PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Timbers midfielder Darlington Nagbe was named Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 34 of the 2015 MLS season, it was announced today.
Nagbe, 25, registered a first-half brace and added an assist to help guide the Timbers to a 4-1 win against the Colorado Rapids on Sunday at Providence Park. With the win in the regular-season finale, Portland earned the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed in the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs and the right to play host to a single-elimination, Western Conference Knockout Round match against No. 6 seed Sporting Kansas City on Thursday at Providence Park.
Just five minutes into the match, Nagbe drew a foul and delivered a well-struck free kick that caught Colorado goalkeeper Zac MacMath guessing the wrong way for the opening goal. After Portland conceded the equalizer, Nagbe tallied the eventual game-winning goal with a glancing header from inside the penalty box following a well-placed cross from forward Lucas Melano in the 33rd minute.
Nagbe played distributor in the 63rd, combining with midfielder Rodney Wallace to find defender Jorge Villafaña for Portland’s third goal of the match.
This marks Nagbe’s first MLS Player of the Week award as he also becomes the sixth different Timbers player to earn the honor since 2011. Additionally, it is the second straight week a Timbers player has earned the award after forward Fanendo Adi was named NASR MLS Player of the Week for Week 33 of the regular season.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media. More information and membership information can be found at http://www.soccerreporters.com/.
Kicking off their postseason campaign, the Timbers play host to Sporting Kansas City in a single-elimination, Western Conference Knockout Round match at Providence Park on Thursday, Oct. 29; kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. (Pacific). Thursday’s match will be televised nationally on UniMás with a local broadcast on ROOT SPORTS.
