When the United States defeated Jamaica 2-1 to win the 2017 Gold Cup Wednesday night, CONCACAF named Michael Bradley as the Golden Ball award winner, naming him the MVP of the tournament. Well, we decided that you should have a say in the process of naming our Golden Ball winner, and we gave you the floor to cast your vote. 48 hours later, the community has spoken: the Stars & Stripes FC Golden Ball award goes to Darlington Nagbe, who captured 32% of the vote.
Nagbe was phenomenal for the USMNT when he arrived after the group stages as a knockout round replacement for coach Bruce Arena. Playing on the wings, he started in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final, playing 3 games in 8 days. His pace was electric and his creativity created numerous scoring chances. It was his strength on the ball, however, that was the real difference in keeping possession and allowing the USMNT attack to press forward in those matches. He was a worthy candidate and a great choice for the award.
Jordan Morris and Michael Bradley also got a high number of votes, capturing 17% and 14% of the vote, respectively. But, Darlington Nagbe was your runaway Golden Ball winner. Congratulations to him and to the United States for bringing the Gold Cup back home!