Pedro Morales Named Finalist for MLS Newcomer of the Year

Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Morales already has an impressive award haul from the 2014 MLS season. In October, Morales cleaned up at the Whitecaps Team Awards, bringing home the BMO Player of the Year, as well as the Domenic Mobilio Golden Boot award as the teams top scorer.

Now, it looks like the entire league is taking notice, as Morales has been nominated for the MLS Newcomer of the Year Award, along with LA Galaxy midfielder Stefan Ishizaki and New England Revolution midfielder Jermaine Jones.

Morales is a strong contender for the award, as he lead the Whitecaps in virtually ever offensive category, and powered the club to their first play-off appearance since 2012. He had 10 goals, lead the team in assists with 18, as well as in shots and shots on goal. His leadership was also recognized by the Whitecaps coaching staff, as they gave him the Captains armband when Jay Demerit went down with injury, and then ultimately retired.

By comparison, Ishizaki had 5 goals and 7 assists, while the 33 year old Jones had 2 goals and 4 assists in just seven games. Hopefully being from a Canadian team doesn't hinder Morales' chances too much, as we saw with Camilo when he won the golden boot last year, and was nominated for the league MVP. However, the award went to an American who scored fewer goals in Mike Magee. (No, I'm not bitter)

Speaking of the MVP award, former Whitecap and current Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen has been nominated for the award, as has Robbie Keane of the Galaxy and Obafemi Martins of Seattle.

The full list of award nominees is below, or you can check out the MLS website.

Volkswagen Most Valuable Player Finalists

• Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)
• Obafemi Martins (Seattle Sounders)
• Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution)

AT&T Rookie of the Year Finalists

• Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas)
• Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United)
• Harry Shipp (Chicago Fire)

Defender of the Year Finalists

• Bobby Boswell (D.C. United)
• Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy)
• Chad Marshall (Seattle Sounders)

Coach of the Year Finalists

• Gregg Berhalter (Columbus Crew SC)
• Ben Olsen (D.C. United)
• Sigi Schmid (Seattle Sounders)

Comeback Player of the Year Finalists

• Charlie Davies (New England Revolution)
• Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders)
• Rodney Wallace (Portland Timbers)

Allstate Goalkeeper of the Year Finalists

• Steve Clark (Columbus Crew SC)
• Bill Hamid (D.C. United)
• Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

Newcomer of the Year Finalists

• Stefan Ishizaki (LA Galaxy)
• Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution)
• Pedro Morales (Vancouver Whitecaps)

MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year Finalists

• Diego Chara (Portland Timbers)
• AJ DeLaGarza (LA Galaxy)
• Zach Loyd (FC Dallas)

Xbox Individual Fair Play Finalists*

• Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers)
• Michael Parkhurst (Columbus Crew SC)
• Harry Shipp (Chicago Fire)

*Selected by MLS based on objective criteria such as fouls committed, cards received, games & minutes played, as well as subjective evaluation of sportsmanlike behavior.

Xbox Team Fair Play Finalists*
LA Galaxy
Philadelphia Union
Real Salt Lake

*Selected by MLS based on objective criteria such as fewest fouls committed, cards received, and on subjective evaluation of sportsmanlike behavior.

Referee of the Year Finalists
Mark Geiger
Jair Marrufo
Alan Kelly

Assistant Referee of the Year Finalists
Peter Manikowski
Paul Scott
Adam Wienckowski

Awards Announcements Schedule:
Schedule subject to change

• Nov. 24: AT&T Rookie of the Year, Xbox Fair Play Individual and Team of the Year
• Nov. 25: MLS Defender of the Year, MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year, and Referee/Assistant Referee of the Year
• Dec. 2: MLS Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and MLS Best XI
• Dec. 3: Allstate Goalkeeper of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Volkswagen MLS MVP
• Dec. 4: AT&T Goal of the Year, MLS Save of the Year