You just never know who you are going to see on the weekly MLS Best XI.
First there was Chad Barrett, then there was Alan Gordon. Now you can add Atiba Harris and Edson Buddle to the list of forwards who have made MLS Best XI this year.
Buddle is joined on the squad by fellow attacking players, and MLS Best XI regulars, Landon Donovan and David Beckham, who both played their parts in the Galaxy’s 5-1 distruction of FC Dallas.
A trio of former D.C. United players made it onto the team, with Christian Gomez, Facundo Erpen (pictured) and Bobby Boswell all enjoying strong matches (You think D.C. would take those three back?)
Here is a look at the rest of this week’s SBI MLS Best XI:
———————-Edson Buddle—————–
Landon Donovan———————–Atiba Harris
——————-Christian Gomez——————
——–Sacha Kljestan ——-David Beckham——
———————Ricardo Clark——————-
Facundo Erpen—Bobby Boswell—-Marvell Wynne
——————-Kevin Hartman——————-
Honorable Mention: Wil Hesmer, Jimmy Conrad, Kosuke Kimura, Laurent Robert, Shalrie Joseph, Dwayne DeRosario, Marcelo Gallardo, Danleigh Borman, Omar Cummings.
Share your thoughts on the selections, as well as your own suggestions, in the comments section below.
I have to agree with Ives and Craig regarding Facundo Erpen. I wasn’t enamored of his play in a couple games earlier this year, but he looked solid vs SL last weekend and he’s looked aggressive and confident as of late. Kimura has also impressed, and LaBrocca usually makes the timely switch and intelligent pass. Let’s go, Omar…
I think Chad Marshall probably deserved at least an honorable mention. TFC’s forwards accomplished about as much as the Crew’s and TFC’s defense is getting some love. Dichio accomplished… what, exactly? And Marshall was shadowing him most of the game.
I don’t think Borman deserves an honorable mention. It was a good shot, and the game changed when he came in, but that’s mostly because VDB moved to central midfield. I’d support him for an honorable mention.
Can we “Write the Caption” this pic? Almost laughed out loud at work checking these facial expressions.
I’ll start:
“I wanted to kick him in the nads, but the ball beat me to it.”
Ives,
You love Wynne. Being a TFC fan, so do I. Here’s to the best right back in the league!
you asked for opinions
I didn’t even think Erpen was the best defender on the Rapids that evening, let alone top 3 in the entire league for the weekend. Kimura played very well, not only on defense but impacting the offense. It was an ugly win by CO in my opinion, i remember talking to people at the game about how poor Erpen was playing, guess i’m just shocked that he would be considered a top 3/4 defender this weekend. Sorry to offend you.
Fid, open your eyes mate.
Fid,
Soccernet.com would argue different.
Looks like we dominated the game on shots alone
Toronto FC Columbus
Shots (on Goal) 13(4) 5(2)
Erpen had a very nice game, and I did watch the whole game!!! He anchored the 3 man defense, provided good service up to the midfielders, and was solid all game!
And KPugs, nearpost or not if a player has a chance to tee up a shot on his strong foot from close range it doesn’t matter if you have your post guarded. That was hardly a soft goal.
BMer, you need to watch that tone. I did watch the game and in my opinion Erpen played well on Thursday. You can say what you want about how he has played all year but the Best XI is based on last week’s game alone.
Agree or disagree, but you need to stop acting like anyone who “watched the game” would automatically share your opinion.
Hartman may have let in a somewhat soft goal, but he had at least 5 high quality saves prior to that. Definitely deserved to be there. I know LA poured it on with the goals, but I didn’t think Donovan or Beckham were particularly good (granted Donovan was involved in 3 goals so I may just be dinging him for the 2 he should have scored).
That being said, it was a pretty weak week for midfielders in general.
Wow Erpen, really? he was awful and has been awful all season. his passing is so poor, and he’s such a liability for the Rapids right now. much better choices from CO would have been Peterson, Labrocca, or (against my will) Cummings. Erpen is working his way out of the lineup, you gotta watch the games to pick these players.
