On Thursday, FC Dallas and United States midfielder Ricardo Pepi was named MLS Young Player of the Year, but not everybody was happy about it.

Colorado Rapids and Canada midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye cited bias as the reason why his CanMNT teammate and New England Revolution winger Tajon Buchanan didn't win the award.

"Tajon Buchanan helped his team win the Supporters' Shield and broke the all time points record...but he's Canadian, so let's forget any of that..." Kaye replied to Major League Soccer's tweet announcing Pepi as the victor.

Pepi won the award with 39.47 per cent of the vote to Buchanan's 31.13 per cent, but was only ahead of Buchanan in the media portion of the vote. Buchanan was both the players' choice (31.30 per cent to Pepi's 22.90 per cent) and the clubs' (42.30 per cent to Pepi's 36.40 per cent), but was well behind Pepi in the media vote with Pepi receiving 59.1 per cent and Buchanan just 19.70 per cent.

Los Angeles FC striker Diego Rossi was the winner of last year's award, the first time the honour was reclassified as Newcomer of the Year from Rookie of the Year. Any player 22 and under, born on or before Jan. 1, 1999, was eligible for the award.

Canadians Cyle Larin (2015) and Tesho Akindele (2014) were previously named MLS Rookie of the Year.