Major League Soccer has announced the finalists for its 2016 year-end awards, with David Villa, Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips named the finalists for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award and Sebastian Giovinco missing the cut.
Wright-Phillips took home the MLS Golden Boot with 24 goals and was closely followed by Villa, who netted 23 times. Kljestan led MLS with 20 assists in a season that saw him return to the fold for the U.S. national team.
Giovinco, last year's MVP, was a notable absence from the list of finalists. The Italian had another brilliant campaign in 2016, with 17 goals and 15 assists, but was possibly overlooked because he missed five games down the stretch with an injury.