2021 Voyageurs Player of the Year

[Ivan]

11 minutes ago, ted said:

This is for the Voyageurs CMNT Supporters Award. Club performance has absolutely nothing to do with it. What matters is what happens on the pitch in a Canada Jersey and perhaps what happens on the training ground/locker room/sidelines as a tie-breaker.

Where does it specify that?  I read the thread title as "Voyageurs Player of the Year Award".  

Having said that, I do lean toward national team performance over club performance, although I think club performance is important to consider.  I mean, how did we vote for this award in previous years when our NT didn't play any games?  I have already posted who I voted for.

Edited December 3, 2021 by Ivan
grammar

[ted]

31 minutes ago, Ivan said:

Where does it specify that?  I read the thread title as "Voyageurs Player of the Year Award".  

The Voyageurs is the National Team Supporters Group. The award is for the CANADIAN MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM player of the year.

It has nothing to do with club teams as evidenced by the fact that only players who played for the MNT in 2021 are eligible.
 

[Francois79]

12 hours ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

1. Larin - incredible year for country, good year for club.

2. David - Good year for country, incredible year for club.

3. Davies - Good year for country, good year for club.

 

That's exactly how I voted too, for the same reasons

[footballfreak]

To the Larin/David conversation, what I think it boils down to is this:

If the question is “who is the better player?” based on total body of work, league play, etc, the answer is David, and it isn’t particularly close.

But that wasn’t the question, or at least it shouldn’t be.

The question, imo, is “who has been the better player for Canada this year?”

Under those criteria, it’s Larin, and I don't think it’s particularly close. Larin is leading the Ocho in goals and he’s only played in 4/8 games due to injury. He started 3 ocho games and scored in all 3. In 13 GP this year, he has failed to score in only 3: Suriname (66mins), USA GC (53 mins), Costa Rica (25). 

Does that make him the overall winner? I’m not sure yet. But he deserves a spot in the top 3 more than David, who has not shown his quality for Canada consistently enough this year.

Caveat: obviously scoring isn’t everything, just trying not to get too expansive. Even without the goals, I still think Larin has linked up better with the rest of the team this year. 

[Free kick]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

David: 

WCQ Rd 1: (Aruba 1, Suriname 3)

WCQ Rd 2: 0

WCQ Rd 3: (El Salvador 1, Panama 1, Costa Rica 1)

GC: DNP

Total 7

Larin:

WCQ Rd 1: (Bermuda 3, Cayman 1, Aruba 1)

WCQ Rd 2: (Haiti 2)

WCQ Rd 3: (Honduras 1, USA 1, Mexico 2)

GC: (Martinique 1, Haiti 2)

Total 14  

 

i was fully aware of that.  I know that he is equal to David in Goals in the Ocho.  Then i looked at other factors like the leagues both play in

[Free kick]

20 minutes ago, footballfreak said:

 

The question, imo, is “who has been the better player for Canada this year?”

 

i thought the vote was for Voyageurs Player of the year.   i thought that the question was/is who is your selection for the Voyageurs Player of the year?

[Obinna]

9 minutes ago, Free kick said:

i was fully aware of that.  I know that he is equal to David in Goals in the Ocho.  Then i looked at other factors like the leagues both play in

Cool.

And if David's two trophies are worth more to you than Larin's two trophies + his doubling of David for goals, breaking our record for goals in a calendar year, that's cool as well. It's your vote afterall, and how you want to balance club versus country accomplishments is up to you.

We each have our own ideas of what is more important and that's what makes this interesting!

[johnyb]

2 hours ago, Strait Red said:

I took club and country performances into account and my #1 is Eustaquio.

He took a below average relegation zone team in Portugal to the edge of a European spot and he runs our midfield effectively every single game, plays a ton of minutes and is one of most important players game in, game out. Goal scoring gets all the headlines, but without Eustaquio in our squad, we aren’t enjoying these lofty heights.

To add to your point, he was the only player important enough in GC to intentionally get a yellow, so not to miss the knockout round.

[Unnamed Trialist]

One thing's for sure, when St. Pierre et Miquelon become a Concacaf nation, David is going to show up for all our matches against them, just to get the goals to ensure @Obinnavotes for him.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, ted said:

The Voyageurs is the National Team Supporters Group. The award is for the CANADIAN MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM player of the year.

It has nothing to do with club teams as evidenced by the fact that only players who played for the MNT in 2021 are eligible.
 

This has never, ever been the criteria on this board. You've been here long enough to know that.

The NT criteria is simply an eligibility requirement, nothing else, which happened to make sense when duals were being argued over BTW. But even then has been waived in previous years when we played very little.

We have simply voted as the name indicates, our player of the year. We have voted in years when the NT hardly played, and we voted Davies overwhelmingly for a Championship League victory. Just go back and look at the history of these votes and you can see that is clear.

