When people say, “You know, Darlington Nagbe might be the best player in Major League Soccer one day,” they do so while envisioning the now-24-year-old scoring stunning goals and making driving runs through the heart of opposing midfields and defenses to set up teammates for game-winners, probably most frequently against the Seattle Sounders.
[ FOLLOW: All of PST’s MLS coverage | Standings | Stats | Schedule ]
On Sunday, the Liberian-born, American-to-be playmaker did exactly that in helping the Portland Timbers to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders. Nagbe’s wondrous strike from nearly 30 yards (above video) was his first goal of the season — yes, it took him 18 games to get on the scoresheet this season — and his game-winning assist (below video) was just his third of 2015.
[ RELATED: Week 17 Team of the Week — featuring Adi, Kamara, MPG and more ]
Nagbe beats out the likes of teammate Fanendo Adi and Columbus Crew SC’s Kei Kamara, both of whom scored two goals last week, for this week’s MLS Player of the Week honors.
MLS Players of the Week
Week 1: Tyler Deric, Houston Dynamo
Week 2: Chris Wondolowski, San Jose Earthquakes
Week 3: Bradley Wright-Phillips, New York Red Bulls
Week 4: Kaka, Orlando City SC
Week 5: Harrison Shipp, Chicago Fire
Week 6: Jaime Penedo, LA Galaxy
Week 7: Fabian Castillo, FC Dallas
Week 8: Ethan Finlay, Columbus Crew SC
Week 9: Fabian Castillo, FC Dallas
Week 10: Mauro Diaz, FC Dallas
Week 11: Chad Barrett, Seattle Sounders
Week 12: Kei Kamara, Columbus Crew SC
Week 13: Krisztian Nemeth, Sporting Kansas City
Week 14: Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto FC
Week 15: David Villa, New York City FC
Week 16: Matias Perez Garcia, San Jose Earthquakes