Daniel Royer’s big week continued on Tuesday, when it was announced that the New York Red Bulls midfielder was voted MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 20.
Royer keyed the Red Bulls to two wins last week, recording a brace – the first multi-goal game of his MLS career – in New York’s 5-1 home win against San Jose on Wednesday before scoring a goal and tallying an assist in the club’s 3-0 win at Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
Royer waited until the final moments of New York’s win against San Jose to score both of his goals. He collected a Derrick Etienne ball in the right side of the box and snuck a low shot past Quakes ‘keeper David Bingham at the near post to make it 4-1 in the 90th minute, then finished an excellent counterattack with a slick cutback and curling left-footed strike just one minute later.
He got things going a little bit earlier against Minnesota on Saturday. Royer gave the Red Bulls an early lead at the Loons, picking up a Felipe pass in the middle of Minnesota’s half and driving into open space before hammering a long-range shot into the lower-left corner in the 16th minute. The 27-year-old Austrian then assisted on Bradley Wright-Phillips' 67th-minute tally, clipping a left-footed ball over the top of the Minnesota defense that the English striker ran onto and buried to give New York a 2-0 lead.
Royer now has eight goals and two assists in 20 regular season appearances this year. New York will return to action on Saturday, when they’ll host the Montreal Impact at Red Bull Arena (7:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE in the US | TVA Sports in Canada).
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
