MLS Foul Awards 2010

Here we go - the regular season is over, and now we can look at the official statistics and find out who led the league in 8 different foul categories. As always, I'll be looking at each player's stats per 90 minutes, rather than just raw totals. Which players will win in the eight categories below? 1. Most Fouls Committed 2. Least Fouls Committed 3. Most Fouls Suffered 4. Least Fouls Suffered 5. Most FC Compared to FS 6. Most FS Compared to FC 7. Most FC + FS 8. Least FC + FS Rules: Players must have played 20% of the season, in minutes. This year, that was 540 out of 2700. Field players only, no goalkeepers. But first, a look at the total number of fouls leaguewide in this season and years past: Total Fouls (1996-2010) FC FS Diff Games FC FS 1996 4432 4386 46 160 27.70 27.41 1997 4583 4579 4 160 28.64 28.62 1998 5402 5132 270 192 28.14 26.73 1999 5551 5285 266 192 28.91 27.53 2000 6489 6236 253 192 33.80 32.48 2001 5211 4966 245 158 32.98 31.43 2002 4559 4364 195 140 32.56 31.17 2003 4836 4584 252 150 32.24 30.56 2004 4573 4348 225 150 30.49 28.99 2005 5670 5432 238 192 29.53 28.29 2006 5573 5297 276 192 29.03 27.59 2007 5524 5232 292 195 28.33 26.83 2008 5211 4880 331 210 24.81 23.24 2009 5146 4729 417 225 22.87 21.02 2010 5263 4843 420 240 21.93 20.18 For the 10th consecutive year, the number of fouls committed is down. As you can see, there was a clear change starting in 2008 and continuing to this day. One note: I got this data by adding up each player's totals from MLSsoccer.com, so that excludes any FC/FS by goalkeepers. Through 2003, those numbers were readily available and thus were included. There were also more fouls called per game in 2000-03 due to overtime. Now, on the award winners and top tens for each category! 1. Most Fouls Committed And the winner is... New York's high-paid, low-scoring Ghanaian forward Salou Ibrahim. He played the fewest minutes (747) of any of the 2010 winners, but he made them count, easily leading his former teammate Mac Kandji. 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC 1 Salou Ibrahim NY 3.133 747 26 2 Macoumba Kandji NY/COL 2.870 1129 36 3 Alan Gordon LA/CHV 2.777 1199 37 4 Joseph Niouky NE 2.697 1,068 32 5 Martin Saric TOR 2.498 1,153 32 6 Tony Tchani NY 2.404 1610 43 7 Maxim Usanov TOR 2.325 1,045 27 8 Dema Kovalenko LA 2.275 712 18 9 Pablo Hernandez DC 2.272 1,149 29 10 Bratislav Ristic CHI 2.211 692 17 The first thing that I notice is that 9/10 are foreign. Only Alan Gordon is representing the red, white, and blue. Gordon actually is in the top ten for the 4th time in his career (3rd straight year), which only trails Ben Olsen (5) all time. You also may be surprised to learn that Kovalenko is making his first top ten appearance. That's right, until 2010 he had never been in the top ten for fouls committed per 90 minutes. Oh, he's been very close a few times, but he's never made it until now. Perfect timing with Paul Gardner just writing an article about his dirty play. Also notable is the fact that both Ibrahim and Tchani were out for the first playoff game. Will their returns make for a much more physical second leg? All Time Winners 1996 Jose Vasquez LA 1997 Paul Keegan NE 1998 Paul Keegan NE 1999 Paulo Dos Santos NE 2000 Matt Okoh COL 2001 Matt Okoh NE 2002 Raul Palacios COL 2003 Carlos Ruiz LA 2004 Jesse Marsch CHI 2005 Brian Ching SJ 2006 Marcelo Saragosa LA/DAL 2007 Roberto Brown COL 2008 Rod Dyachenko DC 2009 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 2010 Salou Ibrahim NY 2. Least Fouls Committed And the winner is... Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez, who averaged one foul for every 482 minutes he played. His rate of 0.187 per 90 minutes is the second highest in league history, behind Terry Cooke in 2006 (0.135). 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC 1 Jason Hernandez SJ 0.187 2,412 5 2 Scott Palguta COL 0.321 560 2 3 Corey Ashe HOU 0.327 1,650 6 4 Robbie Findley RSL 0.332 1,355 5 5 Santino Quaranta DC 0.347 2,331 9 6 Mike Banner CHI 0.353 1,019 4 7 Sebastien Le Toux PHI 0.357 2,520 10 8 Kosuke Kimura COL 0.373 1,931 8 9 Robbie Russell RSL 0.376 1,915 8 10 Richard Mulrooney HOU 0.377 1,671 7 Le Toux/Mulrooney are making their second top tens. Le Toux was nominated for the fair play award, along with C.J. Brown and Chris Wondolowski. In the last four years, somebody from the top ten in this category has been the winner. Also interesting to see Findley ranked so high. All Time Winners 1996 Billy Thompson CLB 1997 David Patino COL 1998 Gerell Elliot DAL 1999 Kevin Knight NY 2000 Carlos Valderrama TB 2001 Robert Fraser COL 2002 Richard Farrer DAL 2003 Jesus Ochoa LA 2004 Kelly Gray CHI 2005 Michael Parkhurst NE 2006 Terry Cooke COL 2007 Terry Cooke COL 2008 Terry Cooke COL 2009 Steve Ralston NE 2010 Jason Hernandez SJ 3. Most Fouls Suffered And the winner is... Real Salt Lake's Javier Morales, more infamous this week for committing fouls rather than suffering them. While he may be suspended this weekend for the second leg against Dallas, his likely replacement Andy Williams has actually ranked in the top ten in this category an all time best 7 times (along with Alejandro Moreno). 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FS 1 Javier Morales RSL 3.162 2,163 76 2 Pablo Hernandez DC 2.820 1,149 36 3 Kenny Mansally NE 2.813 928 29 4 David Ferreira DAL 2.801 2,699 84 5 Freddie Ljungberg SEA/CHI 2.701 2,432 73 6 Joseph Ngwenya HOU 2.598 589 17 7 Brian McBride CHI 2.469 1,604 44 8 Alejandro Moreno PHI 2.416 1,974 53 9 Emilio Renteria CLB 2.310 857 22 10 Fredy Montero SEA 2.295 2,353 60 Like I said, Moreno has a long time history of dominating this category (and some would say diving). However, a lot of the other players here have been highly ranked before. Ljungberg/Mansally/Montero/Ngwenya are making a second appearance (as is Morales), while McBride makes his third. So only 3/10 haven't been made this top ten before. All Time Winners 1996 Giuseppe Galderisi NE/TB 1997 Damian DAL 1998 Diego Serna MIA 1999 Jason Moore DC 2000 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2001 Onandi Lowe KC 2002 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2003 Jose Cancela NE 2004 Davy Arnaud KC 2005 Alejandro Moreno SJ 2006 Jose Cancela NE 2007 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2008 Marcelo Gallardo DC 2009 Freddie Ljungberg SEA 2010 Javier Morales RSL 4. Least Fouls Suffered And the winner is... The only returning winner from 2009, Kansas City's returning center back Shavar Thomas. He played almost the same amount of minutes this year as last (1,432 vs 1,459), and doubled his fouls suffered...from 1 to 2. 