Soccer-Bradley named U.S. Soccer's male player of the year

Dec 22 (Reuters) - United States captain Michael Bradley, a central midfielder who also captains Toronto FC in Major League Soccer, was voted the 2015 U.S. Soccer male player of the year on Tuesday. The 28-year-old, previously honoured as the young male player of the year in 2007, received 43 percent of the votes, followed by Fabian Johnson (33 percent) and Clint Dempsey (20 percent). "It's an honour to be selected amongst this group of players," Bradley said in a statement released by U.S. Soccer. "This has been a challenging year for our team, yet we continue to understand ... how important it is that we give everything we have every time we step on the field. "That's what means the most to me, and at the same time I certainly appreciate this recognition." (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Steve Keating)