De Guzman is male selection for adidas Canadian Players of the Year award

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that Julian de Guzman is the male selection for the 2008 adidas Canadian Players of the Year award. De Guzman was honoured in a vote shared by Canadian media (50%) and Canadian coaches who have taken the Canadian Soccer Association’s national course at the B and A levels (50%).



De Guzman of Scarborough, ON wins the award for the first time. His co-winner Christine Sinclair of Burnaby, BC – announced yesterday – is a four-time winner of the prize.



In 2008, de Guzman scored two goals in seven games for Canada, including one in 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Qualifiers. He also starred for his club team Real Club Deportivo La Coruña in the Spanish La Liga. In the second half of the 2007-08 season, he helped Deportivo climb from 19th to 9th in the league standings to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Through the first half of 2008-09, he has kept his club in sixth place in La Liga while also qualifying for the Round of 32 phase of the UEFA Cup.



In his seventh season with the national team, de Guzman played in two international friendly matches and five FIFA World Cup Qualifiers™ matches. He scored his first goal of the year on 31 May against Brazil and his second goal on 20 August against Jamaica. That second goal was scored as close to his hometown as possible – at the friendly confines of BMO Field in downtown Toronto.



While the media across the country and coaches from the community levels to national teams honoured de Guzman and Sinclair as the top national players, Canadian coaches honoured two pairs of teenagers earlier this week in other 2007 player award announcements. Nana Attakora-Gyan (Orangeville, ON) and Jonelle Filigno (Mississauga, ON) were named co-winners of the Canadian U-20 Players of the Year award while Russell Teibert (Niagara Falls, ON) and Monica Lam-Feist (Surrey, BC) were named co-winners of the Canadian U-17 Players of the Year award.



Fan voting for the 2008 CanadaSoccer.com Fan’s Choices, meanwhile, runs through 9 January 2009. Fans can still make their two selections (one male, one female) to rscott@soccercan.ca.





FINAL LIST

Male players from the Men’s national team / Joueurs de l’équipe nationale masculine senior

1. Julian de Guzman (30.5)

2. Dwayne De Rosario (15.6)

3. Ali Gerba (11.3)

4. Atiba Hutchinson (8.9)

5. Tomasz Radzinski (8.6)

6. Mike Klukowski (6.4)

7. Adrian Serioux (6.1)

8. Rob Friend (5.2)

9. Paul Stalteri (3.9)

10. Iain Hume (0.3)

11. David Edgar (0.3)

12. Lars Hirschfeld (0.2)