NEW YORK — D.C. United’s Ben Olsen was voted Major League Soccer’s Coach of the Year after his team’s turnaround season and Portland midfielder Rodney Wallace was selected Comeback Player of the Year after returning from knee surgery.
Olsen, a former D.C. United midfielder, took over as coach in August 2010. The team was an MLS-worst 3-24-7 in 2013, the fewest points in the team’s history, then rebounded to go 17-9-8 this season and top the Eastern Conference in the biggest one-year MLS turnaround. D.C. United lost to the New York Red Bulls on 3-2 aggregate in the conference semifinals.
Olsen received 103 per cent of a possible 300 per cent in weighted ballots added from team, media and player votes, the league said Tuesday. Seattle’s Sigi Schmid was second with 47 per cent and Columbus’s Gregg Berhalter third with 35 per cent.
Wallace tore his right anterior cruciate ligament and broke a bone Nov. 23, 2013, during a Western Conference finals playoff game against Real Salt Lake and had surgery the following month. He returned to play June 27 and scored five goals in 17 appearances, including 12 starts.
He received 64 per cent in the voting, followed by New England forward Charlie Davies with 60 per cent and Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei with 54 per cent.
MLS also announced its Best XI, which features goalkeeper Bill Hamid (D.C.); defenders Bobby Boswell (D.C.), Omar Gonzalez (LA) and Chad Marshall (Seattle); midfielders Landon Donovan (LA), Thierry Henry (New York), Lee Nguyen (New England) and Diego Valeri (Portland); and forwards Robbie Keane (LA), Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York) and Obafemi Martins (Seattle).
