Kandji Nabs Week 8 MLS Honors

New York Red Bulls forward Macoumba Kandji has been voted MLS Player of Week 8 following his sensational performance in New York's 4-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes last Friday evening. It is the first time that the Senegalese native has taken home the honor and he becomes the first Red Bull to be recognized for the award since Juan Pablo Angel in Week 20 of the 2008 season.

Kandji, 23, was involved in all four tallies on the night, starting in the seventh minute when he suffered a foul that led to New York's first goal via a Jorge Rojas free kick. Six minutes later, he set up Rojas' second of the evening when he flicked a Carlos Johnson throw-in across the face of goal to the Venezuelan, who easily headed past Quakes 'keeper Joe Cannon. In the 22nd minute, Kandji would again provide quality service, this time with a long cross that skipped through the box from the right side, finding the foot of Juan Pablo Angel, who finished to run the score to 3-0. Kandji finally got into the act for himself five minutes from intermission, stripping defender Kelly Gray of the ball, running in alone on goal, and beating Cannon with a curling shot inside the right post for his second goal of the '09 season.

2009 MLS PLAYER OF THE WEEK WINNERS
WEEK 1: Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders FC)
WEEK 2: Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC)
WEEK 3: Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids)
WEEK 4: Donovan Ricketts (Los Angeles Galaxy)
WEEK 5: Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards)
WEEK 6: Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake)
WEEK 7: Jaime Moreno (DC United)
WEEK 8: Macoumba Kandji (New York Red Bulls)

The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (NASR). The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media. More information and membership information can be found at www.soccerreporters.com.