Itās back. A somehow even more subjective rankings column than the regular Power Rankings. Not only do voters get to arbitrarily define āpower,ā but they get to do the same with āvaluable.ā You know you missed it. Ā
Each month we check in with MLS talent, staff, writers and editors to get their thoughts on the Landon Donovan MLS MVP race. Weāre five matchdays into the 2023 season, so letās get the conversation going. Itāll be fun. Trust us.Ā
Sixteen ballots were submitted for this one. A first-place vote received 10 points, a second-place vote received five points, a third-place vote received three points, a fourth-place vote received two points and a fifth-place vote received one point.
- Djordje Petrovic, New England Revolution (9 points)
- Obinna Nwobodo, FC Cincinnati (7 points)
- Eduard Lƶwen, St. Louis CITY SC (2 points)
- Ilie SƔnchez, LAFC (1 point)
- Caleb Wiley, Atlanta United (1 point)
Letās be honest: itās tough to say anything definitive about one player this early in the season, let alone five players. You can kind of tell how when people got past the more obvious votes, they defaulted to the tried-and-true āunder-praised but highly-effective central midfielder who deserves some appreciation around hereā method (Nwobodo, Lƶwen, SĆ”nchez) or the āmost notable goalkeeper who deserves some appreciation around hereā gambit (Petrovic).
A word to the wise: you should always go with the midfielder if youāre trying to play it safe. We know all three midfielders mentioned have been excellent, but we generally canāt actually quantify the things they do well. You, dear reader, just kind of have to believe we know what weāre talking about. We can, however, do a pretty decent job at this point of quantifying the impact of a goalkeeper with statistics like Goals Allowed versus Post-Shot Expected Goals Against and, well, apologies to the voters here, but the best shot-stopper so far has been Brad Stuver. Petrovic has been good, though. And a few one-goal wins for New England doesnāt hurt the Serbian internationalās case as far as āmost valuableā goes.
Anyway, shout out to 18-year-old Caleb Wiley for showing up here after a three-goal, two-assist month. Heās fourth in the league in total goal contributions.
There's also time for last year's winner (Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar) and runner-up (Austin FC's SebastiƔn Driussi) to pick up steam. A lot of time.
Acosta is here after ā and not to dox anyoneās ballots or anything but⦠ā a pretty heavy push from the good folks at Extratime. Heās been good. Cincy are second in the Eastern Conference. He also has no goals, two assists (one primary, one secondary), and a lower non-penalty xG+xA than good-but-not-quite-MVP-caliber Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Brian White. We all define āmost valuableā in our own way I guess. And sometimes most valuable means āthree fewer direct goal contributions than Austin fullback Jon Gallagher.ā
OK, fine, thatās far too dismissive of a player who impacts the game in far more ways than what shows up on a stat sheet. We all know Lucho is one of the best players in the league. In the end, you need a little more end product to truly contend for these kinds of awards. Also, in the end, itās been five whole games. Heās got time.
Bouanga deserves a spot on this list exclusively for his legendary game-winning goal this past weekend. Anyone who hops off a 13-hour flight to earn three points for his team is extraordinarily valuable in both a āwinning soccer gamesā and entertainment sense.
Anyway, heās got a decent mark of three goals and two assists (one primary, one secondary) so far in MLS. It also probably didnāt hurt him that he pulled off a ridiculous hat-trick against Costa Ricaās Alajuelense in Concacaf Champions League a few weeks back.
Playing alongside Carlos Vela and Kwadwo Opoku could limit Bouangaās raw boxscore stats ā the ādefending MLS Cup and Supportersā Shield winners have an extremely balanced attackā thing. But itās a very, very safe bet heāll be in this conversation all year long.
Klauss has been the face of St. Louis CITYās magical run so far. Yes, he seems to have mastered the ability to use āconfusionā on his opponents like a psychic PokĆ©mon, but his contributions arenāt solely reliant on the other team just giving him the ball.
The Brazilian strikerās five goals are second in the league so far and the best player on the best team is always going to get votes, right? Itās a testament to how good St. Louis have been through five games that I donāt know how much Iām kidding about that. Either way, Klauss has been fantastic and thereās no real reason to think heāll slow down too much anytime soon.
Any player that can evoke this kind of emotion has to be pretty valuable, right?
If you need a refresher on why SKC fans are so enthused there, Morris is counting up the not one, not two, not three, but four goals he scored in Kansas City last weekend. Just ruthless stuff. Heās always been explosive, but when heās combining that physical skill set with movement and finishing like thisā¦
Opposing defenses are going to have their hands full.
The US menās national team forward has been on a different level so far, scoring seven times in five games. Only six teams in the entire league have scored more often than Morris. Heās already matched his total from last season and heās been critical to Seattleās success as theyāve started (mostly) without RaĆŗl RuidĆaz and (sometimes) HĆ©ber.
It could also just be the bleach-blonde hair.
This is where I'm supposed to say Thiago Almada has four goals and four assists, he's scoring for Argentina after helping them win the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and there's an increased expectation he could break Miguel Almirón's MLS record outgoing transfer.
I could also just show you this.