Pablo Campos Wins NASL Most Valuable Player
San Antonio Scorpions’ Pablo Campos, 2012 NASL Golden Ball winner.
The North American Soccer League announced on Wednesday that San Antonio Scorpions’ Pablo Campos has won the Golden Ball award for 2012.
The Golden Ball is awarded to the most valuable player voted on by the media in NASL markets. Twelve of the 18 first place choices were cast for Campos, who appeared in every regular season match for the Scorpions logging in 2,388 minutes and collecting the Golden Boot award as well for scoring 20 goals during the season. He had 5 assists in 2012 and was also a unanimous selection by NASL coaches to the league Best XI. After his 20-goal season and scoring 18 goals last season when he played for the Carolina RailHawks, he now holds the NASL’s all-time goal scoring record with 38 goals in all competitions during the last two seasons.
“It was great to be part of this inaugural season for the Scorpions and being able to set a standard for future Scorpions players to follow,” Campos said. “I want to thank my teammates, coaches and the organization for all their support throughout the year to make all of our success possible.”
The Rio de Janeiro, Brazil native also said recently that playing for the Scorpions this year has been the highlight of his career. Unfortunately for Campos, his Golden Ball may have already lost some of its luster as his season was cut short when he lost his cool and was ejected from Sunday’s second leg semifinal match in San Antonio, leaving his teammates short handed after head butting Minnesota Stars defender Kyle Altman. Even worse, the red card happened less then two minutes after Campos had put his team up 1-0 over the Stars. Minnesota came back with 2 unanswered goals to defeat San Antonio 2-1 and move on to the finals, cutting the Scorpions’ season short.
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Must be for the regular season. Wonder if his boss agrees?
It’s tough to watch a great player tarnish his own reputation (and possibly future) on a simple split of a second bad decision. Of course, this isn’t the first time a player does that; remember Zinedine Zidane? So, if he continues to work hard on and off the pitch he’ll be back next year and hopefully a few seasons after that.
I agree. He played a key role in the fact that the Stars are in the finals. Thanks Pablo!
Should have been Jeff Attinella……..
No other player has had such an impact on the seasons of two different teams. Bravo!
First, to Fotbalist: I’m pretty sure people remember Zidane for more than the head butt and I’m sure you were just making an analogy.
Second, it was a good analogy. The only difference is that Campos, for all intents and purposes, is playing in San Antonio with the goal of trying to get a higher level club to take a chance on him. Zizou didn’t really have to worry about that. I agree that, if not a Stars fan, it would be a bit of a shame for him to end his season that way. It may very well be the difference between him staying in the NASL next year or a team like Houston in the MLS taking a chance on him. (Or maybe New York. They need more strikers right? I think they fielded a team once this year with only 4 forwards on the pitch.)
All in all, Campos was great this year against everyone but the Stars and probably deserves this. Also, he did something stupid that was totally within his control at a time when there was no margin for error for both his team’s season and his career. Finally, while he seems to be able to score nearly at will, he may also be a jerk. I don’t know him, but I do know that a lot of coaches at higher level teams don’t know him either. They may also be wondering if he’s just not disciplined and thus not worth taking a chance on.
In the end, great season, but sucks to be him right now.
Ah yes, such is the life of a pro sports athlete. The old Janet Jackson song “what have you done for me lately?” Make one dumb mistake, and not only do you become public enemy number one, your accomplishments over an entire season are instantly discredited. The league gave him an MVP award? How dare they!
@Stephen, I agree 100%. Jeff Attinella consistently performed at a high level all year, against all teams. On the other hand, it would take Pablo 100 matches to score his league leading 20 goals if he played all matches against the Stars.
Anyone who spends the last 60 minutes of their season sitting on their butt due to a red card does not deserve the honor in my humble opinion.
Just for the official record boys and girls, I was being facetious when I typed the last two sentences of my prior post. Wouldn’t want to upset anyone with misinterpretation.
MVP awards are always for the regular season, so that quality players aren’t unfairly penalized for sub-par results of their team (or vice versa). There are plenty of talented and gifted athletes in every sport who are also head cases. Unfortunate, but they don’t get paid for their charming personalities.