The first thing Houston’s Brad Davis found out when he woke up on Friday morning was that it was D.C. United’s Dwayne De Rosario, rather than Davis, that had won the 2011 MLS MVP award.
“I woke up this morning through text messages and stuff like that, waking up, finding out the results,” Davis said after the Dynamo’s training session on Friday.
The midfielder, who will miss Sunday’s MLS Cup final against the LA Galaxy, was in an upbeat mood, despite missing out on the most important individual accolade in MLS.
Player |
% of Club Votes |
% of Media Votes |
% of Player Votes |
Weighted Total |
Dwayne De Rosario (DC) |
20.43 |
25.91 |
26.38 |
72.72 |
Brad Davis (HOU) |
15.05 |
21.24 |
7.36 |
43.66 |
Brek Shea (DAL) |
9.68 |
9.33 |
8.59 |
27.59 |
Landon Donovan (LA) |
13.98 |
5.18 |
7.36 |
26.52 |
Mauro Rosales (SEA) |
3.23 |
9.33 |
6.75 |
19.30 |
“I was disappointed,” Davis confessed. “That’s something you want to win, there’s no question about it. I’m happy for Dwayne. I think he finished the year on an unbelievably strong note. … I’m happy for him, but also disappointed that I didn’t win it, because I felt like I had a pretty good shot.”
Davis’ chances of winning the award were, in fact, pretty good. The midfielder led the Dynamo to the MLS Cup final with a refined left foot, notching four goals and gathering a league-high 16 assists this season to top previous highs of 12 assists from 2009 and 2010.
However, Davis’ numbers were no match for De Rosario’s, who won the 2011 MLS Golden Boot award after scoring 16 goals and adding 12 assists despite been traded twice this year. De Rosario came in first in the polls with a weighted total of 72.72 percent, 29.06 percent above Davis’ total of 43.66 percent.
Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear believed Davis would have been a fair choice for MLS MVP, but also admitted that what De Rosario did in D.C. was definitely of note.
“I don’t know which way people voted,” Kinnear said. “We can’t vote for our own players. If I could have, I would have voted for Brad because I know how important he was to our team. He won our team MVP and deservedly so. Sometimes it’s about stats, and I know some people were saying maybe Dwayne wasn’t going to get it because his team didn’t’ make the playoffs. But if you take Dwayne out of D.C.’s team, it shows you how valuable he is. And the same thing with Brad: If we didn’t’ have Brad this year, maybe I’m not doing this interview right now.”
Despite losing the award to his former teammate, Davis harbors no grudge. In fact, he said he would congratulate De Rosario when their paths cross.
“I’ll see him today and congratulate him,” said Davis. “I like Dwayne; good guy, good player. He’s not the one that voted, so I’m not mad at him or anything, so I’m definitely going to talk to him and congratulate him tonight.”
