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Who is on your MLS All-Star Ballot?

Kenny_cooper_ap

It might not seem like it, but the MLS season is barreling toward the midway point, which means it’s getting to be that time to vote for the MLS All-Star Game. Fan Balloting has been under way for quite some time but media were only given their ballots this week.

This got me wondering what lineup you, the SBI Mafia, would vote for to play against West Ham United in this summer’s All-Star Game. Are you a home team ballot stuffer like the folks in Toronto? Would you go with as many big names as possible? Would you vote for 11 best players so far this season?

My ballot would include the players who have impressed the most this season. Reputations don’t matter, only performance. Here is my ballot:

2008 SBI MLS All-Star Team

———Landon Donovan———Kenny Cooper————-

———————-Cuauhtemoc Blanco———————

Robbie Rogers———————————David Beckham

———————–Shalrie Joseph—————————

Gonzalo Segares———————————Marvell Wynne

———–Michael Parkhurst—-Bakary Soumare—————

————————-Matt Reis——————————–

BENCH– Jon  Busch, Facundo Erpen, Chad Marshall, Seth Stammler, Sacha Kljestan, Dwayne DeRosario, Kheli Dube, Brian Ching.

So who just missed the cut? Wil Hesmer was edged out by Busch while Chad Barrett also just missed the cut. I also wanted to put Carl Robinson on the team but he lost out to Dwayne DeRosario.

I won’t be turning my ballot in until the end of the month and I will be sure to post the squad I settle on.

What do you think of this group? Who did I forget? What players do you think don’t belong on this list? What players would be on your 19-man roster?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Emilio and/or Fred at least on the bench? Emilio is second in the MLS in goals. Even though he had a slow start, he’s really coming into his own. He may even lead the league by the all star game in scoring.

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  2. TFC this, TFC that…TFC fans stuffing ballot boxes/voting online blah blah blah, some of you really need to get a tissue box and give me a freaking break. That’s what happens when fan vote, like it or not. If you want to see your favorite players or players you think “deserve” to be there…you go vote! I’d love to see those guys and gals vote their entire team in just to read some reactions that would be on here.

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  3. ¨”All-star” games are meaningless, whether “East-West” or against a European side in excursion-mode. Like in the NFL: who cares about the all-star game after the Super Bowl?! All star games are utterly meaningless and should never be played.

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  4. I agree with the east v west thing. At least then fans might feel some sort of competative feelings. As it is, who really cares who wins? Frankly, I think MLS is going to be disappointed about the atmosphere at BMO for that game. What do they expect of us? We’re loud because we care about our team, and how can you really get riled up for an all star game against West Ham?

    TFC fans are TFC fans right now, not MLS fans. Like it or not, that’s the reality, so other than cheering for our players (if we have any in the team), you might see a strangly muted BMO.

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  5. IMO, 2 teams are too many players for a game that doesn’t mean much.

    I think the league should have hired the England National Team as opponent, and billed it as “Beckham leads MLS vs. England”. Come on, that would have been fun, not the least of which for annoying the h*ll out of the Brits.

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  6. Why don’t they go back to the East vs West format? It always seems that other deserving players are left off the list with this new format. I would love to see the original format used from now on. How many times do you want to see an All Star team play an out of form European team? Fulham, West Ham Untd.?

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  7. “All Star Game” = circle jerk

    Posted by: KingSnake | June 13, 2008 at 10:11 PM

    It is good to see you are so excited…

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  8. Perhaps this might be a reputation over performance pick but Frankie Hejduk has a place on my all-star team until he retires. Maybe he’s lost a step but the man hustles, he’s almost always in position and he brings stability and passion to almost any back line. Along those lines of performance/reputation Jimmy Conrad should be a bigger star too (maybe an All-Star too though I like your selections too, Ives, and I’m not sure who I’d bump out). Conrad’s one of the smartest, funniest, most media-friendly players in the MLS in addition to being a long-time solid pro. He should have an instant career in the booth or in coaching or management when he retires. MLS needs to keep great personalities and ambassadors like him and Ben Olsen involved in the league. Even though current performance always comes first quite frankly I think reputation SHOULD play a small part in the All-Star selection process because long-term solid contributions should be acknowledged and we’re still trying to sell MLS to the wider sporting/soccer public and promote identifiable stars.

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  9. i think laurent robert should be starting over rogers because he has greatly helped the left side of toronto and almsot all of rogers goals were easy or mistakes by a keeper

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  10. I’d take Frankie Hejduk over Marvell Wynne. Wynne’s a nice player, but Hejduk brings more stability to the right back spot.

