Goal.com's MLS Player Of Week 8 is former Silverback, Macoumba Kandji

Reprinted From Goal.com:
Macoumba Kandji has won Goal.com's Major League Soccer player of the week for round eight.

The Senegalese striker dominated the New York Red Bulls' 4-1 drubbing of the San Jose Earthquakes. He won the free kick for the first goal, assisted the next two, and scored the last. All of this, of course, happened in the first half.

“It's Kandji. Really, it's not close,”

said MLS columnist Kyle McCarthy. New York signed Kandji on loan midway through last season, but the 6'4 striker hardly played a part in the Red Bulls' run to the MLS Cup. That didn't deter the club from purchasing the striker outright and partnering him with Juan Pablo Angel in the 2009 season.

“The 23-year-old's performance shows such incredible promise, it will be exciting to see how he develops with the Red Bulls,”

said Bay Area correspondent Jennifer Dawson.
That development might not be too far off. In seven starts he has two goals and three assists.

“His imposing play built on blistering pace and overwhelming power has started manifesting itself in goals for New York,”

said associate editor Zac Lee Rigg.

“Against San Jose he was nearly unplayable. More performances like that is just the tonic Juan Carlos Osorio needs for peaceful nights' rest.”

Teammate Jorge Rojas come in at second place in the voting. The Venezuelan playmaker was deployed on the left side of the midfield against San Jose, but didn't let that keep him from chances at goal. Rojas scored the first free kick and found himself in the right place to tap in a Kandji cross for the second.

“In search of a much needed victory, Rojas was the spark plug to New York's success on the night, contributing two goals, and causing San Jose trouble all through the night,”

said D.C. correspondent Steven Streff.