If there’s going to be no end to the annual silly season in Major League Soccer – the part of the year when regular-season games are sacrificed and rescheduled because a temporary grass field laid down for a revenue-generating exhibition against an international opponent doesn’t drain (see Whitecaps, Vancouver) while confusing, scheduling-influenced and pseudo merit-based groupings of players and coaches form a MLS all-star team – then there’s going to be no end to the annual head-shaking and headaches it induces.
How can the group of 22 MLS players that will face Manchester United at Red Bull Arena on July 27 even be called an all-star team if New York head coach Hans Backe was asked by MLS “to select from among all available players”?
Even if Backe “constructed a dynamic, balanced roster loaded with the League’s top talent,” that’s not an all-star team, it’s one selected by Backe, who was named coach by the league because he was conveniently available, too.
At a time when most all-star games in other sports have grown especially tired, MLS was supposed to have the one unique format that still was compelling. Yet it’s been watered down by a convoluted player selection process and the fact that Manchester United is playing nearly half the league in friendlies before it even faces the all-stars. By the end of the month, Shalrie Joseph might get confused and start to think MLS did actually transfer him to Europe.
The icing on the cake is MLS commissioner Don Garber’s two marketing-fueled picks of Kansas City forward Omar Bravo and New York forward Juan Agudelo. Picking Bravo is a nod to the highly desirable Mexican fan base that MLS is desperate to convert into a part of its passionate core while Agudelo is the next great MLS homegrown product, one that MLS would love to show off on the big stage and sell to Europe for a profit.
That Garber would select Bravo based on his “big-game experience” reflects the dream world where the all-star game result matters at MLS headquarters even though it carries no weight anywhere else, not even in FIFA’s rankings.
With four goals each, Bravo and Agudelo combined have as many goals as D.C. United forward Charlie Davies (eight), who was left off the all-star roster. Davies’ penchant for taking an embellished tumble in the box doesn’t help his case, but there are players on New York’s own roster that are more deserving than Agudelo.
Keep in mind, according to the CBA ratified last year, a total of 32 players are named all stars. The remaining slots (the total group includes four goalkeepers, eight defenders, 13 midfielders and seven forwards) are determined by a player vote and will be revealed next week. I was assured by MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche that the all-star process will be revisited next year in order to simplify and refine it.
In the meantime, the full MLS all-star roster is after the following explanation for the MLS all-star XI players that aren’t available:
Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC) and Brek Shea (FC Dallas) are unavailable due to CONCACAF Champions League matches during the week of the All-Star Game. Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy) and Rafa Marquez (New York Red Bulls) are injured.
2011 MLS All-Star Gameday Roster
Goalkeeper: Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo), Faryd Mondragón (Philadelphia Union)
Defenders: Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Bobby Convey (San Jose Earthquakes), Sean Franklin (LA Galaxy), Jamison Olave (Real Salt Lake), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls).
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Jack Jewsbury (Portland Timbers), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Nick LaBrocca (Chivas USA)
Forwards: Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Omar Bravo (Sporting Kansas City), Omar Cummings (Colorado Rapids), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