    Also, I’m glad Seth Stammler was mentioned. He’s been the best player on NY this season so far.

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  11. I’m of the same thinking as some of the others above – bring back the East v West game if you must have an All Star Game. The league is big enough at this point and for some of these deserving guys making less than I do could use the bonus $$ and it would be more entertaining than WHU.

    As for the end of the season – do you want to risk an injury to a star player after the MLS Cup so that they can’t play in the Champions League? or PPC? or whatever else cup the “brilliant” officials decide they just have to have?

    Personally, I’d rather see the work get done on combining USL & MLS together so there can be some legit relgation and promotion opportunities instead of “playoffs” – I’d rather watch Portland or Rochester than the Salt Lake Royals and admit it, unless you live in Utah you agree.

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  12. Fans in Canada don’t get much opportunity to see other teams play. Only TFC games are broadcast in Canada so it’s not easy to judge who are having the best seasons. Having said that I’m not sure who is voting for Marco Velez. Probably the same people who were screaming for his head after the first 2 games.

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  13. Our votes (as fan) will always be meaningless until we start voting for the deserving players rather than our favorite team’s players. I’ll be the first one to admit that Toronto fans are, hands down, the best fans in our league, but they are being wayyyy to Bias in their votes!! Do you guys really believe that Sutton, Velez, Marshall are All-Star caliber players? Edu is a great player, but he has been just Okay this season, not an all star!!!. Guevara, Wynne, and Dichio are having All-Star season so far. I’m a DC fan, but would not include a single player in my ballot for none of them deserve it, Namoff has been our best player, but there are many other defender who deserve it more. Our votes (as fan) will always be meaningless until we start voting for the deserving players rather than our favorite team’s players.

    ———–Reis——–

    Wynne—-Soumare—-Segares

    —-Beckerman—-Joseph—-

    Becks—–Blanco—-Rogers–

    —-Donovan—-Cooper—–

    Subs: J. Busch, C Marshall, Conrad, Parkhurst, De Rosario, Kleschan,Dichio, Ching

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  14. brant, that’s what eric meant when he said “oh wait…”

    I like the inclusions. Schelotto could be on there but he gets hurt by the Crew’s recent slide. I would like to see C. Gomez there though.

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  15. Eric said: “What a great team that would be to watch though, I can’t wait to see them take on a top European team! Oh wait…”

    What ‘top’ European team is that? The one that finished 10th in a 20-team league?

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  16. At the risk of sounding biased…

    Where is Jimmy Conrad!?

    He would be a quality All-Star coming off the bench, no doubt (and he’s the Wizards leading goal scorer, which should tell you something about KC’s offense)

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  17. Yeah Ives, why are you so biased for Chi?!? You can’t win, but you know that!

    I’d rather have Colin Clark or Gomez instead of Dube, and as much as it hurts, I think GBS played himself off the squad in the last month. Hopefully he and Columbus turn it around again.

    What a great team that would be to watch though, I can’t wait to see them take on a top European team! Oh wait…

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  18. Nice to see Segares on your list, hopefully the other ballots concur. The guy definitely deserves the recognition.

    Considering we’re 7-0 aggregate goals over the Revs this season I’d have gone with Busch over Reis, but that’s just me 🙂

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  19. My only beef would be that I think Chad Barrett has Ching edged at this point for 2008 performance for all the things he has been doing to help his teammates score. His off-the-ball movement has been critical on so many of Chicago’s goals

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  20. Love the inclusions of Shalrie Joseph and Matt Reis. Reis, especially, is a no brainer.

    Also, the honorable mention to Kheli Dube is probably deserved. But what about Sainey Nyassi? Hasn’t seen as much time as Dube but the kid’s electric.

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  21. Clearly Ives has it in for Chicago…

    blanco, segares, soumare AND busch???

    id rather have the east vs west game back and have it after the MLS cup…. the problem with the current all-star game is its in the middle of the season and it’s participants take a risk of getting injured…

    i dont think i included any fire players in my ballet…. i went for rival teams big names like Reis, Cooper, Rogers, Schelotto, etc….

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  22. Hopefully the buzz around the “DP” “C-O-N Spiracy” is news that starting 2009 the All-Star game is officially cancelled!

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  23. I would not complete an All-Star ballot. It is a ridiculous match that can only sabotage a teams’ season because of an injury to a star player. Plus, I am tired of hearing MLS toot their horn about “we beat (name of club), which means MLS is on the up and up”. I would rather see the date filled with league matches that would enable a day off at another point for a world cup qualifier.

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