Henry Does It Again: With teammate Kenny Cooper and Chris Wondolowski also scoring twice this week, you would have thought French great Thierry Henry would have had a more difficult task in taking Player of the Week honors again. Not so much. He also had an assist in the 4-1 win at Columbus, two other great chances and the finishes on his two strikes were effortless and perfectly executed. That all led to a history-making third consecutive selection, a first in the league’s 17-year history. It also marked only the 10th time that a team had a player honored three straight times.
When I was selecting my vote, it was a difficult choice. I was leaning toward the Red Bull hero again, but went with Chivas USA midfielder Ryan Smith. Trailing 1-0 in Portland, he came on at halftime and provided perfect crosses on both strikes as the LA club rallied for a surprise win on the road that catapulted them above the Timbers and their Home Depot Center rivals in the Western table.
White House Easter Egg Roll: Cooper was invited to the White House with teammate Stephen Keel; the Philadelphia Union’s Danny Califf, Brian Carroll, Zac MacMath; and DC United’s Stephen King, Robbie Russell and Ben Olsen. They helped volunteers and employees from the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition lead youngsters through a simple dribbling course as part of the event’s “Eggtivity Area,” designed to remind participants and their parents of the simple joys of movement and play. Elsewhere on the South Lawn, a live music stage pulsated with sound, renowned poet Maya Angelou read books at a storytelling area and celebrity chefs like Andrew Zimmern and Marcus Samuelsson showed how to cook up healthy dishes.
Cooper spent part of his childhood in Maryland, but never got to visit the iconic building on Pennsylvania Avenue. On Monday, he looked out across the South Lawn and panorama of the National Mall beyond it, and said he gratified by the opportunity to grow the game in such an illustrious locale.
“There’s obviously a lot of kids out here that seem to enjoy the game,” he told MLSsoccer.com between autograph and photo requests from young fans, and even a few Easter Egg Roll staffers. "So it’s fun to see that. Being passionate about the game myself, it’s fun to share that passion with other people. I actually grew up in Baltimore, and even growing up here, I never had an opportunity to come out to the White House South Lawn. It’s definitely something I’ll cherish for a long time and it’s also fun to interact with the kids out here.”
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