Sporting Kansas City's Matt Besler has been named the MLS Defender of the Year for 2012.
The 25-year old was voted as the best defensive player in the competition after helping SKC become the best-performed team defensively, shipping just 27 goals in 34 regular season matches prior to playoffs.
Besler made a total of 33 appearances, 30 of those being starts, in his fourth MLS campaign and guided the Eastern Conference top-place finishers to 15 shutouts.
The Kansas native beat San Jose Earthquakes' Victor Bernardez, SKC teammate Aurelien Collin, Vancouver Whitecaps captain Jay DeMerit and Philadelphia Union skipper Carlos Valdes to the defensive title.
