Guillermo Barros Schelotto, a midfielder from Argentina, was named Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player on Thursday after helping the Columbus Crew reach the league's championship match.
The 35-year-old playmaker, who played 196 games over 12 seasons for Boca Juniors before joining the US league last year, was honored in a vote of MLS players, coaches, executives and media.
Schelotto received more than 54 percent of the vote with American Landon Donovan, a Los Angeles Galaxy forward now on loan to Germany's Bayern Munich, second on 19 percent and Mexico's Cuauhtemoc Blanco of Chicago third.
Schelotto led the Crew to a league-best 17-7 with six drawn record and Columbus will face the New York Red Bulls here Sunday in the MLS Cup league championship final.
The South American scored seven times in the season.
