TORONTO -- Portland Timbers captain Will Johnson capped off a career year Thursday by being named Canadas male soccer player of the year. The Toronto-born midfielder was voted to the MLS All-Star Fan XI team and named to Major League Soccer Best XI after leading the Timbers to a first-place finish in MLSs Western Conference with a 14-5-15 record. In his first year in the Pacific Northwest after five seasons with Real Salt Lake, the 26-year-old set MLS career marks in goals (9), assists (5), points (23) and minutes played (5,250). He played the full 90 minutes in all 28 regular-season appearances. Johnson called it a year "of coming into my own." "I loved having that responsibility of leading this group," he said of being given the captains armband by coach Caleb Porter. "It was a welcomed challenge for me, something I just really got excited about and it just gave me a passion to excel and take my game to the next level." Johnsons hard-nosed play and leadership won admirers around the league, with Toronto FC casting envious eyes at him during the season. He is the 14th winner of the award and the third from MLS ranks, following Dwayne De Rosario and Pat Onstad. Atiba Hutchinson was runner-up in voting by Canadian media, coaches and clubs. Midfielders Patrice Bernier of the Montreal Impact and Russell Teibert of the Vancouver Whitecaps were third and fourth, respectively. On the national team front, Johnson was part of Canadas CONCACAF Gold Cup squad but was sent home early due to illness. He had one assist in three appearances for Canada, with club duties restricting his time with the national team. Johnson said he looks forward to spending more time with the Canadian team, which is in a period of transition under new coach Benito Flores. Born to English parents, Johnson holds Canadian, American and English citizenship. He moved to England as an infant and then came to the Chicago area at the age of 10. After spending 2005 with the Chicago Fire, he went to Europe where he played for Heerenveen and De Graafschap in the Netherlands. Johnson says he is enjoying Portland and MLS but would be open to the right opportunity. "Id love to stay here, Im very happy here but Im not tied down here for too long so well see," he told a media conference call. "I do feel I have the quality to play in Europe but I also have a young family now." he added. "It has to be the right situation. Going to Scandinavia does not interest me. Top leagues in Europe would interest me but other than that, at my age with a young family, MLS is a great league. I very much enjoy playing here, I enjoy being an ambassador for the league. I love being part of the growth of this league. "So it would have to be something very special to entice me to leave a league I very much enjoy playing in." After beating archrival Seattle, Portland lost to Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference final. Real Salt Lake also ousted the Timbers in the semifinal of the U.S. Open Cup. "Weve got to take that next step now," Johnson said of Portland. "We set the platform and the minimum requirements that we all expect out of ourselves. I think that hunger will translate over to next year. "On a positive note, we now have guys who have played in the playoffs, have won a playoff series, have experienced what its like to get in there ... This will not be an acceptable season next year, thats for sure. The bars been set." Canadas female player of the year will be announced Friday with national team captain Christine Sinclair a favourite to claim the award for a 10th straight year and 11th overall. Dylan Carreiro and Kadeisha Buchanan were earlier named under-20 players of the year. Marco Carducci and Sura Yekka took under-17 honours. The awards are sponsored by BMO. Miami Marlins Gear .500. The Jets have now won nine of their last 11, and five of their last six road games. With the win they moved to within two points of Vancouver in the west, the Canucks holding down the eighth spot. Vancouver lost in Boston, while the other big game saw Dallas win in Phoenix. Wholesale Marlins Jerseys . The 33-year-old defender has spent his entire career at Chelsea, scoring 57 goals in 621 appearances. He regained his regular starting place under Jose Mourinho in the season that ended at the weekend without Chelsea winning a trophy. https://www.cheapmarlinsjerseys.us/ . - All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked spry enough in pregame warmups Sunday for Green Bays divisional playoff game against Dallas. Miami Marlins Pro Shop . Some members of the U.S. Congress arent so sure. They say Russia isnt doing enough to assure that athletes will be protected at the Feb. 7-23 games, happening not far from an Islamic insurgency that Russias huge security apparatus has struggled for two decades to quell. Russia may run greater risks in towns outside the tightly controlled Olympic zone. Suicide bombs last month a few hundred kilometres (miles) away have increased concerns, and an Islamic warlord has urged his followers to attack the Sochi Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putins pet project. Fake Marlins Jerseys . -- DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points, nine rebounds and six steals to lead the Sacramento Kings to their third straight preseason win, a 107-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.HOUSTON -- Soony Saad scored late in the first half, and Dominic Dwyer added a penalty kick goal in the second to help 10-man Sporting Kansas City beat the Houston Dynamo 2-0 on Friday night. Kansas City snapped a five-game winless streak to improve to 6-5-4. "For them to be able to come in here and get a win being a man down and having a lot of changes, was huge," Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said. "From that perspective, its more for us than just three points going into the (World Cup) break." Houston (5-9-2) has lost four straight -- all shutouts -- and hasnt scored in 389 minutes. Houston had a few regulars, including starting goalkeeper Tally Hall, replaced in the starting lineup. Houston coach Dominic Kinnear took responsibility for the loss. "Its my fault for giving guys a chance," Kinnear said. "Im the guy who picks the team Im the guy who makes the subs. This game is my fault today, I take 100 per cent. I dont look back on years and say, Oh that was a tough stretch in 08. I dont know. Its not a good time right now." Saad scored in the 45th minute, taking a pass from Benny Feilhaber and sending a shot into the right net from just the left of the upper half-circle. "Even with us being down a man, I feel like we stayed mentally focused and picked our moments to go," Saad said. "On the one where I scored, that was just us stepping up as a team, capitalizing on a mistake and it was perfect right before half to get momentum going into the half." Dwyer struck in the 70th, firing his penalty kick low into the right net and freezing Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric. Sporting was awarded the penalty kick after Houstons A.J. Cochran had a hand ball in the box off a corner kick. Kansas City played the final 69 minutes a man down after Toni Dovale was given a straight red card in the 21st minute for elbowing Houstons Alex Lopez in the face. The win was Kansas Citys first since May 10 in Monntreal.dddddddddddd "We were up in it today with the red card early in the game," Dwyer said. "It was a lot of running for us. We stayed in touch with the game and was able to get the three points. It was a good test of character (to be down a man). We had a lot of guys who normally dont start who came in today and had a fantastic performance from everyone on the field." Warren Creavalle had a chance to score for Houston in the 76th minute, but his shot from the right box was saved by a diving Eric Konberg. Houston had two more chances late in second-half stoppage time. Giles Barnes sent a shot from inside the upper goalkeepers box off the face of Kronberg. The rebound attempt by Will Bruin in the middle of the box was slowed by the traffic in front of the net and cleared out. "I think we need to look at everything from back to front," Barnes said. "Im sure thats exactly what we will do out on the training field. There will be some guys coming back, some people can get some extra fitness work in so that after the break we come back ready to go." Sporting Kansas City lost captain and midfielder Paulo Nagamura in the third minute after he and Cochran went up for a ball and Cochran headed Nagamura in the back of the head. Alex Martinez was substituted in for Nagamura, who was taken off the field on a stretcher and taken to the locker room where he was diagnosed with a concussion. He was not taken to a hospital. Houston lost starting defender David Horst in the ninth minute with a left leg injury after a corner kick. Horst hobbled to the sideline, and Eric Brunner came in for him. Feilhaber, who was tackled hard by Brunner on the first goal, left the game with a left shoulder injury at halftime. Both teams were down two players already due to the World Cup call-ups, with Houstons Brad David with the U.S. and Boniek Garcia with Honduras, and Kansas Citys Graham Zusi and Matt Besler with the U.S. ' ' '