[gigi riva]

who has been the most improved player of 2021.  for me Kamal Miller

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 minute ago, gigi riva said:

who has been the most improved player of 2021.  for me Kamal Miller

He's the player who has swung my opinion the most, if that counts. 

Though I'd say the player who has raised his level the most objectively is Tajon Buchanan. 

[Obinna]

19 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

One thing's for sure, when St. Pierre et Miquelon become a Concacaf nation, David is going to show up for all our matches against them, just to get the goals to ensure @Obinnavotes for him.

Pfff....even I have scored against St. Pierre. It's hardly an accomplishment

[footballfreak]

1 hour ago, Free kick said:

i thought the vote was for Voyageurs Player of the year.   i thought that the question was/is who is your selection for the Voyageurs Player of the year?

Remind me, who do the Voyageurs cheer for again?

I don’t cheer for Lille or Besiktas or Bayern. I cheer for Canada. I don’t care if a player is in a bad league so long as they play well for Canada.

[Free kick]

1 hour ago, footballfreak said:

Remind me, who do the Voyageurs cheer for again?

I don’t cheer for Lille or Besiktas or Bayern. I cheer for Canada. I don’t care if a player is in a bad league so long as they play well for Canada.

there has been a vote for this award for many years now.  And for many of those years, our MNT might have played (if we are lucky) half a dozen time a year.  Why did we bother voting then?

 

 

PS.:  by that standard, Ali Gerba might have been a multiple winner of this award

Edited December 3, 2021 by Free kick

[footballfreak]

9 minutes ago, Free kick said:

there has been a vote for this award for many years now.  And for many of those years, our MNT might have played (if we are luck) half a dozen time a year.  Why did we bother voting then?

 

 

PS.:  by that standard, Ali Gerba might have been a multiple winner of this award

In years without international competition, club performance might have more sway, but this year we have a good sample size of the most meaningful, important games that Canada has played in decades. Those are the games that matter. Everything else is window dressing. So to answer your question - do those previous awards mean less than this year’s edition? Unequivocally yes. 

 

1 hour ago, Free kick said:

i was fully aware of that.  I know that he is equal to David in Goals in the Ocho.  Then i looked at other factors like the leagues both play in

4 =/= 3 btw. 

[Stryker911]

Just to be clear to everyone. The way this vote has always happened is both club and country. It is also however you as an individual decide to vote. If you decide to put more emphasis on one then that is up to you.

[JohnnyFranchise]

18 hours ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

1. Larin - incredible year for country, good year for club.

2. David - Good year for country, incredible year for club.

3. Davies - Good year for country, good year for club.

 

You copying my homework? Because that's exactly what mine looks like 😅

[JohnnyFranchise]

5 hours ago, gigi riva said:

who has been the most improved player of 2021.  for me Kamal Miller

Hands down, even from June to now has been a vast improvement. 

[RJB]

9 hours ago, ted said:

The Voyageurs is the National Team Supporters Group. The award is for the CANADIAN MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM player of the year.

It has nothing to do with club teams as evidenced by the fact that only players who played for the MNT in 2021 are eligible.
 

That's not how it has been for many years if I recall correctly.  It's not how I've viewed this award. 

Perhaps then we need a separate award that simply looks at performances for the National Teams?  I think it would be really neat to see a single award, across all of our teams that rewards the best performer. 

Question: Is there an actual trophy for the current award?

[RJB]

Will we publish who each person voted for?  I've liked that in the past it's been very open and transparent.

[RJB]

1 Davies

2 David

3 Larin

I wouldn't mind this being expanded to top 5.  Looking at so many of those choices, I'm not sure someone could fill out their ballot poorly.  I can make a case for a pile of the names on the list.  

I've spent some really lonely times cheering for this team.  I never thought it possible we would be in this position.  I'm so proud of this team and where they are, as well as who they are.  What a time!!!

[Free kick]

11 hours ago, gigi riva said:

who has been the most improved player of 2021.  for me Kamal Miller

How can Tajon Buchanan be overlooked for this?

 

Was anyone thinking in 2020 that TB would even be named to CMNT squad?  

Edited December 4, 2021 by Free kick

[Shway]

2 hours ago, Free kick said:

How can Tajon Buchanan be overlooked for this?

 

Was anyone thinking in 2020 that TB would even be named to CMNT squad?  

I definitely did. And I think a few others did as well.

Its funny, because I literally was telling my wife about this forum (as she sees it open) . I was telling her a disagreement story of how I was comparing him to somebody else, and was ridiculed because “his career was just starting” - now look at him.

However I would still agree with the Kamal pick, he was in the team/had caps previous to this year, so he had something to improve on. If we remember, he was behind Derek prior to 2021.  

It’s crazy to think that Tajon had his first appearance in any Canada jersey… this year. Same thing can be said about Alistair, who’s been an ironman. 

Edited December 4, 2021 by Shway

[kacbru]

1 David

2 Eustaquio

3 Davies