Soccer

Jean Alexandre MLS Player of the Week

SALT LAKE CITY, USA – Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake striker Jean Alexandre was voted MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) after he notched a goal and an assist in Real’s 2-0 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps FC last Saturday night.

The NASR voted 13 of a possible 16 for Jean Alexandre for first-place earning him his first league weekly honor.

RSL’s forwards had been depleted by injuries moving Alexandre up from his usual deep midfield role to the striker position for a second straight contest on Saturday, and it would not take long for the one-time prolific goal-scorer out of Lynn University to justify Head Coach Jason Kreis’ personnel decision.

In the 32nd minute, MF Kyle Beckerman sent a pass through the Vancouver defense to Alexandre at the top of the box. As he received the ball, Alexandre held off one defender, then used a nifty step-over to brush by a second defender before slipping the ball past the charging goalkeeper for his first MLS goal in 26 career appearances.

Late in the second half, Alexandre’s quick feet helped set up the insurance goal. After a giveaway by Vancouver in the midfield, Alexandre evaded a sliding challenge and poked a through pass to FW Fabian Espíndola. In alone against goalkeeper Joe Cannon, Espindola coolly finished to the far post.

Alexandre is the second player from Real Salt Lake to garner the Player of the Week honor in 2011 (following up on MF Javier Morales’ win in Week 2), and it marks the first time this season that a team has had a second player receive the honor. The award was the 18th weekly honor given to a Real Salt Lake player in the club’s now seven seasons of play, adding him to a Player of the Week recipient list that also includes Jeff Cunningham (5), Javier Morales (4), Robbie Findley (2), Álvaro Saborío (2), Pablo Campos (1), Fabian Espíndola (1), Chris Klein (1) and Yura Movsisyan (1).

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Source: ABC 4 Utah