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Altidore, Acosta, Dwyer headline finalized MLS All-Star roster

Photo by Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports

Several U.S. Men’s National Team stars and international playmakers headline the finalized MLS All-Star roster.

Jozy Altidore, Kellyn Acosta and Giovani dos Santos headline the finalized 24-man squad set to face Real Madrid in the MLS All-Star Game on Aug. 2 at Soldier Field. The initial fan-voted XI was unveiled on July 7 while Chicago Fire and MLS All-Star head coach Veljko Paunovic selected an additional 11 players as coach’s selections.

The final two selections were made by MLS commissioner Don Garber, who chose Acosta and Sporting KC forward Dom Dwyer to complete the squad.

In total, the squad features 16 All-Star veterans and eight first-time selections. A total of 13 different countries and 13 different MLS clubs are represented in the squad.

Here’s a look at the full All-Star squad:

Goalkeepers: Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC), Tim Howard (Colorado Rapids)

Defenders: DaMarcus Beasley (Houston Dynamo), Greg Garza (Atlanta United FC), Hernán Grana (FC Dallas), Matt Hedges (FC Dallas), Johan Kappelhof (Chicago Fire), Michael Parkhurst (Atlanta United FC), Jelle Van Damme (LA Galaxy), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

Midfielders: Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Miguel Almirón (Atlanta United FC), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Giovani dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Kaká (Orlando City SC), Dax McCarty (Chicago Fire), Ignacio Piatti (Montreal Impact), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Chicago Fire), Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers)

Forwards:  Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Dom Dwyer (Sporting Kansas City), Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC), Nemanja Nikolic (Chicago Fire), David Villa (New York City FC)

Comments

    • Haha, the East v. West is worth looking into, but copying what’s considered to be one of MLB’s biggest recent mistakes while making the regular season even more useless is a bold strategy. Another idea/question: who says there needs to be only one all star game?

      1. Expand the number of all stars.
      2. Play an MLS v. European team X ASG on Saturday night.
      3. Play and East v. West ASG on Sunday night.
      3a. Any player that logs more than 60 minutes is ineligible for the EvW ASG.

      Crazy idea? You tell me folks.

      Reply
      • Forgot to mention.

        3b. Any player that logs under 60 minutes in the Sat ASG cannot be subbed into the Sun game until enough game time has elapsed so that their total game time will be < or = to 90 total minutes. Obviously the point of the restrictions in items 3a and 3b are to ensure no player plays more than 90 minutes due to injury concerns.

      • Seeding would still play a big role in the playoffs, so it would necessarily detract from regular season results. Although come on who are we kidding here – how many MLS Cups have we had where the 6th seed ends up in the final? At least the last two.

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