I didn’t see the TFC game, but am happy to see Wynne on the team of the week. I’m still hoping his technical ability can continue to improve and he can make an impact at the national team level.
Also, I still can’t beleive that nobody wanted Christian Gomez at ~$250k in the offseason. He will never draw fans, but his quality and value to the league is pretty obvious. If we can’t keep our 25-30 yo Maerican players, let’s at least keep this skilled 30 – 35 yo foreigners.
“Did you clowns watch the game? Toronto had a dozen chances but couldn’t convert them.”
Clown, perhaps you should look in the mirror. A dozen chances? What game did you watch cause it sure as hell wasn’t the Columbus/TFC game. There weren’t a dozen chances between the two teams, let alone one of them.
Kevin Hartman in goal, good choice. No KC defenders, also a good choice.
Wynne is yet another example of how silly it is to see so many people write off a guy early in his career. The guy is an eye-popping athlete and was a man among boys at the U20s. As a rookie, he improved throughout the season in every facet of his game.
Yet how many people said, “Can’t cross, poor positioning, not technical” based on his first few months and wrote him off? He may not be an international, but he is yet another example of the need to have patience with players.
Carroll shut down Guevara? O’Rourke and Marshall shut down Toronto? Did you clowns watch the game? Toronto had a dozen chances but couldn’t convert them. To me, shutting someone down means not giving them chances, it doesn’t mean giving up a bunch of chances only to pray they don’t go in.
Honorable mention to Brian Carroll for shutting down Amado Guevara.
How many times has Wynne made it?? That’s pretty impressive.
Bit of a homer statement here, but I thought Danny O’Rourke and Chad Marshall deserve some credit for shutting down the Toronto attack. They’ve really gotten better with the addition of Robert, Guevara, and Ricketts. Now, if only Guevara could start one of his tantrums and throw the rest of the team into a spiral…
Good points Ives.
Unrelated, saw on BBC this morning that the Independent is reporting that Seattle has offered Thierry Henry a contract worth 5.2 million pounds a year. Any merit to this story?
Kpugs,
Did you see the whole game? Hartman must have thought he was Tim Howard; he still got a hand on the one ball that past him. Without him, the score would have been 5-1 Red Bulls.
I wouldn’t take back Boswell. Not sure what happened to the kid, but he’s just not very good at the moment.
Liked what Hesmer and Conrad did this past week.
Borman scored a goal, sure, but also gave the ball away two many times and his crossing was horrific. Give him his due for being the super sub in two consecutive weeks, but he’s still showing that he has a ways to go.
LOL BOSWELL what a farce
Come on MarkVA, Erpen was far from terrible. You can disagree with his inclusion, but to say he was terrible is a bit much.
Andrew, I love Joseph and could probably put him on every week, but knocking the ball around against the worst team in MLS (and the team with weakest central midfield) doesn’t get him on this week. Also, Clark didn’t get the nod for his goal (which has since been credited to Dwayne DeRosario) but because of his work in central midfield in helping Houston shut down Chicago and Blanco.
I’d switch out Shalrie Joseph for Ricardo Clark.
Clark did score, but his shot took two deflections before finding net.
Shalrie always marshalls the Revs midfield and has barely put a foot wrong all year, but this weekend the Revs put on a passing clinic (mostly in the first half), and I think Shalrie’s role in that deserves a best XI nod.
In the three games I’ve watched Laurent Robert play, he’s really impressed me. I think he was a great addition for TFC.
I would expect this from Goff, but not you Ives. Facundo Erpen? Srsly? did you watch that game against RSL, he was terrible, he is reckless in the tackle and constantly give the ball away. that game made me cringe.
Hartman gets beat high near post in the 82nd minute with his team up a man to tie the game, and that’s the best keeper this week?
Aside from that, I have no complaints. What percentage of Buddle’s career goals come from hat tricks? He’ll have a 10-goal season and only score in 4 games.
Borman worth an honorable mention? Yeah, he scored the goal, but he also did some other nice things.
It’s a former DC/NY reunion party!
Three former NY players: Edson Buddle, Ricardo Clark and Marvell Wynne; and Three former DC players: Christian Gomez, Facundo Erpen and Bobby Boswell