Alecko Eskandarian
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Alecko Eskandarian (born July 9, 1982 in Montvale, New Jersey) is a professional soccer player in Major League Soccer, playing for D.C. United. He is the son of Iranian national player Andranik Eskandarian who played soccer professionally for the New York Cosmos.
Prior to playing as a professional, he played three years of soccer for the University of Virginia where he was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 2000, and was both named Soccer America's College Player of the Year and awarded the Hermann Trophy in 2002 after scoring 25 goals and 4 assists for the Cavaliers.
Eskandarian has played his first two MLS seasons for D.C. United, who drafted him first overall in the 2003 MLS Superdraft. He was disappointing in his rookie sesaon, recording only three goals and two assists in 23 games. However, in the 2004 season, after the replacement of coach Ray Hudson with Peter Nowak, Eskandarian saw significantly more playing time and proved worthy of the number one pick. In his sophomore campaign, Eskandarian led D.C. United in goal scoring with ten in the regular season and added two assists.
On November 14, 2004, Eskandarian played in his first MLS Cup game. He helped D.C. United defeat the Kansas City Wizards by scoring two goals in the first half just four minutes apart — the fastest pair of goals in MLS Cup history — and was voted Most Valuable Player of the match.
Alecko has played one game for the United States national team, against Wales on May 27, 2003.
See also
- List of current MLS players
- MLS biography page (http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/players/bio.jsp?team=dcu&player=eskandarian_a&playerId=esk059326)