Donovan three-peats for second time
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Oct 21, 2009
Donovan (424 points) beat out Tim Howard (267) and Jozy Altidore (175) for the 2009 award. Voting (3-2-1 point system) was conducted by 221 sports journalists from across the nation for the award widely recognized as the most prestigious award a U.S. national team player can receive.
The winner was announced at ceremonies Tuesday at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Donovan was presented with a new Honda Insight during the event organized by Futbol de Primera.
The 27-year-old Donovan, a Honda finalist for the seventh time, is the all-time goalscorer for the U.S. national team, having scored 42 goals in 120 games. He set a U.S. record for assists in a season with his 10th of the year on Conor Casey's go-ahead goal in the 3-2 win at Honduras that clinched a berth in the World Cup finals. He has also scored five goals in 15 games in 2009. With his first Honda award in 2002, Donovan became the youngest award winner.
Howard, a finalist for the Honda Player of the Year for the third year in a row, received the Golden Glove award at the 2009 Confederations Cup as the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
The 19-year-old Altidore is a first-time finalist for the Honda Player of the Year. He became the youngest U.S. player to record a hat trick earlier this year when he scored all three goals in a 3-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago in World Cup qualifying. He led the USA with six goals in World Cup qualifying.
The only other players to win the award more than once are two-time winners Eric Wynalda and Kasey Keller.
Previous winners:
2009 Landon Donovan
2008 Landon Donovan
2007 Landon Donovan
2006 Clint Dempsey
2005 Kasey Keller
2004 Landon Donovan
2003 Landon Donovan
2002 Landon Donovan
2001 Earnie Stewart
2000 Claudio Reyna
1999 Kasey Keller
1998 Cobi Jones
1997 Eddie Pope
1996 Eric Wynalda
1995 Alexi Lalas
1994 Marcelo Balboa
1993 Thomas Dooley
1992 Eric Wynalda
1991 Hugo Perez
