Pedro Oliveira
Named the “Landon Donovan” award as of 2015, this honor is given to the player who has had the best season in the American league, finding a balance between his importance to the team and his individual numbers. The Latino presence has been there since the beginning of MLS’ development as a competitive league, and many players from the Latin American continent have been among the greatest talents of the season.
In this list, we present 5 Latino players who were MLS MVPs in the history of North American professional soccer.
5.- Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama (Tampa Bay Mutiny – 1996)
One of the most important players in the history of Colombian soccer, Valderrama finished his first season in the United States with four goals and 17 assists, becoming not only the first MVP in league history, but also leading his team, Tampa Bay Mutiny, to the first Supporters’ Shield, an honor given to the team with the best regular season record.
El Pibe played seven seasons in total during his time in North American soccer, and still holds the record for most assists in a single season, with 26 assists, achieved with Tampa Bay in the 2000 season.
4.- Carlos Ruiz (Los Angeles Galaxy – 2002)
The striker from Guatemala had a dream season on his MLS debut: best regular season record, 24 goals scored (top scorer of the competition), and taking the title against the New England Revolution, in a match that took two overtimes to be defined, and where he scored the winning goal in the 113th minute.
Adding his postseason goals (seven goals), he would finish with 31 total goals, and won the most valuable player award after a beastly campaign.
3.- Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Colombus Crew – 2008)
After a solid debut season with 11 assists and five goals, the Argentinean would go on to make history in the 2008 season, leading Columbus to its first MLS Cup (assisting all three of his team’s goals in the final) and its second Supporters’ Shield in its history. Behind an impressive performance from the La Plata native: seven goals and 19 assists, which was enough to earn him the MVP award without a doubt.
2.- Josef Martínez (Atlanta United – 2018)
In his second season with Atlanta, the Venezuelan broke Chris Wondolowski’s record, scoring 31 goals in the regular season, including three hat tricks, and scoring nine more goals than his nearest competitor, Zlatan Ibrahimovic who scored 22.
After that, Martinez led United to the MLS Cup, achieving a 2-0 win over the Portland Timbers, and increasing his goal record to 35 total goals for the 2019 season. He was named MVP of the season without much competition to contend with.
1.- Carlos Vela (Los Angeles FC – 2019)
And the joy of breaking the record for goals in a season was short-lived for Josef Martínez, as the Mexican would surpass his tally the following season, scoring 34 goals and 15 assists in the regular season. Having been named player of the month on three occasions, and having his team, Los Angeles FC, win the Suppoters’ Shield with 72 points, it was almost impossible to match such an incredible season from the striker.
Unfortunately, they were eliminated from MLS Cup contention in the Conference Finals by the eventual champions, the Seattle Sounders. To Vela’s consolation, he was voted MVP of the season by a wide margin over his opponents Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Josef Martinez.
