The story of the North American Division I 2011 season was not the championships won by the Houston Comets or Zacatepec but rather the season put in by the Order of the Georgia Peach Sporting Authority, and most notably their veteran striker, twenty-eight year old Nicola Brighenti who scored an amazing 24 goals in 28 league games. Led by Brighenti, MLS veteran Kheli Dube and on-loan winger Steven Owens, the Peaches looked to be the class of the league, but faded at the end of the season to finish in second behind the Comets.
Joining the two champions and Georgia in promotion are The Golden Wolves of Albuquerque, Real Miami, Correcaminos UAT, The Rochester Rhinos, and LA Firpo.
Challenging Brighenti as the best player in NADI was Correcaminos’ eighteen year old defender David Chávez. In a bewildering vote, Brighenti was left out of the MVP voting entirely, with Chávez beating out Reboceros de la Piedad’s Boyd Parham (who is destined shortly for Chelsea) for the award. The Young Player of the Year was won by New England’s Willie Roberts (on loan at Lighthouse), who edged out Owens and the Comets’ Lance Miller.
NADI always has a lot of churn: going down this year are Victoria, Marquense, Platense, the Islanders, Árabe Unido, Comunicaciones, Salamanaca, The Santa Fé Red Devils, the New York Giants, the Phoenix, the Memphis Blues, and the Penn Yan Mustangs.
NADI Awards
Goalkeeper of the Year: Graham McSweeney (Comets)
Defender of the Year: Scott Jones (Vancouver)
Midfielder of the Year: Humberto Gutiérrez (Correcaminos)
Striker of the Year: Nader Kara (Correcaminos)
NADI All Stars
GK: McSweeney
D: N’Faly Kouyate (Árabe Unido), Jones, Chávez, Marco Reda (Vancouver)
M: Julio César Cruz (Olimpia), Mick Johnson (Real Miami), Gutiérrez, Wycliff Kambonde (Georgia)
F: Brighenti, Kara
NADI Select XI
The Select XI showed only two changes, with Marathón’s Said Maulid replacing Kambonde in midfield and Parham replacing Kara up front.
MKNN 