Columbus Crew’s Argentinian forward Federico Higuain was named Major League Soccer’s Newcomer of the Year for 2012 on Wednesday, making his mark for the club in its final 13 matches of the season.
Higuain, brother of Real Madrid forward Gonzalo Higuain, joined Columbus midway through the season and immediately made his presence felt with five goals in his 13 matches.
His efforts saw Columbus make a late playoff push, although they came up short.
After beginning his career with River Plate in 2003, Higuain spent time at six other clubs before moving to Columbus, which finished one point behind MLS Cup finalists Houston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Higuain narrowly edged out San Jose Earthquakes defender Victor Bernardez for the award, while Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Michael Gspurning finished third in the voting.
The Newcomer of the Year award is given to a player in his first season in MLS, but who has prior professional experience, making him ineligible to win the Rookie of the Year award.
Sporting Kansas’ Danish keeper Jimmy Nielsen was named Goalkeeper of the Year on Wednesday.
Nielsen, in his third MLS season, authored one of the best regular-season performances in recent years, with 15 clean sheets.
He put together the season’s longest streak for a keeper without allowing a goal — 414 minutes — and was one of only two goalkeepers in the league to allow an average of less than one goal per match.
The awards were decided by voting by media, MLS players and team management based on regular-season performance.
Federico Higuain voted top MLS newcomer
