With the 2013 MLS Season getting underway in just 5 days we surveyed our staff of writers here at Total-MLS to predict who they thought would win the major trophies and awards this season. 17 of our writers weighed in. Below are the results of said survey. We will look back at these at the end of the season and see a lot that were wrong but the ones that get mocked the most will probably end up being right.
MLS Cup Champion
Winner: Houston Dynamo (5 votes)
Also receiving votes: Sporting Kansas City (2), San Jose Earthquakes (2), New York Red Bulls (2), Real Salt Lake (1), Chicago Fire (1), Columbus Crew (1), LA Galaxy (1), DC United (1), Seattle Sounders (1)
Supporters’ Shield
Winner: Sporting Kansas City (6 votes)
Also receiving votes: Seattle Sounders (3), Real Salt Lake (2), FC Dallas (2), LA Galaxy (2), New York Red Bulls (1), San Jose Earthquakes (1)
US Open Cup Champion
Winner: Seattle Sounders (3 votes)
Also receiving votes: New England Revolution (2), New York Red Bulls (2), LA Galaxy (2), Houston Dynamo (1), Philadelphia Union (1), Columbus Crew (1), San Jose Earthquakes (1), Colorado Rapids (1), Minnesota Stars (NASL) (1), Carolina RailHawks (NASL) (1)
MLS MVP
Winner: Graham Zusi (3 votes)
Also receiving votes: Chris Pontius (2), Federico Higuain (2), Kenny Cooper (2), Brad Davis (2), Robbie Keane (1), Nick Rimando (1), Thierry Henry (1), Chris Wondolowski (1), Saer Sene (1)
Coach of the Year
Winner: Dominic Kinnear, Martin Rennie, Peter Vermes, Mike Petke, Frank Yallop, Sigi Schmid (2 votes)
Also receiving votes: Frank Klopas (1), John Hackworth (1), Jose Luis Sanchez Sola (1), Bruce Arena (1), Ben Olsen (1)
Comeback Player of the Year
Winner: David Ferreira, Stefan Frei, Steve Zakuani (2 votes)
Also receiving votes: Benny Feilhaber (1), Marvin Iraheta (1), Jose Adolfo Valencia (1), Teal Bunbury (1), Dwayne De Rosario (1), Mehdi Ballouchy (1), Pablo Mastroeni (1), Leonardo (1), Eddie Johnson (1), Bakary Soumare (1)
Defender of the Year
Winner: Omar Gonzalez (5 votes)
Also receiving votes: Aurelien Collin (4), Victor Bernardez (2), Matt Besler (1), Steven Beitashour (1), Kofi Sarkodie (1), Drew Moor (1), George John (1), Jay DeMerit (1)
Goalkeeper of the Year
Winner: Dan Kennedy (4 votes)
Also receiving votes: Sean Johnson (3), Michael Gspurning (3), Bill Hamid (2), Nick Rimando (2), Andy Gruenebaum (1), Jon Busch (1), Jimmy Nielsen (1)
Golden Boot
Winner: Robbie Keane (7 votes)
Also receiving votes: Chris Wondolowski (6), Will Bruin (1), Jairo Arrieta (1), Kenny Cooper (1), Claudio Bieler (1)
Newcomer of the Year
Winner: Diego Valeri, Juninho (4 votes)
Also receiving votes: Claudio Bieler (3), Diego Calderon (1), Daigo Kobayashi (1), Kalifa Cisse (1), Matias Sanchez (1), John Bostock (1)
Rookie of the Year
Winner: Carlos Alvarez, Andrew Farrell (3 votes)
Also receiving votes: Kyle Bekker (2), Eriq Zavaleta (2), Mikey Lopez (2), Walker Zimmerman (1), Tommy Muller (1), Deshorn Brown (1), Gyasi Zardes (1)
(images courtesy of mlssoccer.com)