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FS 1 Shavar Thomas PHI/KC 0.126 1432 2 2 Mista TOR 0.165 544 1 3 Ike Opara SJ 0.197 914 2 4 Bobby Boswell HOU 0.198 2277 5 5 Tim Ream NY 0.200 2700 6 6 Carlos Mendes NY 0.202 1785 4 7 Jason Garey CLB 0.230 784 2 8 Jason Hernandez SJ 0.261 2412 7 9 Shaun Francis CLB 0.272 993 3 10 Roy Miller NY 0.277 1948 6 Look at the totals for all the NY defenders. That jumps out at me, as well as the low totals for rookies Ream/Opara/Francis. And Mista, I think a goalscorer is supposed to draw a few more fouls than that. Boswell/Thomas make their third top tens, and Hernandez/Mendes make their second. For Hernandez, this comes after winning the award for fewest fouls committed above. All Time Winners 1996 Richard Weiszmann NE 1997 Joey Martinez DAL 1998 Kris Kelderman MIA 1999 Leo Cullen MIA 2000 Brian Johnson KC 2001 Edson Buddle CLB 2002 Zak Ibsen SJ 2003 Daouda Kante NE 2004 Hong Myung-Bo LA 2005 Kenny Cutler RSL 2006 Kelly Gray HOU 2007 Bobby Boswell DC 2008 Ezra Hendrickson CLB 2009 Shavar Thomas CHV 2010 Shavar Thomas PHI/KC 5. Most FC Compared to FS And the winner is... A player who was waived midseason: New England's Joseph Niouky. He ranked 4th in fouls committed, and wins the award here. That now makes four straight winners of this award who didn't be returning to their club the next season. 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Joseph Niouky NE 1.938 1068 32 9 2.70 0.76 2 Martin Saric TOR 1.795 1153 32 9 2.50 0.70 3 Maxim Usanov TOR 1.636 1045 27 8 2.33 0.69 4 Shaun Francis CLB 1.450 993 19 3 1.72 0.27 5 Alan Gordon LA/CHV 1.426 1199 37 18 2.78 1.35 6 Jovan Kirovski LA 1.352 932 20 6 1.93 0.58 7 Salou Ibrahim NY 1.325 747 26 15 3.13 1.81 8 Macoumba Kandji NY/COL 1.275 1129 36 20 2.87 1.59 9 Wilman Conde CHI 1.204 2019 41 14 1.83 0.62 10 Julius James DC 1.177 1682 38 16 2.03 0.86 Gordon makes his 3rd top ten, while Conde/James/Kirovski make their second. All Time Winners 1996 Curt Onalfo LA 1997 Cle Kooiman TB 1998 Cle Kooiman MIA 1999 Geoff Aunger DC 2000 Ricardo Iribarren DAL 2001 Brian Namoff DC 2002 Raul Palacios COL 2003 Diego Walsh CLB 2004 Simo Valakari DAL 2005 Esteban Arias CHV 2006 Marcelo Saragosa LA/DAL 2007 Roberto Brown COL 2008 Rod Dyachenko DC 2009 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 2010 Joseph Niouky NE 6. Most FS Compared to FC And the winner is... Retiring US soccer legend Brian McBride. He's the 4th straight Chicago Fire player to win this award, after three straight years of Cuauhtemoc Blanco taking it. This is McBride's second victory in this category, after 2002. 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Brian McBride CHI -1.908 1604 10 44 0.56 2.47 2 Javier Morales RSL -1.706 2163 35 76 1.46 3.16 3 David Ferreira DAL -1.667 2699 34 84 1.13 2.80 4 Jaime Moreno DC -1.591 905 7 23 0.70 2.29 5 Freddie Ljungberg SEA/CHI -1.554 2432 31 73 1.15 2.70 6 Corey Ashe HOU -1.473 1650 6 33 0.33 1.80 7 Guillermo Barros Schelotto CLB -1.379 2545 14 53 0.50 1.87 8 Ryan Smith KC -1.326 2104 15 46 0.64 1.97 9 Nathan Sturgis SEA -1.214 1483 11 31 0.67 1.88 10 Robbie Findley RSL -1.196 1355 5 23 0.33 1.53 I wouldn't have guessed Sturgis here at the beginning of the season. A lot of players have made this top ten their home: McBride - 