:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/24435161/20130719_jla_ss4_180.0.jpg)
MLS announced it's Best XI team for the 2013 season and it included New England Revolution captain and defender Jose Goncalves.
The rest of the 2013 Best XI includes:
GK - Donovan Ricketts (Portland Timbers)
DEF - Goncalves, Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City)
MID - Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City), Will Johnson (Portland Timbers), Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls)
FOR -Mike Magee (Chicago Fire), Marco Di Vaio (Montreal Impact), Robbie Keane (Los Angeles Galaxy)
The Revs defender who was also named MLS' 2013 Defender of the Year, caps off a tremendous individual season. Goncalves played every minute in 2013, starting all 34 games for the Revs in his first year in the league. He scored two goals, both game winners against Columbus on July 20 and Montreal on October 12 and led the Revolution defenses as one of the best in MLS. The Revs defense as whole only allowed 38 goals in 2013, good for third best in the league.
When asked about which striker in MLS he didn't like facing, Goncalves answered in classic fashion.
"I would rather play against big strikers than smaller strikers." the Revs captain said during the ceremony via Google Hangouts. "I think the referee will always give the advantage to the small strikers because of their size.
But it got much better.
"I don't really have a name, you know, but I will say my type of striker I hate is the small striker." the Revs captain continued. "I hate every striker anyway, but I will say the small striker."
The announcement was made as part of the 2013 MLS Awards season and was hosted by former US international and 5-time Best XI MLS player Jimmy Conrad and MLSSoccer.com editor-in-chief Greg Lalas. You can watch a full replay of the awards here and Don Garber's State of the League address here.
