Houston Dynamo head coach Dom Kinnear probably didn't like the fact that Fredy Montero scored a questionable goal against the Dynamo recently, but that didn't stop him from selecting the Colombian striker to the MLS All-Star Team.
Montero and teammate Jhon Kennedy Hurtado were two of the six players chosen by Kinnear as reserves for the MLS All-Star Game against Everton on July 29 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah. David Beckham was not.
Here is the full list of picks:
- Pat Onstad, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Brad Davis, Davy Arnaud, Freddy Montero, Brian Ching
Kinnear selected six players instead of the previously scheduled five because Columbus Crew star Guillermo Barros SChelotto is out with a hamstring injury.
With MLS commissioner Don Garber selecting Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales, this means there will be NO David Beckham at the MLS All-Star Game (that sound you hear is young girls in Utah crying).
Houston leads the way with five selections while the Sounders have four players on the All-Star Team.
Here is the full team:
Goalkeepers: Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC)*, Pat Onstad (Houston Dynamo)&
Defenders: Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo)*, Wilman Conde (Chicago Fire)*, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle Sounders FC)&, Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew)*
Midfielders: Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards)&, Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake)+, Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo)&, Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo)*, Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution)*, Freddie Ljungberg (Seattle Sounders FC)*, Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake)+
Forwards: Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids)*, Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)&, Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)*, Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders FC)&
* Denotes selection to First XI Team (Blanco replaced Dwayne De Rosario due to Toronto FC's CONCACAF Champions League match)
+ Denotes a Commissioner's Selection
& Denotes Coach's Selection
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What do you think of this group? What player do you think was the biggest snub? What would be your starting lineup vs. Everton?
Share your thoughts below.
Mark – Juan Pablo Angel couldn’t have played due to Champions league
FYI to those asking and mentioning where Aranud plays. He plays withdrawn forward, attacking center mid, and out wide; he is very similar to Dempsey.
Kinda light on defenders. Hope none of them get hurt.
Several times in his book, Wahl refers to various people and groups — Leiweke, MLS, etc. — “bending over backwards” for Rent Boy Beckham. This is a factual error. They bent over forwards. Once can only guess at what went wrong that Garber did not Bend Over For Beckham, again, forwards, by picking him for the all star game. Afterall, Garber picked Luis Hernandez (another Galaxy no show) despite Hernandez spending most of his time in Mexico getting his hair done, and banging USC coeds …
Landon should switch sides at the half.
———–Ching, Donovan———–
—————-Blanco—————–
—-Holden, Joseph, Beckerman, Davis——
———Conde, Marshal, Cameron———
—————-Keller——————
It reeeeaaaaallly sucks not to have Schelotto in the lineup, but we should still win this game easily since Everton is only in preseason with this line up.
Keller
Cameron, Marshall, Conde, Hurtado
Joseph
Holden Davis
Donovan
Ching, Montero
Why Shalrie Joseph is not playing in Europe is something I’ll never understand. He has got to be the most underappreciated and valued player in the MLS. Maybe is just happy in MLS and does not want to go is all I can think of.
How many times do I watch PL games and think of how much teams from say 8 in the table on down could really use. La Liga for that matter as well. He is Marco Senna type and we all see what happened to Spain in the Confederations Cup without Marco Senna playing behind the offensive midfielders closing down counter attacks in the loss to the U.S. and the 3rd place squeaker over South Africa.
Anyone disagree?
And, dont get me wrong, I like Tim Howard and theres nothing wrong with the toffees, but they dont create the draw that justifies the all star game not being east-west.
Posted by: Timmy U
I agree. Or a US vs. the World MLS All-star format.
Also, how the hell does Brad Davis make it over Ricardo Clark?
Where the eff is Schelotto? CCL game or something?
plan and simple beckham has played 2 games in the mls and one being an international friendly. no reason he should be put on the squad
I’m a Houston native and Dynamo fan so I’m probably biased, but anyone else think Dominic Kinnear could be the next Nats coach. Houston plays a possession game in a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. I think he would bring a more attractive brand of soccer and he’s proven to be a good evaluator of talent.
Houston played Seattle tough with long stretches of possession even without Ching, Holden, Boswell, and Camerson (basically all their central field players and three All Stars) on the road and then went and played tough in Toronto again with long stretches of possession without Ching, Holden, Mulrooney, Davis and with Cameron as the attacking mid. As much as I like them, if he can coach a midfield with Cameron and Ashe and sub Danny Cruz and control possession well against a midfield with Guevara and DeRosario, I’d say he’s a pretty good coach.
Pat Onstad
2009 Svs 51 Goals allowed 13 shutouts 8
Donovan Rickett
2009 Svs 49 Goals allowed 14 shutouts 3
_____________
Brad Davis
2009 Goals 3 Assists 7
Marco Pappa
2009 Goals 5 Assists 3
Good decision by Garber and Kinnear to not pick Beckham and go by merit over the season. And is Colin correct that an All-Star pick gives you a bonus? If so, then yeah, people should have been voted in despite CCL games and replaced
A little short on outside backs, maybe Namoff, or Waibel should have been added.
My only complaint is that there are just four defenders and a surplus (eight) of midfielders, unless Arnaud is considered a forward. Virtually everyone selected has had a good season, and I agree that MLS finally showed some integrity by not including Beckham.