8 times Moreno - 5 times Schelotto - 3 times Ferreira/Ljungberg/Morales - 2 times McBride's 8 top tens in this category are tied for the record in any of them, along with Andy Williams in the next award, Most FC + FS. All Time Winners 1996 Giuseppe Galderisi NE/TB 1997 Damian DAL 1998 Gilmar TB 1999 Jason Moore DC 2000 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2001 Onandi Lowe KC 2002 Brian McBride CLB 2003 Jose Cancela NE 2004 Jose Cancela NE 2005 Jose Cancela NE 2006 Jose Cancela NE 2007 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2008 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2009 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2010 Brian McBride CHI 7. Most FC + FS And the winner is... DC United's Argentine import Pablo Hernandez. Hey, now we can say that DC won something this year. He ranked second in fouls suffered, and just outside the top ten in fouls committed. 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Pablo Hernandez DC 5.091 1149 29 36 2.27 2.82 2 Salou Ibrahim NY 4.940 747 26 15 3.13 1.81 3 Kenny Mansally NE 4.752 928 20 29 1.94 2.81 4 Joseph Ngwenya HOU 4.737 589 14 17 2.14 2.60 5 Javier Morales RSL 4.619 2163 35 76 1.46 3.16 6 Macoumba Kandji NY/COL 4.464 1129 36 20 2.87 1.59 7 Dema Kovalenko LA 4.298 712 18 16 2.28 2.02 8 Emilio Renteria CLB 4.201 857 18 22 1.89 2.31 9 Alan Gordon LA/CHV 4.128 1199 37 18 2.78 1.35 10 Steven Lenhart CLB 4.006 1640 38 35 2.09 1.92 All the usual battlers are here, it seems. Six players make their second top ten - Gordon/Kandji/Kovalenko/Lenhart/Mansally/Ngwenya. Last year's winner (and FC vs FS winner) Quincy Amarikwa didn't play enough minutes to qualify, but he certainly was on pace to win again (6.98 per 90). All Time Winners 1996 Alberto Naveda NE 1997 Paul Keegan NE 1998 Evans Wise NE/TB 1999 Paulo Dos Santos NE 2000 Diego Serna MIA 2001 Onandi Lowe KC 2002 Alejandro Moreno LA 2003 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2004 Andy Williams CHI 2005 Brian Ching SJ 2006 Atiba Harris RSL 2007 Andrea Lombardo TOR 2008 Atiba Harris CHV 2009 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 2010 Pablo Hernandez DC 8. Least FC + FS And the winner is... It shouldn't be a surprise if you've read this far. He made the top ten for the least amount in both categories. It's double award winner Jason Hernandez of San Jose. It's also the lowest mark in league history. In fact, the top four here are all in the top ten all time. 2010 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Jason Hernandez SJ 0.448 2412 5 7 0.19 0.26 2 Tim Ream NY 0.633 2700 13 6 0.43 0.20 3 Scott Palguta COL 0.643 560 2 2 0.32 0.32 4 Darrius Barnes NE 0.700 1800 8 6 0.40 0.30 5 Robbie Russell RSL 0.752 1915 8 8 0.38 0.38 6 Shavar Thomas PHI/KC 0.754 1432 10 2 0.63 0.13 7 C.J. Brown CHI 0.769 2340 12 8 0.46 0.31 8 Bobby Boswell HOU 0.830 2277 16 5 0.63 0.20 9 Eric Alexander DAL 0.854 1054 6 4 0.51 0.34 10 Michael Stephens LA 0.908 1884 13 6 0.62 0.29 The previous winner and record holder, Sam Cronin, wasn't even in the top third of eligible players. Multiple top tens in this category: Barnes/Hernandez/Palguta with two. All Time Winners 1996 Frank Yallop TB 1997 David Patino COL 1998 Leo Cullen MIA 1999 Leo Cullen MIA 2000 Eric Denton DC 2001 Leo Cullen MIA/NE 2002 Richard Farrer DAL 2003 Chris Brown KC/NE 2004 Kelly Gray CHI 2005 Clyde Simms DC 2006 Terry Cooke COL 2007 Michael Parkhurst NE 2008 Michael Parkhurst NE 2009 Sam Cronin TOR 2010 Jason Hernandez SJ Further Reading Foul Awards 2008 Foul Awards 2009

