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As you may or may not know, the 18-man MLS All-Star team isn’t the only list of players selected with relation to the All-Star game. There is also a group of players known as "inactive" all-stars, who are considered the players who would also be all-stars if the MLS All-Star Game still had the same MLS-only format.
This distinction was created so that the same number of players (or at least close to it) could receive all-star selection contract bonuses. If you were wondering who these players were in 2008, here they are:
GOALKEEPERS: Jon Busch (ChicagoFire), Greg Sutton (Toronto FC).
DEFENDERS: Gonzalo Segares (Chicago Fire), Bakary Soumare (Chicago Fire), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC).
MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Amado Guevara (Toronto FC), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS: Brian Ching ( Houston Dynamo), Luciano Emilio (D.C. United).
It’s good to see players such as Segares, Schelotto and Busch get the all-star bonuses they deserve (assuming the bonuses were in their contracts), but it is a bit mind-numbing to see Real Salt Lake playmaker Javier Morales left off the list being tied for second in MLS in assists (7) and being the offensive leader of the first-place team in the Western Conference. Especially when Juan Toja and Jonathan Bornstein received rather undeserved nods.
Another gripe? I really don’t think Greg Sutton should have gotten the nod ahead of KC goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Sutton has a 1.50 goals-against average and has played in just 10 games. Hartman has just a 1.20 GAA and has been more impressive this season. Even RSL’s Nick Rimando deserves consideration ahead of Sutton. Rimando has started every game for first-place RSL and has a 6-6-5 mark.
What do you think of this group? Share your thoughts below.
“Brant, have you even watched RSL this year?”
Yep – watched ’em shut out KC and San Jose, beat Dallas, and lose damn never every road game they played…
They’re fine on their ice rink at home, where the ball bounces like a superball. But get them on the road, and they seem to give up 2 goals every game.
So yeah, I’d put Morales up there ahead of a lot of other RSL players. But do I put the defense up there? Not unless you’re counting the field as one of the defenders, sorry.
Wow – so that’s where all the host city players are listed…
Brant, have you even watched RSL this year? Borchers and Olave are the most solid center back duo in the league. Together they’ve allowed only three goals in our last 8 games, one of which was an own goal by rookie Tony Beltran. These guys are absolutely killing this year. If any players for RSL should have got the nod, I would have said Morales and Olave. Just watch an RSL game and you’ll agree with me.
But then again, as Sin2R said, apparently RSL won’t get any respect in this league until they win MLS Cup. Being first place in the conference just isn’t enough, I suppose.
No Morales? No Chad Marshall? No Alejandro Moreno?
Wow – evidently the league is run by idiots.
I wish DC had none 😀 1 is too many.
How can Toja and DeRosario get the nod to the All-Star game and NOT Guillermo Barros Schelotto? Did anyone see that game Columbus-KC? The guy is just dominating!
Amazing that DC only has one player among both groups. But, only potentially Moreno or Fred are deserving. How is DC in playoff contention again?
Enough already with the RSL love. Yes, I get it, they’re in first place in the West. Woohoo! Let’s just put the whole freakin’ team on the All-Star List!
Rimando – yep. Should’ve gotten some love.
Morales – behind only Schelotto there.
Borchers? C’mon… there are plenty of other defenders ahead of him.
Olave? Please.
And you’ve already admitted Beckerman’s having a down year.
So let’s not rush to enshrine half the lineup of a 6-6-5 team that has the benefit of playing on a ping-pong table for their home field advantage.
I think Chicago is under-represented for the way they’ve played most of the first half. I think Toronto is as over-represented at the Mountain Choir Association thinks RSL should be. I think the starting XI is about right, the replacements are completely screwed up, and the “backup XI” is pretty close to accurate. And this coming from an avowed Crew homer who’s got 2 guys on the roster despite having a great year (and, uh, better – so far – than RSL…)
After a shaky first few weeks, Bobby Boswell has been an absolute monster, and the Dynamo’s best player. He should have been there ahead of DeRo, Onstad, and Ching (and this is coming from a guy who loves those three guys, and knows Bobby is likely a one-season rental, so hasn’t gotten too attached). Just goes to show that the people making these decisions don’t pay any attention to actual play on the field.
How about Brian Namoff for an all-star nod? He’d had a quietly outstanding season for an otherwise slapdash DC back line, and is probably as much a reason they are still in the hunt as thier offense finding their feet.
Amazing that DC only has one player among both groups. But, only potentially Moreno or Fred are deserving. How is DC in playoff contention again?
The RSL snubs are a joke. Morales, Borchers, Olave, Rimando, AND Beckerman should’ve got consideration, with probably Javi and Nat getting the spots.
I’m not watching this joke.
I’m sure the $250 bonus they’ll receive makes up for the ASG sunb.
Seriously, I bet most of the guys on that list would rather have the time off than playing Wet Spam on carpet.
I know that several of these players were listed as the next-in-line results of the voting. Perhaps, all of them were (noting the many TFC palyers on this list). I believe that, unlike Nichol’s selections which were clearly not based on either voting results or year-to-date performance, the voting should have decided the reserves and, hopefully, did.
I agree with the Borchers comments. Guy has been money and could probably shore up any MLS backline.
I think Borchers is an all star hands down. Forget Jimmy Conrad.
PS Morales absolutely did deserve the nod.
Olave would have deserved the nod but it took him 4-5 games to win the place from Mantilla. he’s been great since then.
Sutton has consienstly provided the big save. To be honest, noone North of the border outside of Carver knows why Sutton hasn’t started every game, but Edwards numbers are padded by that long, comfortable homestand, and Sutton had all the difficult games, especially early in the season when the backline was very shaky. He has been outstanding, and second only to Reis in my book this season.
Morales snubbed again??? What does the guy need to do?
This list is another joke; as said above, Beckerman is about the 5th or 6th best player on RSL this year. He is having a very down season. Morales, Olave, and Rimando all deserved a look. Very weak MLS, very weak.
I haven’t seen Hartman play, so I can’t comment on his performances, but the numbers, Ives, don’t tell the whole story with Sutton. He has kept TFC in several games with big time saves and constantly covers up the mistakes made by his backline–Velez in particular. Their one road win against the Galaxy wouldn’t have happened if Sutton hadn’t stonewalled Donovan repeatedly, for example. I think Sutton is deserving, though so too perhaps was Hartman.
RSL will not get any respect until they win the MLS cup. It also blows my mind that Olave, Borchers, and Rimando were ignored. Beckerman? These other 4 are more important to the team.