NEW YORK (Monday, August 1, 2022) – Inter Miami CF forward Gonzalo Higuaín was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire for the 23rd week of the 2022 MLS season.
Higuaín scored the first hat trick of his MLS career and did so in the opening half of Inter Miami CF’s 4-4 draw with FC Cincinnati on Saturday, July 30 (Watch Highlights from His Performance Here). He joined Leonardo Campana as the only players in club history to score a hat trick and became the first Inter Miami player to score three goals in the first half of a match. Only Atlanta United FC’s Ronaldo Cisneros and the New York Red Bulls’ Lewis Morgan have scored a first-half hat trick in 2022. Higuaín and Campana are the only pair of MLS teammates to each score a hat trick in the same season since 2019.
With the game scoreless in the 23rd minute, Higuaín took a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box and smashed a strike into the top corner of the net (Watch Here). After Cincinnati equalized to make it 1-1, the Argentine forward grabbed the lead back in the 37th minute when Alejandro Pozuelo found him behind the defense with a perfect diagonal pass, as Higuaín rounded the goalkeeper and fired it into the open net for his second of the match (Watch Here). In first half stoppage time, Higuaín finished off his hat trick from the penalty spot when he briefly hesitated on his run-up to move the goalkeeper off his line and then easily slotted the ball into the netting for a 3-2 lead (Watch Here).
With his hat trick, Higuaín became the first player in club history to score 20 MLS regular season goals, which are 12 more than the next closest Heron (Campana). Since the start of 2020, Higuaín has totaled seven goals against FC Cincinnati, which is the most by one player in MLS against a single club over the span. He has now scored at least seven goals in each of the last two seasons and has totaled five goals in his last four games.
Higuaín is the second Miami player to win MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire this season, joining Campana in Week 6. He is now the only player in club history to earn multiple MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire honors after winning the award in Week 5 of 2021.
Miami will look to move up the Eastern Conference standings when they travel to face the San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park on Wednesday, August 3 (10:30 p.m. ET, MLS LIVE on ESPN+).
The MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
