Strong women's field for U.S. Soccer honors
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Dec 14, 2015
She won the Golden Ball as the best player at the 2015 Women's World Cup, while Solo won the Golden Glove as the top goalkeeper. Lloyd, Solo and Sauerbrunn played every minute of the tournament.
Holiday, who played her final game for the USA on Oct. 25, was the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2014, while Solo won in 2009 and Lloyd in 2008.
Abby Wambach, who will retire after Wednesday's USA-China game, holds the record for most Female Player of the Year awards with six honors (2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013). Her win in 2013 broke the previous record of five held by Mia Hamm.
The winner will be announced during the pre-game coverage of USA-China game from New Orleans on Fox Sports 1.
Clint Dempsey (2007, 2011, 2012) is the only former winner nominated for the 2015 U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year. This year's field also features Michael Bradley, Brad Guzan, Fabian Johnson and DeAndre Yedlin.
Landon Donovan holds the record for most Male Player of the Year awards with four honors (2003, 2004, 2009, 2010).
Nominees for Young Male Player of the Year are U.S. U-20s Cameron Carter-Vickers, Matt Miazga, Emerson Hyndman and Gedion Zelalem and U.S. U-17 Christian Pulisic. Hyndman and Pulisic were also nominated for the award in 2014.
Young Female Player of the Year nominees are midfielders Savannah DeMelo, Samantha Mewis and Brianna Pinto and forwards Mallory Pugh and Ashley Sanchez. This is the second and third-straight nomination for Mewis and Pugh, respectively.
The Disabled Player of the Year nominees are Adam Ballou and Kevin Hensley of the U.S. Paralympic National Team and Nicolai Calabria and Noah Grove of the U.S. National Amputee Soccer Team.
Winners for all these other categories will be announced Friday.
How could you give the US Soccer Female Player of the Year to anybody besides Carli Lloyd? She and American Pharaoh should be the top candidates for Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, or in their cases, Sportswoman of the Year and Sportshorse of the Year.