Dempsey best in the States
Afp, Los Angeles
New England Revolution midfielder Clint Dempsey, the only American to score a goal at this year's World Cup, was named US Soccer's national team Player of the Year here Tuesday.The 23-year-old veteran won the award in voting by a 207-member American sports media panel, receiving 237 points to 184 for runner-up goalkeeper Kasey Keller and 127 for US forward Brian McBride. Dempsey scored a team co-leading four goals in nine games with the Americans, including the lone US tally in a 2-1 loss to Ghana that kept the US squad from advancing to the second round. An Italian own-goal brought the only US marker in their 1-1 draw with the eventual World Cup champions, a weak-shooting effort hindering the 2002 quarter-finalist American line-up. Since his US debut in 2004, Dempsey has 23 caps and six goals for the Americans. Dempsey scored seven goals this season for Major League Soccer's Revolution, including three in the team's past four matches. The Revolution, 10-8 with 12 drawn, have clinched an MLS playoff berth.
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Clint Dempsey stands next to a Honda Ridgeline which he won along with the Honda Player of the Year Award at a ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles on Tuesday. PHOTO: AFP |