MLS Foul Awards 2009

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of the year again. The regular season is over, so now we can look at the official numbers for fouls committed and fouls suffered and put them in the context of "per 90 minutes" rather than just raw totals. Which players will lead in the eight categories below? 1. Most Fouls Committed 2. Least Fouls Committed 3. Most Fouls Suffered 4. Least Fouls Suffered 5. Most FC Compared to FS 6. Most FS Compared to FC 7. Most FC + FS 8. Least FC + FS Rules: Players must have played 20% of the season, in minutes. This year, that was 540 out of 2700. Field players only, no goalkeepers. Total Fouls (1996-2009): FC FS Diff Games FC FS 1996 4432 4386 46 160 27.70 27.41 1997 4583 4579 4 160 28.64 28.62 1998 5402 5132 270 192 28.14 26.73 1999 5551 5285 266 192 28.91 27.53 2000 6489 6236 253 192 33.80 32.48 2001 5211 4966 245 158 32.98 31.43 2002 4559 4364 195 140 32.56 31.17 2003 4836 4584 252 150 32.24 30.56 2004 4573 4348 225 150 30.49 28.99 2005 5670 5432 238 192 29.53 28.29 2006 5573 5297 276 192 29.03 27.59 2007 5524 5232 292 195 28.33 26.83 2008 5211 4880 331 210 24.81 23.24 2009 5146 4729 417 225 22.87 21.02 As you can see, this year and last the number of fouls called is way down. Refs have been instructed to not interrupt the flow of the game as much, for better or worse. That explains the Seattle-Houston game last week, huh? Why the difference in FC and FS? First of all, stats for goalkeepers haven't been listed since 2004. That would only make up a couple dozen fouls, though. I can only assume it's due to handballs. Also, remember for this table that the average length of a game in 2000-3 was a bit longer due to OT. Now, on to the awards. 1. Most Fouls Committed And the winner is... Rookie forward Quincy Amarikwa of the San Jose Earthquakes. Would you have guessed that he commits the most fouls per 90 minutes? The last two recipients of this award were not in the league the next year; I think he'll break that streak. 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC 1 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 3.588 602 24 2 Alan Gordon LA 2.911 1175 38 3 Steven Lenhart CLB 2.789 1065 33 4 Conor Casey COL 2.674 2087 62 5 Eduardo Lillingston CHV 2.637 1263 37 6 Edson Buddle LA 2.582 1255 36 7 Pablo Campos SJ/RSL 2.582 1011 29 8 Ben Olsen DC 2.363 1371 36 9 Marcelo Saragosa DAL/CHV 2.335 1272 33 10 Cam Weaver SJ/HOU 2.332 772 20 Gordon's name should be no surprise - this is his third time in the top ten (2006, 2008). Same thing for Olsen and Saragosa, grizzled veterans of the fouls committed category. They're here for the 5th and 4th times respectively. All Time Winners 1996 Jose Vasquez LA 1997 Paul Keegan NE 1998 Paul Keegan NE 1999 Paulo Dos Santos NE 2000 Matt Okoh COL 2001 Matt Okoh NE 2002 Raul Palacios COL 2003 Carlos Ruiz LA 2004 Jesse Marsch CHI 2005 Brian Ching SJ 2006 Marcelo Saragosa LA/DAL 2007 Roberto Brown COL 2008 Rod Dyachenko DC 2009 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 2. Least Fouls Committed And the winner is... The two-time winner of the MLS Fair Play Award, New England's Steve Ralston. This is his 4th top ten appearance in this category. Ralston should probably thank Rapids coach Gary Smith in his acceptance speech. Smith released the three-time defending champion, Terry Cooke. Cooke was on pace for a top ten appearance, but didn't have enough minutes to qualify. Who knows if he could've won again? 