Of his 17 goals scored, six came after the 89th minute of games, including two game-winning and three game-tying goals.
San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Dwayne De Rosario and D.C. United's Jaime Moreno were runners-up for the award.
The following are select highlights of the Twellman's feat:
SCORING AT WILL: Since coming to MLS at the start of the 2002 season, the 25-year-old Twellman has scored more goals than any other player in the League during that span, tallying 64 goals in 98 career regular season games. Only two players have scored more goals in any four-year span than the St. Louis, Missouri native: Roy Lassiter scored 73 from 1996-1999 and Raul Diaz Arce scored 69 also from 1996-1999.
MVP AND MLS CUP: Three players have claimed the MLS Honda Most Valuable Player award and went on to play in that season's MLS Cup: Marco Etcheverry - D.C. United - 1998 (D.C. United lost to Chicago 2-0); Tony Meola - Kansas City Wizards - 2000 (Kansas City defeated Chicago 1-0); Carlos Ruiz - Los Angeles Galaxy - 2002 (Los Angeles defeated New England 1-0).
GOLDEN BOOT AND MLS CUP: On Sunday, Twellman will look to join three other players that have led the League in goals scored and gone on to win the MLS Cup title in the same year: Carlos Ruiz (LA - 2002), Roy Lassiter (D.C. United - 1999) and Jaime Moreno (D.C. United - 1997).
TREBLE AND DOUBLE: Twellman has a chance to pull off a remarkable treble in a season, which has never been accomplished in league history: the Honda MVP, the All-Star Game MVP, and the MLS Cup MVP award in the same year. Two players have won the Honda MLS MVP and MLS Cup MVP in the same year: Tony Meola - Kansas City Wizards in 2000; Carlos Ruiz - Los Angeles Galaxy in 2002. Twellman joins only two other players to capture All-Star Game MVP honors and the Honda MVP award in the same year: Carlos Valderrama - Tampa Bay Mutiny in 1996; Amado Guevara - MetroStars in 2004.
MLS HONDA MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS:
2005: Taylor Twellman - New England Revolution
2004: Amado Guevara - MetroStars
2003: Preki - Kansas City Wizards
2002: Carlos Ruiz - Los Angeles Galaxy
2001: Alex Pineda Chacon - Miami Fusion
2000: Tony Meola - Kansas City Wizards
1999: Jason Kreis - Dallas Burn
1998: Marco Etcheverry - D.C. United
1997: Preki - Kansas City Wizards
1996: Carlos Valderrama - Tampa Bay Mutiny
The Honda MLS MVP was determined by equal voting from the media (33.33 percent), MLS players (33.33 percent) and MLS coaches and general managers (33.33 percent). With each voting category representing one-third of the total votes, the formula used for determining the award winners involved assigning 33.33 total points to each category for a maximum possible total of 99.99 points. Therefore if a player received 50 percent of the votes in any category, he would earn 16.67 points for that category. The voting totals were as follows:
|
Player |
C/GM |
Media |
Total |
| Twellman |
9.11 |
10.29 |
8.78 |
28.08 |
| De Rosario |
5.19 |
9.57 |
5.60 |
20.36 |
| Moreno |
6.03 |
4.63 |
3.26 |
13.92 |
