And then there were 108.
MLS released its All-Star Game ballot Wednesday afternoon, after a group of 30 media members, spread across each MLS market, nominated six players per team. The top six leading vote-getters from each of the 18 teams make up the 108-person ballot.
With the six-per-team restriction, some of the players of note that didn't make the fan ballot include Dane Richards, Juan Pablo Angel, Alvaro Saborio, Carlos Valdes, Teemu Tainio and Eric Brunner. Every player in the league is eligible for selection by New York Red Bulls and MLS All-Stars coach Hans Backe, commissioner Don Garber and the players, who will make selections to round out the team.
Fans can vote for the "First XI," although the fans' selections won't necessarily all start the All-Star Game. They'll be eligible (barring injury) to make the 18-man matchday roster, which Backe will ultimately determine.
For more on the voting process, read on here.
Here are the players nominated by the media, arranged by team, for the MLS All-Star Game:
MLS ALL-STAR BALLOT BY TEAM
CHICAGO FIRE
Cory Gibbs, Marco Pappa, Logan Pause, Dominic Oduro, Diego Chaves, Gonzalo Segares
CHIVAS USA
Dan Kennedy, Justin Braun, Nick LaBrocca, Heath Pearce, Ante Jazic, Alejandro Moreno
COLORADO RAPIDS
Matt Pickens, Drew Moor, Pablo Mastroeni, Jeff Larentowicz, Omar Cummings, Conor Casey
COLUMBUS CREW
Will Hesmer, Chad Marshall, Eddie Gaven, Emmanuel Ekpo, Robbie Rogers, Emilio Renteria
D.C. UNITED
Perry Kitchen, Andy Najar, Chris Pontius, Dax McCarty, Charlie Davies, Josh Wolff
FC DALLAS
Kevin Hartman, George John, Ugo Ihemelu, Brek Shea, Daniel Hernandez, Fabian Castillo
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Tally Hall, Bobby Boswell, Brad Davis, Geoff Cameron, Will Bruin, Cam Weaver
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
Donovan Ricketts, Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Juninho, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
Matt Reis, A.J. Soares, Kevin Alston, Benny Feilhaber, Shalrie Joseph, Chris Tierney
NEW YORK RED BULLS
Thierry Henry, Tim Ream, Luke Rodgers, Dwayne De Rosario, Rafa Marquez, Joel Lindpere
PHILADELPHIA UNION
Faryd Mondragon, Danny Califf, Justin Mapp, Sebastien Le Toux, Carlos Ruiz, Danny Mwanga
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Futty Danso, Rodney Wallace, Kalif Alhassan, Jack Jewsbury, Kenny Cooper, Jorge Perlaza
REAL SALT LAKE
Nick Rimando, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, Fabian Espindola
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Jon Busch, Jason Hernandez, Bobby Convey, Simon Dawkins, Khari Stephenson, Chris Wondolowski
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Kasey Keller, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Fredy Montero, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez
SPORTING KANSAS CITY
Davy Arnaud, Teal Bunbury, Kei Kamara, Omar Bravo, Roger Espinoza, Matt Besler
TORONTO FC
Stefan Frei, Julian de Guzman, Javier Martina, Tony Tchani, Joao Plata, Maicon Santos
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Jay DeMerit, Alain Rochat, Davide Chiumiento, Eric Hassli, Camilo, Atiba Harris
———————–
What do you think of the ballot? Who do you think got snubbed? Who gets your vote? What do you think of the balloting system?
Share your thoughts below.
agreed but Tainio’s play has dropped off
6 per team is a stupid and arbitrary restriction. Solli and Tainio are deserving from the Red Bulls.
Califf has earned a spot on this list — most improved player from last year’s team, no question.
Nice that someone buys into the NY/LA hype, I guess no other teams exist, save for the bone you threw to Bravo and Mondragon.
olave > hainault > ream
Fair enough. Can’t really argue with any of those selections. I’m a Galaxy fan, but I just think Hartman has been the best goalkeeper this season.
Plata is going to be a star with more minutes
Ricketts over Hartman and Pappa over De Ro
locks
He has been OK, but not all-star material this season
He hasn’t been the same since injury
Terrible ballot…all players should be on it like MLB
I can’t believe they even chose 6 players to be nominated from TFC. Maybe Frei gets the nomination, but there are easily 5+ better keepers than him. Richard Eckersley also gets the nod. Other than that, the rest of the squad can hit the gym, because they’ve played like Shite.
Le Toux’s been great. Even though he hasn’t scored he’s still the most important player on the Union for the attention he demands and his assists. Mwanga and Mapp probably should’ve been taken out for Valdes and Williams. Mwanga has no place in the all-star game this year while Valdes could start.
Agreed. Parke over Hurtado. Otherwise good list.
Oh, forgot about Alsonso, he deserved the spot he has.
Agreed, biggest left-off I can see for the Sounders. Nobody except Keller has been consistent enough to even be on the ballot. Parke should’ve been.
