With the sincerest apologies to Jozy Altidore, Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey — scorers and/or creators of multiple goals in Week 1 — the first Player of the Week of the 2015 Major League Soccer season is Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric.
[ MORE: MLS Team of the Week — Week 1 — Love for Jozy, Oba and Deuce ]
No player in MLS played a bigger part in his team’s Week 1 result. The aforementioned attacking players played a big role in securing victories — goals are important, after all — but but Deric was worth a net of three, if not more, goals in Houston’s 1-0 win over Columbus Crew SC on Saturday.
With his team being thoroughly dominated on every level of the field, Deric made a handful of spectacular saves (all saves above), including the stop of Kei Kamara’s diving header in the 53rd minute standing out as the cream of the crop.
[ FOLLOW: All of PST’s Week 1 MLS coverage| Standings | Stats | Schedule ]
Simply put, Deric was worth the three points all on his own on Saturday, and no other player in MLS could say the same this weekend.