Crew’s Higuain Named MLS Player of the Week

Columbus Crew forward Federico Higuain was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 11 of the 2014 MLS season.

In a high-scoring shootout on Saturday night, Higuain had a hand in all three of the Crew’s goals in a 3-3 draw at the Portland Timbers, including one of his most sensational strikes in Black & Gold. Higuain opened the scoring for the Crew in the 14th minute of play with a chip from 25 yards out that kissed the crossbar before landing in the goal, earning him an MLS Goal of the Week nomination.

In the 5th minute of first-half stoppage-time, Higuain calmly converted a penalty kick after defender Giancarlo Gonzalez was fouled inside Portland’s area, giving the Crew a 2-1 lead at halftime. In the 81st minute, Higuain capped off his night with an assist, as he found teammate Ethan Finlay on the right side of the 18-yard-box. The forward fired a shot, which deflected off a Timber player and into the net, securing a valuable road point for the Crew.

Higuain’s two-goal performance on Saturday was his sixth such effort as a Crew player, placing him fifth all-time in club history in that category. The two goals also gave him 22 strikes all-time for Columbus, moving the Argentine into ninth place in club history in scoring, one tally behind Brian Maisonneuve for eighth. Higuain added an assist in the contest, marking the first time in his MLS career that he directly factored into three goals in one match. He also became just the fourth MLS player in 2014 to record two separate matches with at least two goals, joining Bradley Wright-Phillips, Clint Dempsey and Dominic Dwyer.

Since joining the Black & Gold midway through the 2012 campaign, Higuain has been a revelation for the Crew attack, contributing 22 goals and 19 assists in MLS play. He has started 51 of 53 possible MLS contests for the Crew, and has received numerous accolades, including Major League Soccer’s 2012 Newcomer of the Year Award and the club’s 2013 Barbasol Most Valuable Player honor. Thus far in 2014, he leads the Crew in goals (6) and is tied with Hector Jimenez for the team lead in assists (3).

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.