Nick Rimando, Nat Borchers and Jamison Olave are the reason teams average .4 goals per game against RSL. Without question all three are all-stars and at least two of them need to be starters.
Check the stats.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/mls/team-stats.htm?loc=interstitialskip
I picked Ream, Marquez and Olave…Papa, Beckham, Chiumiento (Will work magic with good players around him)Beckerman… and up top, Henry, Donovan and Teal…
Honestly I wanted to pick Soli as RB but didn’t see him listed.. I would easily swap Teal out for Soli and this squad will beat Barcelona…
And Philly GK i put in net also btw.
——-Henry—Bravo–Donovan—-
-De Rosario-Beckham-Juninho-Lindepere
—-Gonzalez–Marquez–Ream——–
————-Mondragon————–
I agree with your statement but I cannot allow myself to vote him.
I have to agree with you almost 100% except you didn’t throw in Marquez, he has been solid this year.
Submitted my ballot:
GK: Kevin Hartman
DEF: George John, Tim Ream, Omar Gonzalez
MID: Brad Davis, Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Dwayne De Rosario
FW: Thierry Henry, Chris Wondolowski, Charlie Davies
I hope Thierry Henry, Tim Ream both make it.
Totally agree about Hainault. He is having a great year.
I’m a DC fan, but this system of forcing 6 players per team is iffy as I don’t think Dax or Josh are anywhere close to being All-Star material this season…
DeRo is a terrific player, but hasn’t had the year necessary, if you asked me.
Richards over Lindpere and I’d have Solli in for one of the other defenders.
Agreed.
as a union fan, fact. sheanon williams has also been excellent and is certainly ahead of le toux, ruiz, mapp.
It ain’t that bad. Fans only pick 11 of 32 all-stars.
Hoped to see Solli and Tainio on the list. Both have been fantastic. Solli is a big absence, given he’s got more assists than any other defender.
THIS IS A TERRIBLE SYSTEM. Where’s Andrew Hainault? The guy is having a monster year and doesn’t even have a chance? He’s arguably an MLS best XI defender right now.
Union selections are disappointing. 100% with Mondragon, but Jordan Harvey, Carlos Valdes, and Sheanon Williams should be getting the nod ahead of LeToux, Mwanga, and Ruiz.
No Valdes or Williams they are two cold stone studs. Le toux shouldn’t even be near this ballot or Ruiz or califf. But def not Le toux. As for the Dragon he gets my vote for keeper. Do they have right in votes?
Same here, I would like to see the All-stars do better against Man U, this time around, although three fine players in Zakuani, Morales, and Ferriera will be missing. I think the list overall is good, even though there are some snubs such as Teemu Tainio, Carlos Valdez, Dane Richards. Also, Violet the last year’s all star game’s final scoreline was 5-2, but yes, it certainly was a lopsided defeat.
Alright, now I think I’ve got it. Backe picks an 18 player roster so if he used all 11 fan choices and Garber’s 2 he’d pick at a minimum 5 more players, but could pick more if the fan voting resulted in 11 midfielders for example.
maka: ditto. couldn’t believe that one. i guess this is why fan voting will be basically meaningless to final outcome as it’s just too diffcult to get reasonable reactions.
if you don’t put equal players on a ballot, fans from one team may all vote for that play while other teams get split. but if one team has many deserving players (for fan consideration) then it looks like favoritism.
I’d just like to see a better performance form the “All-Stars” this time against the Red Devils, last years 5-0 thrashing was pathetic, even if they weren’t a real team, as professionals you shouldn’t get beaten like that by United’s second team. Yes, Agudelo shouldn’t be in the match, he should spend more time practicing to perfect his craft in the MLS and on the national team, before we nominate him an All-Star, he’s only scored 2 goals this season.
The fans only pick 11 of the 32 all-stars, with Garber picking 2 more and MLS players picking the remainder. Although I could be wrong because the language on mlss is a bit confusing as to how Backe will select his gameday roster and how many selections the MLS players make.
Valdes > Le Toux, Califf, Ruiz for sure. He’s probably been their best player all season.
With only 6 per team, a stacked team like NY was always gonna have some players at the top of the snub list.
Agudelo is a great player talent wise but he does not have the minutes or stats to justify being on the ballot. the all-star game should be the players playing the best in MLS right now not the most talented players in MLS.
So I know it won’t happen because of the small market/lack of intense fans of FC Dallas but FC should have 3 players make the team, Shea, Hernandez, and John
And Tainio is a huge snub. I’m sure some writers respected what he brings to the field, but others don’t know enough about the game.
Jeff Parke is definitely the best Sounders defender this season…way ahead of Hurtado.
Of the six Timbers on the list I would swap Wallace out for Brunner.
It sucks that Agudelo isn’t nominated (he shouldn’t be), but I don’t know how you can justify Lindpere over Richards.
No Carlos Valdes? He has been Philly’s best player all season.
Haven’t scoured the full list, but surprised to see Eric Brunner not even on the ballot.