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Although San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski was able to make an impressive late season charge to tie DC United midfielder Dwayne De Rosario with 16 goals in the 2011 MLS regular season, De Rosario still won his first MLS Golden Boot Award. Assists are the first tiebreaker for the Golden Boot.
De Rosario was able to notch 12 assists in the 2011 campaign. Wondolowski finished the season with three.
It's been a strange ride for De Rosario, who despite playing for three teams this year, was still able to have an amazing statistical season.
De Rosario started the 2011 MLS season with Toronto FC (1 goal), but only featured for the Canadian club for twomatches before being traded to the New York Red Bulls, where he was only able to score 2 goals. The pairing of De Rosario and New York star forward Thierry Henry never seemed to really click, and after 12 games De Rosario was once again shipped out, this time to DC United.
And was at DC that De Rosario's season became something special, as he went on a scoring terror, tallying 13 goals, and adding 7 assists in the 18 matches he played in a black and red uniform.
One would have to think that De Rosario stands a decent chance to win the MLS MVP award as well, although he has a couple of big marks against his accomplishments; he played for three different teams in 2011, and probably more importantly, his team failed to make the playoffs.
It should be interesting to see who wins that particular award in a season where there have been so many viable candidates.
Do you think the fact that DC United failed to make the playoffs, and that De Rosario played for three clubs this season should factor into the MVP voting?