Whitecaps take home hardware
Published on February 2, 2007 under USL First Division (USL-1)
Vancouver Whitecaps News Release
International stars Dwayne De Rosario and Christine Sinclair have been named Canadian Players of the Year for the 2006 soccer season. The two stars were honoured in a vote shared by media and online fans.
Atiba Hutchinson, meanwhile, has been named the inaugural CanadaSoccer.com Fan's Choice winner. Hutchinson received more votes than any other player in the online voting portion conducted by fans. De Rosario, Sinclair and Hutchinson join David Edgar and Jodi-Ann Robinson as 2006 Canadian Soccer Association honoured players after Canada's two teen stars were named Canadian Youth Players of the Year on Thursday.
In eight games for the Whitecaps in 2006, Christine Sinclair scored nine goals and added four assists to help lead the team to an undefeated season and a W-League Championship. Nationally, she played 17 times for Canada's senior team in 2006, serving as team captain at both the Peace Queen Cup and CONCACAF Gold Cup. She scored 11 times for Canada, including the two-goal performance against Jamaica and a hat trick against the Republic of Korea in the Peace Queen Cup. For her achievement, Sinclair was short-listed at year's end for the FIFA World Player of the Year. She was also named the 2006 British Columbia Soccer Association's Senior Athlete of the Year.
In 2007, Sinclair has started the year in Canada's senior women's team residency camp in Vancouver. She will be a driving force for Canada on the road to the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.
De Rosario, 28, played twice for Canada in 2006. He started the year by moving with his professional club to Houston and then finished it by winning an MLS Cup championship after a thrilling overtime and shootout against the New England Revolution. Already a two-time winner of the MLS Goal of the Year award, he scored another highlight-reel goal that was selected as one of the finalists for the award (won by his teammate Brian Ching). At the MLS All-Star Game against two-time Premiership champions Chelsea, he scored the lone goal and was named the game's most valuable player. He recently took part in Canada's January training camp in Florida and is now in camp with the Houston Dynamo as the team works to defend its MLS Cup title.
As for Hutchinson, 23, he was an overwhelming favourite to online fans who visited CanadaSoccer.com in the month of January. The former FIFA World Youth Championships All-Star Team defender (2003) became just the second Canadian player to score in a UEFA Champions League game (2006), following in the footsteps of Tomasz Radzinski. Hutchinson, who made four appearances with Canada's senior team in 2006, is currently playing FC København (Copenhagen) in Denmark.
USL First Division Stories from February 2, 2007
- Whitecaps take home hardware - Vancouver Whitecaps
- Timbers re-sign two 2006 team leaders - Portland Timbers
- Thunder unveils enhanced youth camp schedule - Minnesota Thunder
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