NEW YORK - Ballots have been counted, and the time has come to announce the winner.
With the highest vote in history, Guatemalan international and Seattle Sounders midfielder Marco Pappa has been chosen as the winner of FutbolMLS.com's Latino del Año 2014, presented by U.S. Army. Pappa is the first Guatemalan to win the Latino del Año contest and the second Sounders winner, after Colombian forward Fredy Montero took home the award in 2010.
Pappa played 29 games during the MLS regular season, scoring six goals and five assists, and was chosen as the MLS Player of the Week 33, after helping Seattle to the club's first Supporters' Shield. Pappa and his teammates are coming back from the FIFA break to face off against the LA Galaxy in the Western Conference Championship, with the first leg taking place on Sunday, Nov. 23, at StubHub Center (5 pm ET, ESPN).
The recognition comes with perfect timing, since Pappa celebrated his 27th birthday this past Saturday, Nov. 15.
Never before had so many votes been cast in the five years of existence of FutbolMLS.com's Latino del Año. Voting in each round (group stage, Round of 16, quarterfinals, final) surpassed the previous one, making the 2014 edition the most acclaimed so far. Pappa himself broke voting records during each round, doing it again during the final.
Pappa was first during the group stage in Group E with 81 percent of the toal votes, leaving South Americans Marcelo Sarvas, Mauro Rosales and Ignacio Piatti behind. In the Round of 16, Pappa swept Honduran international Víctor Bernárdez with 91 percent of the vote, then eliminated his Seattle teammate, Gonzalo Pineda, with 92 percent of the total votes during the quarterfinal stage.
For the Final, Pappa had a little more competition than previous rounds, but he again led the group with 68 percent of the total votes. His most immediate pursuer was Panamanian international and LA Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, with 21 percent. The two will face each other during the Conference Championships starting this weekend.
Far and below the two Central Americans, Mexican forward Érick "Cubo" Torres and Vancouver Whitecaps Pedro Morales registered 7 and 4 percent, respectively. The three countries that most actively participated during the final round of voting were Guatemala (33%), the US (30%) and Panama (17%), in that order,.
Created in 2010, Latino del Año is the annual FutbolMLS.com contest that recognizes the best Latino player from the MLS regular season, via online voting by fans. The contest takes place during a three-week period following the conclusion of the regular season, and fans are the ones who determine which players advance from each round.