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC 1 Steve Ralston NE 0.233 1543 4 2 Jacob Peterson COL 0.239 1131 3 3 Justin Mapp CHI 0.267 1013 3 4 Eric Denton SJ 0.336 803 3 5 Richard Mulrooney HOU 0.357 1260 5 6 Steve Zakuani SEA 0.406 1993 9 7 Brian McBride CHI 0.413 1963 9 8 Josh Tudela LA 0.424 637 3 9 Kelly Gray SJ 0.427 632 3 10 Sebastien Le Toux SEA 0.432 1457 7 Peterson's here for a second straight year in the top ten, while Denton/Gray/McBride also all made their second top tens. All Time Winners 1996 Billy Thompson CLB 1997 David Patino COL 1998 Gerell Elliot DAL 1999 Kevin Knight NY 2000 Carlos Valderrama TB 2001 Robert Fraser COL 2002 Richard Farrer DAL 2003 Jesus Ochoa LA 2004 Kelly Gray CHI 2005 Michael Parkhurst NE 2006 Terry Cooke COL 2007 Terry Cooke COL 2008 Terry Cooke COL 2009 Steve Ralston NE 3. Most Fouls Suffered And the winner is... Seattle Sounders designated player Freddie Ljungberg. This award has now gone to a DP in each season since the rule was passed. 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FS 1 Freddie Ljungberg SEA 3.284 1836 67 2 Fredy Montero SEA 2.517 2217 62 3 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2.417 1452 39 4 Macoumba Kandji NY 2.414 1752 47 5 Javier Morales RSL 2.384 2076 55 6 Ben Olsen DC 2.298 1371 35 7 Santiago Hirsig KC 2.218 2110 52 8 Pablo Vitti TOR 2.182 1650 40 9 Robbie Rogers CLB 2.159 1709 41 10 Brian Ching HOU 2.150 1549 37 Blanco's finished in the top three in each of his MLS seasons. Rogers is back for a second consecutive season, while Ching and Olsen make their 4th top tens. Olsen completes a double by being in the top ten for both fouls committed and suffered. That's not exactly rare, however. Adam Cristman, Danny Dichio, and Andrea Lombardo all did it in 2007. Reigning MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto made the past two top tens in 2007-8. Where is he now? 32nd, right after A.J. DeLaGarza. Alejandro Moreno, who's normally a lock for this top ten, was only 13th. His teammate Steven Lenhart, who started over him in the playoff opener, was right up there at 19th. All Time Winners 1996 Giuseppe Galderisi NE/TB 1997 Damian DAL 1998 Diego Serna MIA 1999 Jason Moore DC 2000 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2001 Onandi Lowe KC 2002 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2003 Jose Cancela NE 2004 Davy Arnaud KC 2005 Alejandro Moreno SJ 2006 Jose Cancela NE 2007 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2008 Marcelo Gallardo DC 2009 Freddie Ljungberg SEA 4. Least Fouls Suffered And the winner is... Chivas USA defender Shavar Thomas has not only won the award, he's also set an all time record. He was only fouled once in 1,459 minutes of playing time; that should be pretty hard to break. Thomas and runner up Sam Cronin both eclipsed Ezra Hendrickson's record which lasted all of one year. 