Where’s Quaranta?
feilhaber got the game winning assist for aurhus
“that sound you hear is young girls in Utah crying”
That other sound you hear is me laughing at both the Utah girls and Beckham. Good job to MLS for actually giving us people who deserve to be all-stars rather than those who think they’re entitled to be all-stars (including those who think they’re entitled and have played exactly one league match thus far).
I like Cooper and Ching, but Ching is a better forward. Cooper never saw an inch of space that he didn’t think a soccer ball should be rocketing off his foot and into. This could be due to playing for a horrible team.
totally bummed not to have Schelotto in the lineup.
Is it possible to like Cooper and Ching? Funny how people are so against certain players on this site. Especially when it comes to the Nats. I root for all our guys and want them all to do well.
I’ll definitely watch the All-Star game, despite no Kenny Cooper. Who the hell tunes into the All-Star game to watch Kenny Cooper anyways?
id love to see stats on the number of players from expansion teams that have made all star games. (Ives help?)
i think everybody knew dom was gonna pick some of his boys, surprised he went with davis over clark.
i think with all star teams theres always at least 1 snub but i dont see anybody whos wildly out of place on the roster. And, dont get me wrong, I like Tim Howard and theres nothing wrong with the toffees, but they dont create the draw that justifies the all star game not being east-west.
if Arturo Alvarez played for a better team he would have gotten more respect. He had a great half of the season with 5 goals and two assists. Plus, he got speed, skills, and reads the game well. If he played for a team like houston where his work would not be over shadow by his team’s results, he would have been included in this US gold cup squad, and possibly in the All star team just like stuart holden.
I am only disappointed with the number of defenders this team has. Then again, most of the time you are not subbing out defenders, but still if one of them gets hurt we are down to a 3-5-2 formation from there on. I say that because Dom Kinnear is likely to start with a 4-4-2, which means all of the defenders will be out there. Montero’s speed would work well with Ching. With Davis providing service, Ching’s aerial game will be tough to handle. I had no idea Arnaud played midfield at all. If he is any good there on the wings, props for him, he can increase the National Depth team there. All of these players earned there spots. Some others could have made it, but these are not bad selections. Hopefully they can get enough team chemistry down to kill Everton (sorry Howard, you are going to have to go down on this one)
not that i watch a whole lot (read: any) FC Dallas, but from watching the Nats, Cooper sucks.
Kind of sucks that half of the players are from either Houston (5) or Seattle (4), but the team is still decent and you can’t argue too much with the selections.
No Marco Pappa? Is the dynamo coach playing favoritism?
We Love You Davy and if you score tonight we’ll love you Davy!
congrats on being the only major football league with an all star game. haha
Posted by: thedoc | July 20, 2009 at 05:26 PM
———–
You showed us!
I’m not sure what, though.
How in the world could you pssibly choose Cooper over Ching. Ching is a leader on the number one team in the MLS and contributes week in and week out. Cooper is terrible and playes for a terrible team. Watched him play for the US and was absolutely horrendous aside from converting a penalty he did nothiing!
No Ricketts? WTF. How old is Onstad now? Like 53? FIVE Dynamo players? Ridiculous.
DC players still should have been “selected” and then replaced. To be selected is an honor in itself, and don’t most of those selections come with $$$? I’m sure DCU players would rather play in a meaningful (even if it’s the CCL) game, but at least select ’em. It’s the thought that counts!!!
Not too many guys on defense, not that a lot of defense is played in these games.
I think a major snub would be Guevara or Alonso, but it’s tough to argue the midfield too much.
Also glad a guy like Juan Pablo Angel wasn’t named to the roster since that would have been an example of a guy getting in on reputation.
It was interesting because in a letter about the All-Star game to RSL Season Ticket Holders They made an comment about how they “pretty sure that beckham would be included” God Bless MLS sales tactics.
socerroo: pontius wasn’t chosen because DC plays around the all-star game in CCL
nicely put YO!!!
This is the USA, and in the USA we do AllStar games. Get over it.
congrats on being the only major football league with an all star game. haha
nate jaqua i think did a good job this season, and maybe deserves it more than ljungberg.
im glad to see that Garber left him off as well. Respect is a 2 way street. You cant get your lawyers involved to break your contract with a team/league, then have that team/league kiss your butt when you are legally forced back to the team. F that
Does Arnaud play Midfield for KC? I don’t closely follow them.
If he can play out right, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a shot there with the Nats.
After Clint, our RM depth chart is muddy to say the least.
All of this is, of course, contingent upon Arnaud actually playing that position. I don’t know if he can. I just see him listed here as a Mid. I’ve only see him play up top.
I’m glad Becks was left off. I don’t see how you select a player who has only played 1 league game over players who have been playing well all season. Good decision MLS!
That seals the deal of me not watching this year’s game. No Cooper, I can find something better to do with those two hours of my life.
davy!
Not to disappointed by this lineup but would have like to see Ponteaus(sp) since he has had such a good start to his rookie season.
I am so glad that Beckham is not making the team! I am sure that a lot of people here in Utah would have liked to see him play, but I am sick off all his crap. Let the players earn their spot on the fild, which he has not done.
Ricardo Clark got hosed, but Kinnear probably doesn’t mind giving him the extra rest.
At the moment Ching is a better player than Cooper and can play the role of a targer forward which Cooper is not. Enough said.
Fine by me. I wanna see Donovan and Montero on the field together.
Cooper over Ching. Enough said.