Sapong Named Rookie of the Year

photo courtesy Jarred Donalson

The first year end award has been named today, the rookie of the year, and no surprise to anyone, CJ Sapong brought home the rookie of the year award. Most people I think expected the forward to bring home the award, the surprise was going to be in by how much Sapong won by. And in each category of voters, Sapong finished well ahead of the next closest person in each section. The vote by club, Sapong finished with 34.04%, while second place Perry Kitchen finished with 13.83%. In the media vote Sapong finished with 41.99% of the vote compared to second place Kitchen who had 12.71%. In the player vote, Sapong finished with 30.25% ahead of second place Darlington Nagbe. Congrats to Sapong on a fantastic season and look forward to another big season next year.

Sapong, Vermes Finalists for MLS Awards

Today MLS named their finalists for all of their awards and two members of the Sporting KC team have been nominated for year end awards. The least surprising of the two, CJ Sapong has been named a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award. Sapong has to be considered the front runner and probably odds on favorite to win the award. Sapong is up against Perry Kitchen from DC and Michael Farfan from Philadelphia. Sapong finished the regular season with 5 goals, good for a tie for 4th on the team, and 5 assists, good for second. A great season for a player who many thought was a stretch to take at the 10 spot in the draft. In comparison, Kitchen finished the season with 1 goal, but did lead all rookies in minutes played this year with 2,726. Farfan for Philadelphia finished with 2 goals and 3 assists in 1,460 minutes. The Rookie of the Year award will be handed out tomorrow November 8th.

Peter Vermes is also up for a year end award, being named a finalist for the coach of the year. Vermes turned KC around from their 10 road trip where they went 1-6-3 and bottom of the East to top of the conference, going 12-3-9 after the home opener of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Vermes is up against LA Galaxy coach, and Supporters' Shield winner, Bruce Arena. Also up for the award is Sigi Schmid, coach of the Seattle Sounders who finished second behind Arena's Galaxy. The coach of the year award will be handed out a week from today on November 14th.