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Graziani named MLS player of week
Posted: Monday March 20, 2000 04:38 PM
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- Dallas Burn forward Ariel Graziani began 2000 the same way he ended 1999 -- on fire. Graziani was voted the Major League Soccer player of the week for the week ending March 19 after opening the 2000 season with a pair of goals in the Burn's 4-2, come-from-behind victory over Chicago at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday afternoon. The Ecuadorian striker picked up where he had left off after joining the Burn late in the 1999 season, when the acquisition from New England scored in each of his first four Dallas games and provided five goals during the Burn's run to within one game of MLS Cup '99. In five career games against the Chicago Fire, Graziani has scored five goals and registered two assists for a total of 12 points. "I'm honored to be named the league's player of the week," said Graziani, who now has 11 goals and two assists in just 15 MLS contests. "I won this award because of the hard work of my teammates. Most importantly, I'm happy that the team started out on the right foot and hopefully we'll be able to continue with the same success for the rest of the season." Graziani's honor marks the second consecutive season that a Burn player received the opening MLS player of the week honor. Dallas forward Jason Kreis (who added a goal and two assists Saturday) earned the 1999 week one distinction with an opening-day hat trick against the Kansas City Wizards. Kreis was named the weekly honoree an unprecedented six times during 1999, and was joined by Graziani and Burn goalkeeper Matt Jordan as Dallas led the league with eight POW awards. Graziani was selected as the MLS Player of the Week by a panel of journalists from the Professional Soccer Reporters Association (PSRA). Others receiving votes for the Week 1 honor were: Burn teammate Eric Dade, who tallied the game-winning goal and added one assist to record the defender's first-ever MLS points; Tampa Bay Mutiny midfielder Steve Ralston, who notched two goals and added an assist in the Mutiny's 5-1 thrashing of the visiting Columbus Crew; and the Fire's Hristo Stoitchkov, who provided both Chicago goals and donned the captain's armband for a brief stint in his MLS debut.
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