By DAN KARELL
Major League Soccer released their 2013 MLS All-Star Ballot on Monday, featuring 115 players across all 19 MLS teams.
Fans can choose one goalkeeper and ten field players when they vote and can vote online, through text message (SMS), on Twitter, and between July 3 and July 10 using FIFA Soccer 13 Ultimate Team, part of the AT&T MLS All-Star “In The Game” Challenge.
The top ten players in terms over overall percentage of votes will make the All-Star Fan XI, with the rest of the squad of 32 (4 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, 12 midfielders, 7 forwards) selected by Peter Vermes, who will coach the squad, and MLS Commissioner Don Garber.
The MLS All-Stars will be facing AS Roma on July 31 at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas, the first time the league has ever faced Serie A opposition.
Each MLS team has six representatives on the ballot (The Chicago Fire have seven due to Mike Magee being acquired from the LA Galaxy after being one of their six). For a full list of the ballot, continue reading after the jump.
MLS All-Star Ballot selections
By Position (maximum of six players per team. Chicago Fire have seven due to Mike Magee originally being one of the LA Galaxy’s six.)
Goalkeepers: Joe Bendik (TOR), Carlo Cudicini (LA), Michael Gspurning (SEA), Clint Irwin (COL), Zac MacMath (PHI), Donovan Ricketts (POR), Bobby Shuttleworth (NE), Jon Busch (SJ), Raul Fernandez (DAL), Tally Hall (HOU), Sean Johnson (CHI), Jimmy Nielsen (SKC), Nick Rimando (RSL), Joe Cannon (VAN), Andy Gruenebaum (CLB), Bill Hamid (DC), Dan Kennedy (CHV), Troy Perkins (MTL), Luis Robles (NY).
Defenders: Jalil Anibaba (CHI), Tony Beltran (RSL), Victor Bernardez (SJ), Austin Berry (CHI), Matt Besler (SKC), Nate Borchers (RSL), Bobby Burling (CHV), Aurelien Collin (SKC), Mario de Luna (CHV), Todd Dunivant (LA), Andrew Farrell (NE), Matteo Ferrari (MTL), Jose Goncalves (NE), Omar Gonzalez (LA), Jeremy Hall (TOR), Michael Harrington (POR), Young-Pyo Lee (VAN), Chad Marshall (CLB), Brandon McDonald (DC), Drew Moor (COL), Justin Morrow (SJ), Andy O’Brien (VAN), Darren O’Dea (TOR), Jamison Olave (NY), Jeff Parke (PHI), Kofi Sarkodie (HOU), Djimi Traore (SEA), Josh Williams (CLB), Sheanon Williams (PHI), DeAndre Yedlin (SEA), Jackson (DAL).
Midfielders: Osvaldo Alonso (SEA), Eric Avila (CHV), Kyle Beckerman (RSL), Patrice Bernier (MTL), Tim Cahill (NY), Diego Chara (POR), Sam Cronin (SJ), Brad Davis (HOU), Dwayne De Rosario (DC), Andrew Driver (HOU), David Ferreira (DAL), Oscar Boniek Garcia (HOU), Eddie Gaven (CLB), Atiba Harris (COL), Will Johnson (POR), Perry Kitchen (DC), Gershon Koffie (VAN), Reggie Lambe (TOR), Jeff Larentowicz (CHI), Mike Magee (CHI), Justin Mapp (MTL), Felipe Martins (MTL), Dax McCarty (NY), Edgar Mejia (CHV), Javier Morales (RSL), Lee Nguyen (NE), Patrick Nyarko (CHI), Amobi Okugo (PHI), Chris Pontius (DC), Dillon Powers (COL), Nigel Reo-Coker (VAN), Mauro Rosales (SEA), Oriol Rosell (SKC), Kelyn Rowe (NE), Luis Silva (TOR), Diego Valeri (POR), Graham Zusi (SKC), Michel (DAL), Juninho (LA).
Forwards: Claudio Bieler (SKC), Tristan Bowen (CHV), Deshorn Brown (COL), Will Bruin (HOU), Edson Buddle (COL), Kenny Cooper (DAL), Marco Di Vaio (MTL), Landon Donovan (LA), Robert Earnshaw (TOR), Fabian Espindola (NY), Diego Fagundez (NE), Thierry Henry (NY), Federico Higuain (CLB), Adam Jahn (SJ), Eddie Johnson (SEA), Robbie Keane (LA), Sebastien Le Toux (PHI), Jack McInerney (PHI), Darlington Nagbe (POR), Dominic Oduro (CLB), Lionard Pajoy (DC), Blas Perez (DAL), Chris Rolfe (CHI), Alvaro Saborio (RSL), Camilo Sanvezzo (VAN), Chris Wondolowski (SJ).
does anyone agree with me that 3 out of the 4 starting defenders for the Philadelphia Union are nominated, and Ray Gaddis, who has arguably played the best and most consistent, was the lone one of the group left off the nominantions ballot?
i understand he is only a second year player and he is playing out of position, but COME ON, really?
g: ? shuttleworth? nielsen?
d:yedlin, olave, goncalves, jackson
m: nguyen, boniek, donovan, valeri
f: divaio, keane
not on ballot?? rodney wallace, fabian castillo
bench: henry, mcieinery, eddie johnson, besler, collin, martins
No O.Martins ??? but there is a donovan?
