With three entries from Thierry Henry and two from Juan Agudelo, it was only a matter of time before one of Dane Richards' seven goals made it into the Goal of the Year contest on MLSsoccer.com. He did just that in the final first round of voting in Groups M-P for his goal against Portland on Sept. 24.
In Group P voting, Richards goes up against Adam Moffat (Houston), David Beckham (Los Angeles) and Jeff Cunningham (Columbus).
Here's a replay of his drive to the goal, complete with a great finish that contributed to New York's 2-0 win over the Timbers in front of the home crowd at Red Bull Arena.
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5621822.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5621822/">AT&T Goal of the Year - First Round, Group P</a></noscript> |
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WATCH: Group P</h2><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="248" id="cf8cc1coi" name="cf8cc1con" width="440"><param name="movie" value="http://p.mlssoccer.com/SAu5a/video/769685/league_2011-10-28-094325.640hq.mp4"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="248" id="cf8cc1cei" name="cf8cc1cen" src="http://p.mlssoccer.com/SAu5a/video/769685/league_2011-10-28-094325.640hq.mp4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="440"></object> |
Here's the full breakdown on the voting window, so make sure you do it early and often:
- 64 goals will be nominated: the 32 winners of the AT&T Goal of the Week plus 32 goals chosen by a panel of MLSsoccer.com's editorial staff
- The First Round (voting open Oct. 25-29) will consist of the 64 nominated goals, placed in 16 groups of four. The top two in each group, as determined by an online vote, will advance to the Second Round.
- The Second Round (Oct 30-Nov 2) will consist of the 32 remaining goals, placed into eight groups of four. The top two in each group, as determined by an online vote, will advance to the Round of 16.
- The Round of 16 (Nov 3-10) will consist of the 16 remaining goals, placed in four groups of four. The top goal in each group, as determined by the combination of online voting and text voting, will advance to the Final group.
- The Final Four (Nov 11-14) will consist of the 4 remaining goals, placed in a group. The AT&T Goal of the Year winner will be determined by the combination of online voting and text voting.
