MLS Rookie of the Year: Maurice Edu

Toronto FC midfielder Maurice Edu was named MLS Rookie of the Year today. Edu beat out Red Bulls midfielder Dane Richards and New England forward Adam Cristman (as well as RSL's Robbie Findley, who should have made the final three).

Edu was a rock for Toronto FC all season, showing vision, strength, athleticism and courage in central midfield. He scored four goals and showed enough quality to earn a U.S. national team call-up and start against Switzerland last month.

As you know, I voted for Richards but there is little doubting that Edu was the most talented rookie in this year's crop.

What do you think of Edu's honor? Share your thoughts on him and the rest of this year's MLS rookies below.

Comments

[Ossington Mental Youth]

I love it and cant wait to watch this guy grow (hopefully he doesnt leave us anytime soon).
TORONTO TIL I DIE

[Glen]

it'll be fun watching him grow as a player and hopefully continue having National team potential

[Randall]

Given his defensive skills, any chance Edu could fill the left back hole for the national team?

[PS]

While watching the Bradley - Edu pairing defend during the Switzerland game I was thinking "Wow, so that's how it's suppose to work". I mean the US looked tough to break down even with Califf as a center back. Do you all know how improbable that is?

[Chris]

What a joke. Rookie of the Year on a last place team? Visions of Edu whiffing on an easy goal from the 6 yard box. Dane Richards was robbed.

[The Nick]

Richards was ROBBEDDDD!!!!

j/k

I was impressed with Edu the few times I saw him play, and especially with the USA.

Lets sign him from Toronto so he can play on a real team. Give them back Goldi and they can get Woly too. They seem to like decent sized no talent center forwards who try hard...Woly would be a hero up there...

[czf]

I'm happy for Edu. He deserves it. He looked good all the time.

[NYFC]

Edu: 4 goals 1 assist

Richards: 2 goals 6 assists

Richards created problems for whatever team he was playing against. No one could guard him. The same can not be said for Edu. Richards was robbed.

Could have at least given it to Findley with 8 goals.

[Craymond Murdock]

I think it is stupid to think that a player should be judged only on his goals and assists as NYFC is claiming. What Maurice did in the game could not generally be jotted down on a stat sheet, but that doesn't mean he had no impact on the games.

[ag nigrin]

MLS had to through Toronto some kind of bone and Edu as ROTY was it. I think Richards would have won hands down if he could cross and shoot on goal better. The rEd Bull NY bone will be Angel winning MVP!

[ag nigrin]

Sorry can 't spell today... through = throw in the above post

[emilio]

I think both had terrific years, but my vote would have gone for Richards. Richards was more dangerous than the stats showed, a very high percentage of the Red Bulls chances were created by the play of Richards and it didnt always result from direct assists, just like the play where Mathis scored against LA. He had a few games at mid season that he slumped a little but than was back in form.

[RichBullNY]

I like Edu, but I don't understand. He didn't get the most goals. Fine. He didn't hardly any assists. Hmm, not great for a midfielder, but ok. Maybe his defense and ball holding capabilities helped his team win. But his team didn't win. They were in last place! Umm, so why did he beat the other 3 out again?

[Jamie]

Common people. If Richards looked more dangerous offensively than Edu, it's because a) he was in an offensive role, whereas Edu was a central, and mostly holding, midfielder who got forward opportunistically, and b) because Richards had more offensive talent around him creating space.
If awards were only given to those on winning/succesful teams, then I'm afraid Angel probably wouldn't be in the discussion (and probably the frontrunner) for MVP. Edu thrived on the field despite TFC's overall personel problems. I like Richards as a player too, but if you feel he was robbed, you spent too much time watching RBNY and not enough time watching MLS.

[Matt]

Rumor going around that Ruud Gullit will be the new Galaxy manager. Ives, you hear anything about this?

[Super Metro]

Correct me if I'm wrong but this is the first time in MLS in which the no.1 draft pick is actually the rookie of the year. Good eye from Mo!

[NYFC]

(Craymond Murdock)

I didn't! Read the next 4 sentences immediately following the stats. Richards was more dangerous. Edu wasn't dangerous at all. Teams were not game planning against him let's say.

[inkedAG]

Yeah, Dane Richards should have gotten it.

[3 points of view]

Edu is a D-mid more than anything.I yhink it was well deserved.he has a phenomenal future

[3 points of view]

sorry for my bad spelling

[Larry]

I'm a Red Bull fan, but I must say I've never really liked Richards after the first game I saw. He is fast, but that is pretty much it. He doesn't dribble well and is just as likely to dribble across the goal line as keep it in. His crosses are predominately horrible with some good thrown in. There's a lot of flash with little bang. Edu, from what I have seen, is simply a better player who did an outstanding defensive job for one of the worst teams in the league. It could reasonably be argued that he carried Toronto despite their injuries and overall team weakness.

[Jon G]

Anyone watch Rangers-Barca on Classic? I missed it :-( and I was wondering how you thought Beasley played?

[Safari]

Edu plays with his balls out with imminent yellow card type aggression. I'm glad he was recognized for not playing like a Rookie!

[kpugs]

This doesn't really bother me. I don't know enough about Edu to go on a Richards-biased rant.

I'm more happy that Richards was recognized as a finalist, he deserved it.

Larry I admit he has a lot to improve on. But you could do a lot worse than a young player with his speed and work rate. I agree he has a poor first touch and bad crossing skills. But I would say he's a good dribbler, maybe needs work on tackling. But he covers the ENTIRE field tirelessly. Offensive wingers with his mindset are hard to come by and very valuable.

[Tim Crawford]

When you watched Toronto, Edu was darn good. He deserved it. Richards was good, but Edu would've had more assits with Angel on the end. I think watching both, Edu was better. This isn't an MVP award, it's simply who was better. That was Maurice. I agree Findley should've been on over Cristman (and I'm a Revs fan). However, I think Cristman and Edu are going to be the possible future stars, and not so much Findley or Richards.