Why is Landon there anyways?
Starting IX
GK Nielsen
D Beltran
D Olave
D Besler
D Morrow
M Cahill
M Zusi
M Valeri
M Morales
F Henry
F MacInerny
How the hell is Sarvas not there but Juninho is… Sarvas has been the better player
Dang, was hoping we had the better Juninho this year, even if for only one season… 🙁
I voted:
GK: Ricketts
DEF: Sarkodie, Besler, Collin, Farrell
MID: Zusi, Will Johnson, Beckerman, Okugo
FWD: McInerney, Fagundez
Not that I think these are all the best selections, I just wanted to shake it up a bit.
Wish Pontius would get a look with MNT.
come on, give that a rest.
…when he cant consistently complete a pass to his own team? (let alone assist/score)
why?
Amobi Okugo, the Union’s starting center-back is listed as a midfielder and Conor Casey isn’t even on the list? Very interesting Don.
No Oba Martins ? Wow.
There are some great forwards in there, but I would pick him over all, but maybe the sort of out of position Landon and maybe Henry, if he decided he can play that week.
I don’t like the fact that were playing Roma, it would’ve been nice to play Bayern Munich. AS Roma is usually a 4th or 5th place team in the Serie A. They aren’t Juventus or AC Milan/Inter. Granted, both Milan clubs underperformed in the league last season.
Landon Donovan is a forward now?
Jalil Anibaba??? Really? They could have put Sparky the mascot on there and had a better argument!
Jose Goncalves – THE reason the Revs have been posting so many shut outs. I’ve been very glad to see that he’s been getting some praise on this site (it didn’t seem that Ives was paying much attention to the Revs last season… not that I really blame him) but the jokers who do the game previews on the MLS site don’t seem to realize how important he’s been. This guy has been a complete boss, taking charge of the back line in NE and owning every striker that he gets pitted against.
no reason any DC players should be on this ballot
we’ve scored the fewest amount of goals, allowed the most, and we play a very ugly/physical “style” devoid of even basic soccer technique
i know this process is meant to be fair and balanced but anyone who actually VOTES for United players is truly nuts
I voted for Pajoy.
lol
One could make a weak argument for Kitchen, and an even weaker one for Hamid, but you’re certainly right about all of the others. Hell, I would have switched for Porter than Pontius at this point…
Bobby Shuttleworth has been so solid for NE up to this point. Per Jeff Lemieux “Bobby Shuttleworth leads the league in GAA (0.75), shutouts (7) and save percentage (.800). You need to be talking about him for All-Star.”
Shuttleworth has been solid, but Irwin’s stats are almost identical (0.75 GAA, 79% save %, 5 clean sheets), plus he has come up huge with two PK saves. both of which preserved 1-0 victories for his side. Could make the case for either, but I think Irwin deserves it by a nose.
Though you could also vote for Rimando and I wouldn’t bat an eye.
MacMath? Great googly moogly.
Every club has a goalkeeper on the ballot.
I’d prefer the ghost of Mondragon.
Starring Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal
And I’m sure there are some NYRB fans would prefer to have a gimpy Ryan Meara on the ballot over Luis Robles, but we can’t have everything we want.
Though FTR, I don’t think MacMath is that bad. Young goalkeepers are almost always prone to dumb mistakes. Just ask DC United or Chicago Fire fans (heck, ask Man U and Arsenal fans).
i was surprised to see him as Colombia’s 3rd string keeper for the qualifiers, but it makes sense
As an SKC fan, the homer version of my ballot looks like this (with both ballots, I tried to field an actual starting XI, not just pick the best 11 players regardless of position):
GK Nielsen
D Beltran
D Collin
D Besler
D Morrow
M Oriol Rosell
M Zusi
M Valeri
M Morales
F Bieler
F MacInerny
My non-homer ballot…
GK Irwin
D Beltran
D Gonzalez
D Besler
D Morrow
M Beckerman
M Zusi
M Valeri
M Rosales
F Di Vaio
F MacInerny
I’d love to see Nguyen, Goncalves, and Fagundez in the All Star game. They havnt necessarily gotten the media attention they deserves (except maybe Diego) so I can see them being overlooked.
No George John?!?!!
Trust me, you’er not the only one who is stunned.
The George John snub express is on time again for the 5th straight year
Boniek.
Justin Mapp?
How is that guy even collecting a check anymore?
Old School, you’re usually on top of things, but not this time. Five-head be damned, Mapp has been tearing it up for Montreal this year.
he sure has
Well, I’m certainly open to being put in my place then.
I wasn’t aware…I saw him up close under-perform for Chicago and much of the same for Philadelphia.
Admittedly, I haven’t seen very limited footage of Impact matches this year.
Truth be told, I generally just detest him from Chicago’s front office choosing to have Mapp be paid a ridiculous salary while allowing Chris Rolfe go because they refused to pay an increase in salary requested.
I don’t know, but from the looks of that logo, I’d feel more comfortable if a couple of the Autobots were going to be there.