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FS 1 Shavar Thomas CHV 0.062 1459 1 2 Sam Cronin TOR 0.076 2363 2 3 Chris Tierney NE 0.172 1044 2 4 Jim Brennan TOR 0.218 2478 6 5 Simon Elliott SJ 0.219 1234 3 6 Darrius Barnes NE 0.233 2700 7 7 Bobby Burling CHV/SJ 0.252 713 2 8 Scott Palguta COL 0.257 1749 5 9 Josh Tudela LA 0.283 637 2 10 Aaron Pitchkolan DAL/SJ 0.285 631 2 Thomas also made the top ten in 2003. Brennan and Pitchkolan are here for a second time also. All Time Winners 1996 Richard Weiszmann NE 1997 Joey Martinez DAL 1998 Kris Kelderman MIA 1999 Leo Cullen MIA 2000 Brian Johnson KC 2001 Edson Buddle CLB 2002 Zak Ibsen SJ 2003 Daouda Kante NE 2004 Hong Myung-Bo LA 2005 Kenny Cutler RSL 2006 Kelly Gray HOU 2007 Bobby Boswell DC 2008 Ezra Hendrickson CLB 2009 Shavar Thomas CHV 5. Most FC Compared to FS And the winner is... San Jose's Quincy Amarikwa wins his second award. He committed 2.093 more fouls per 90 minutes than he suffered. For the fourth straight year, the winner of Most FC also wins Most FC compared to FS. You'd think that happens every year, but it actually never happened in the league's first ten seasons. 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 2.093 602 24 10 3.59 1.50 2 Rodney Wallace DC 1.629 2265 52 11 2.07 0.44 3 Jovan Kirovski LA 1.498 1202 30 10 2.25 0.75 4 Eduardo Lillingston CHV 1.496 1263 37 16 2.64 1.14 5 Edson Buddle LA 1.434 1255 36 16 2.58 1.15 6 Aaron Pitchkolan DAL/SJ 1.426 631 12 2 1.71 0.29 7 Yamith Cuesta CHV 1.374 786 15 3 1.72 0.34 8 Julius James HOU/DC 1.334 1214 25 7 1.85 0.52 9 Atiba Harris CHV/DAL 1.178 2139 55 27 2.31 1.14 10 Andy Iro CLB 1.141 631 12 4 1.71 0.57 I know Kirovski gets bashed a lot already, but shouldn't a creative player like him (right?) do better in this category? Second top tens for Harris/Pitchkolan (both 2007). All Time Winners 1996 Curt Onalfo LA 1997 Cle Kooiman TB 1998 Cle Kooiman MIA 1999 Geoff Aunger DC 2000 Ricardo Iribarren DAL 2001 Brian Namoff DC 2002 Raul Palacios COL 2003 Diego Walsh CLB 2004 Simo Valakari DAL 2005 Esteban Arias CHV 2006 Marcelo Saragosa LA/DAL 2007 Roberto Brown COL 2008 Rod Dyachenko DC 2009 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 6. Most FS Compared to FC And the winner is... Three years, three wins in this category for the Chicago Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who just edges out Ljungberg. The winning number of 1.798 more FS per 90 minutes than FC is by far the lowest #1 total in league history, 26% lower than Blanco's total last year (the previous low #1). 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI -1.798 1452 10 39 0.62 2.42 2 Freddie Ljungberg SEA -1.765 1836 31 67 1.52 3.28 3 Amaechi Igwe NE -1.290 628 5 14 0.72 2.01 4 Santino Quaranta DC -1.272 1769 15 40 0.76 2.04 5 Justin Mapp CHI -1.244 1013 3 17 0.27 1.51 6 David Ferreira DAL -1.170 2692 23 58 0.77 1.94 7 Brian McBride CHI -1.100 1963 9 33 0.41 1.51 8 Javier Morales RSL -1.084 2076 30 55 1.30 2.38 9 Mike Banner CHI -1.051 942 6 17 0.57 1.62 10 Jair Benitez DAL -0.935 1155 10 22 0.78 1.71 Look at all the Fire players. Does this mean they're a creative team, or just soft? They did win the team fair play award this year by a wide margin. Mapp (5th) and McBride (7th) make this top ten on what seems like a yearly basis. Also, Igwe...really? He did barely qualify with 628 minutes, so I wonder how a full