No surprise: Lionel Messi is among the finalists for this season's Main League Soccer MVP award.
In addition to Messi, his Inter Miami teammate Luis Suárez is among the five finalists for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award announced Thursday. The others include Evander of the Portland Timbers, Cucho Hernández of the Columbus Crew and Christian Benteke of DC United, who also won this season's Golden Boot for most goals.
Inter Miami finished the season atop the Eastern Conference standings at 22-4-8 with an MLS record 74 points, winning the Supporters Defend for best overall season record.
Despite missing a large number of games due to injuries and national team commitments with Argentina, Messi still led Miami with 20 goals and 16 assists in 19 appearances.
“Yes, he missed some time this year with us, the Copa America injuries and (to) be able to come back and still have that impact, I think it was over 30 goal contributions, he had a great year.” Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender said.
“There are a lot of other players in the league who also had great years. But the fact that he did what he did this year was pretty amazing.”
Suarez, who joined his former Barcelona teammate in Miami this season, scored 20 goals and was also a finalist for the rookie of the year award. Inter Miami will play Atlanta United in the first round of the playoffs starting Friday night.
Evander had 15 goals and 19 assists for the Timbers, who were eliminated from the playoffs in a 5-0 loss to Vancouver in a wild-card game on Wednesday night.
Benteke scored 23 goals this season for DC United, which was eliminated from playoff contention after a 3-0 loss to Charlotte in the team's final regular-season game.
Hernandez scored 19 goals and 14 assists for the Crew, the defending MLS Cup champions. Columbus opens the postseason with a first-round series against the Crimson Bulls.
Finalists for the league's annual awards garnered the highest average votes from MLS clubs' coaching staff, the league's first-team players and select members of the media. The other finalists for this season's MLS awards:
Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year: Chris Armas (Colorado Rapids), Gerardo 'Tata' Martino (Inter Miami), Wilfried Nancy (Columbus Crew).
Audi Targets Drive Progress Impression Award: Andrew Farrell (New England Revolution), Darlington Nagbe (Columbus Crew), Ilie Sánchez (LAFC).
MLS Comeback Player of the Year: Robin Lod (Minnesota United), Maxi Moralez (New York), Lewis Morgan (New York Crimson Bulls).
MLS Defender of the Year: Jordi Alba (Inter Miami), Steven Moreira (Columbus Crew), Jackson Ragen (Seattle Sounders).
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year: Kristijan Kahlina (Charlotte FC), Hugo Lloris (LAFC), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew).
Revelation of the year in the MLS: Luca Orellano (FC Cincinnati), Gabriel Pec (LA Galaxy), Luis Suárez (Inter Miami).
MLS Young Player of the Year: Diego Gómez (Inter Miami), Diego Luna (Current Salt Lake), Cristian Olivera (LAFC).
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