Howard has won the 2014 Playe

[lw789]

SAN FRANCISCO - Goalkeeper Tim Howard has won the 2014 Player of the Year award for his work with the U.S. national team.It is the first time Howard has won the prestigious honour given to a U.S. team member by Futbol de Primera. Howard received 101 first-place votes from a panel of journalists nationwide for a total of 363 points. He beat out Jermaine Jones, who had 160 points, and Clint Dempsey (147).Howard, 35, made eight appearances for the national team, including some spectacular performances at the World Cup. He made 16 saves in the Americans 2-1 loss in extra time to Belgium in the second round in Brazil.Howard has stepped away from playing for the national team for this season. He is Evertons keeper in the English Premier League and has been with the club since 2006.The second keeper to win the award — Kasey Keller got it twice — Howard has made 104 appearances for the national team. This was the sixth time he was a finalist for the honour.Midfielder Jones, who was born in Germany, has 10 caps this year with the U.S squad and 48 caps overall. He was one of the standouts for the Americans at the World Cup, scoring against Portugal in a 2-2 draw and using his physical style to help the United States emerge from a difficult first-round group.He currently is with the New England Revolution and has helped them make the MLS Cup against the Los Angeles Galaxy.Dempsey has nine caps this year with the U.S. team and scored three goals. He has 39 goals in 110 games since joining the national squad in 2004. Dempsey currently is with the Seattle Sounders of MLS.A player receives three points for each first-place vote in the balloting, two points for each second-place vote, and one point for each third-place vote. In order to be eligible for the award, a player must have played in a minimum of three games for the U.S. team during the calendar year. Cheap MLB Jerseys . Marek Hamsik, who had earlier missed a penalty, headed Napoli in front in the 23rd minute and Pandev added a second goal five minutes from halftime. Alessandro Matri got Juventus back into the game just after the break but Pandev was on hand to score again in the 68th. Mike Marjama Jersey .ca. Kerry, In the first period of Saturdays Montreal-Ottawa game, Brendan Gallagher is called for goaltender interference. Craig Anderson is outside the blue paint trying to make the save. http://www.cheapmarinersjerseys.com/?ta ... aly-jersey. -- Aaron Rodgers isnt out for revenge in Green Bays season opener. Denard Span Jersey .Y. -- Major League Soccer has agreed to new measures to protect gay players from discrimination and harassment as a result of meetings with New Yorks attorney general. Jean Segura Jersey .Steamboat Ski Resort contends Steamboat Springs, Colorado has long been known as Ski Town, U.S.A., and claims in a new lawsuit that Salt Lake tourism officials violated their trademark when they rolled out the Ski City marketing campaign last month.BAREA, Ohio - The Browns running game was one of the teams biggest strengths early in the season. Now, its become a crutch in the wake of Pro Bowl centre Alex Macks season-ending leg injury.Its expected, offensive co-ordinator Kyle Shanahan said of the teams recent trouble on the ground. I knew this was going to happen. Ive never gone through an NFL season where you just do it every single week. You know eventually someones going to take (the run game) away.It has been taken away considerably in the past two weeks, as the Browns gained just 108 combined rushing yards against the Jaguars and Raiders, which have two of the weaker run defences in the NFL.But Shanahan isnt pinning anything on just the restructured offensive line, which now includes centre Nick McDonald, who hadnt played in a game since 2012 before Sunday. The problem affects the entire offence.It takes eleven guys to run the ball, Shanahan said. Every single position had at least one play (wrong against the Raiders). I think a lot of it was tough sledding but when we did have our opportunities, we were one guy off and I think that can get fixed.Running back Ben Tate has also seen defences key in on the Browns rushing attack recently, forcing the passing game to step up. And as that element has struggled, so too has the ground game.I think (opposing defences) definitely have an emphasis on not letting us run the ball. I could tell they were really focused on that, especially Oakland, Tate said. If youre not throwing the ball well, then those guys are going to stay up in the box. We started throwing the ball pretty well at the end (against the Raiders). At the end of the game, it loosened up a little bit.Shanahan sees opponents game planning so heavily against the run as a good thing. The Browns just have to take advantage of it.I think we earned (that) as an offence because we showed people we could run the ball. he said. Thats what we want. We want people to feel like they have to commit to stop something.But another pressing issue is the running back rotation itself.dddddddddddd. While having three solid runners may be a problem most teams would want, Cleveland is still working to find a rotation that suits them best. Particularly one that includes undrafted rookie Isaiah Crowell.In the Browns 24-6 loss to the Jaguars, Crowell had just seven touches for 18 yards. And in Sundays 23-13 win over the Raiders, Crowell was completely absent, with just one carry for one yard.Prior to those two games, Crowell had 11 carries in three of four games and averaged over five yards per rush in that span while seemingly establishing himself as one of the teams more dynamic runners. But issues handling the ball — including a lost fumble — in the Browns 31-10 victory over Pittsburgh played into coach Mike Pettines decision to keep Crowell on the sidelines against Oakland.In hindsight, we did want to get him more touches but just the way the game fell, especially at the end, we went with Ben (Tate) to finish the game out, Pettine said. More from his history of protecting the football, we felt better about it.The Browns do want to get Crowell more touches. It just looks as though Clevelands plan will remain fluid on a week-to-week and even in-game basis.We only can play one back at a time, Shanahan said. Every single play in the NFL is crucial. You dont get a ton of plays, you never know whats going to happen. I wish we could give all of them carries but were not going to. Thats not really possible.NOTES: TE Jordan Cameron (concussion) did not practice Thursday. . The Browns signed WR Phil Bates to the practice squad, releasing DB Marcus Cromartie. . Defensive co-ordinator Jim ONeil spoke on Thursday about the dog collars hanging up in the defensive players lockers. We wanted to develop a unique way to keep reinforcing Play Like a Brown, he said. Guys would be rewarded for plays on the field with a bone (tag on the collar) for every time they did something that we considered a Play Like a Brown play. Its gotten competitive. ' ' '