season would look. All Time Winners 1996 Giuseppe Galderisi NE/TB 1997 Damian DAL 1998 Gilmar TB 1999 Jason Moore DC 2000 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2001 Onandi Lowe KC 2002 Brian McBride CLB 2003 Jose Cancela NE 2004 Jose Cancela NE 2005 Jose Cancela NE 2006 Jose Cancela NE 2007 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2008 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 2009 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 7. Most FC + FS And the winner is... San Jose's Quincy Amarikwa is a triple winner. Sure it's a small sample size (602 minutes), barely over the 20% minimum, but rules are rules. The only other player to win three foul awards in a single year was Onandi Lowe of KC in 2001. Lowe played over 1,000 minutes that year and set a record for the highest fouls suffered rate, which is a pretty good accomplishment. The interesting thing will be watching Amarikwa next year and seeing if this holds up. 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 5.083 602 24 10 3.59 1.50 2 Alan Gordon LA 5.055 1175 38 28 2.91 2.14 3 Freddie Ljungberg SEA 4.804 1836 31 67 1.52 3.28 4 Steven Lenhart CLB 4.732 1065 33 23 2.79 1.94 5 Ben Olsen DC 4.661 1371 36 35 2.36 2.30 6 Macoumba Kandji NY 4.623 1752 43 47 2.21 2.41 7 Conor Casey COL 4.442 2087 62 41 2.67 1.77 8 Fredy Montero SEA 4.425 2217 47 62 1.91 2.52 9 Pablo Campos SJ/RSL 4.362 1011 29 20 2.58 1.78 10 Cam Weaver SJ/HOU 4.080 772 20 15 2.33 1.75 Atiba Harris, where have you gone? Alas, the two-time former winner only could finish 27th this year. If the pattern holds, he should again be first in 2010. The only previous top ten finisher is Olsen; it's his 7th top ten here! A warrior for sure. All Time Winners 1996 Alberto Naveda NE 1997 Paul Keegan NE 1998 Evans Wise NE/TB 1999 Paulo Dos Santos NE 2000 Diego Serna MIA 2001 Onandi Lowe KC 2002 Alejandro Moreno LA 2003 DaMarcus Beasley CHI 2004 Andy Williams CHI 2005 Brian Ching SJ 2006 Atiba Harris RSL 2007 Andrea Lombardo TOR 2008 Atiba Harris CHV 2009 Quincy Amarikwa SJ 8. Least FC + FS And the winner is... The second rookie to claim an award, Sam Cronin of Toronto FC. He was second to Shavar Thomas in fouls suffered, but here he's second to none. Like Thomas, he also sets an all time record by being involved in only 0.533 fouls per game either way. 2009 Top Ten Team Per 90 Min FC FS FC FS 1 Sam Cronin TOR 0.533 2363 12 2 0.46 0.08 2 Josh Tudela LA 0.706 637 3 2 0.42 0.28 3 Jacob Peterson COL 0.716 1131 3 6 0.24 0.48 4 Eric Denton SJ 0.785 803 3 4 0.34 0.45 5 Simon Elliott SJ 0.802 1234 8 3 0.58 0.22 6 Scott Palguta COL 0.823 1749 11 5 0.57 0.26 7 Darrius Barnes NE 0.833 2700 18 7 0.60 0.23 8 Chris Tierney NE 0.862 1044 8 2 0.69 0.17 9 Sean Franklin LA 0.880 1125 7 4 0.56 0.32 10 Bobby Burling CHV/SJ 0.884 713 5 2 0.63 0.25 Cronin is taking over this award for fellow Wake Forest alumni Michael Parkhurst. Denton makes a second top ten appearance in this category. All Time Winners 1996 Frank Yallop TB 1997 David Patino COL 1998 Leo Cullen MIA 1999 Leo Cullen MIA 2000 Eric Denton DC 2001 Leo Cullen MIA/NE 2002 Richard Farrer DAL 2003 Chris Brown KC/NE 2004 Kelly Gray CHI 2005 Clyde Simms DC 2006 Terry Cooke COL 2007 Michael Parkhurst NE 2008 Michael Parkhurst NE 2009 Sam Cronin TOR Further Reading Foul Awards 2008