Blake eyes MVP award

After creating history when he claimed his third Major League Soccer (MLS) Goalkeeper of the Year Award, Reggae Boyz captain Andre Blake says he wants to add to his individual accolades by taking home the 2022 Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

“I would like to win the MVP for the league,” Blake told The Gleaner on Wednesday. “This is my second time being nominated for the MVP award, so let’s see what this year brings.”

Only once in MLS history, back in 2000 when Tony Meola was in the goal at Kansas City Wizards (now known as Sporting Kansas City), has a goalkeeper won the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award.

Blake said the possibility of being the second goalkeeper in the league’s to receive this honour means a lot to him.

“They say ‘if you don’t have a ticket you don’t have a chance,’ and I have a ticket so I have a chance. It is out of my control (but) I am proud of myself to be listed as a finalist for this award from among 27 teams with 30 players each and now it’s down to five. So it is an honour to even be a finalist, so why not want to go all the way? I have done my part, so let’s see who the people vote for,” the 2022 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year said.

He said achieving all this in the MLS is great, but one day he hopes to be the ‘Brick Wall’ for a major European league team, but it is a bit difficult to leave the MLS given the franchise system.

HOPING FOR THE BEST

“It’s difficult but it’s not impossible and it comes down to timing and you need the right person to believe at the right time, so that’s just the case. Sometimes things happen, sometimes they don’t, and things have a way of working themselves out. I have to just stay focused and keep producing on the pitch and keep my hopes up and hope that things will fall into place but I can only do so much and no more,” Blake, who has been in the MLS since 2014, said.

“I still aspire to play over there (Europe) and hopefully it will still happen.”

In January he had mentioned in an interview that he received an offer from a team in the Netherlands but he said his dream since he was a child was to play for Manchester United.

“I say Manchester United because that would be ideal; a dream come true to actually play for the team that you were once a big fan of, but there are many great leagues. The German league is very good, the Spanish League is good, the French league, you know you have England, Belgium to an extent, there are good leagues around the world. I would definitely go if it makes sense because I have always said ‘I am not going to move, just to move’ but if the right club comes and the situation makes sense, then I will make the move,” Blake said. “It, however, has to make sense for me to leave MLS and go somewhere else. It has to be better for my family, better for living, better everything than the MLS,” he added.

Blake said he has not received any additional European league offers recently.

“Nothing to my ears. I don’t know if there was anything to teams or to my agent,” he said.

Blake said although he is performing well in the MLS, he wants to transfer these accomplishments internationally while representing the Jamaica national team.

“I would love to captain my team to a World Cup. I would love to win the (Concacaf) Gold Cup. I would love to win the (Concacaf) Nations League. I am very grateful that I have gotten a lot of individual accolades but I play a team sport, so it would be even better to have team trophies,” he said.

Blake, who has 63 caps for Jamaica, will be in goal for Philadelphia Union when they face New York City FC in the Eastern Conference final tomorrow at 7 p.m.