MLS All-Stars Lose First Game to International Competition

I've always been torn about the what the MLS should do for it's All-Star game. An East vs. West game, like they've done in the past, is rather boring and doesn't draw in an audience outside of the cult followers of the league. This is probably the main reason why the league scrapped this format.

For the last five years (I believe), the MLS All-Stars have played teams from international leagues, most commonly from the EPL (Fulham, Chelsea, West Ham and now Everton). This format attracts a much larger audience to the game and promotes the MLS by showboating their best players against some of the best teams in the world. But this current format also sets the league up for potential failure. If a group of all-stars from the 15 MLS teams can't contend or beat these teams, most of whom aren't champions of their respective leagues and aren't even regular competitors for the title, then what does that say for the rest of the league and the players who aren't "all-stars?"

MLS is certainly walking a tightrope here. If they lose, it shows just how much further we have to go to become a respectable league on the world stage. If they win, however, then the national sports media will rave how a bunch of (mostly) American players just beat Chelsea or Celtic and claim that we're on our way up in the soccer world.

Another thing the MLS All-Stars have going against them is that these players must come together and jell on the pitch in a matter or days. The teams they play have settled squads with players who know the system and understand what their teammates are and aren't capable of. Even though the game is part of their preseason training, that doesn't mean they've forgotten how to play with each other after a month or two apart.

For these past five years, the MLS All-Stars have pulled through and won. This year's game really shouldn't have been any different. The boys have nothing to hang their heads about besides all the missed chances they had in the second half. To lose on penalty kicks...that's really just a crap shoot anyway.

Except for when you're shooting against Tim Howard. He's damn good. It's bittersweet - I feel better for the USMNT after seeing him perform so admirably between the sticks.

MLS Announces All-Star XI

As I'm sure many of you who read this blog (if you exist at all) will already know that the MLS released it's All-Star team roster. If not, let me fill you in:

3-5-2 formation
Kasey Keller (SEA), Chad Marshall (CLB), Geoff Cameron (HOU), Wilman Conde (CHI), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (CLB), Freddie Ljungberg (SEA), Shalrie Joseph (NE), Stuart Holden (HOU), Dwayne De Rosario (TOR), Landon Donovan (LA), Conor Casey (COL).

Bench: Pat Onstad (HOU), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (SEA), Jonathan Bornstein (CHV), Cuauhtemoc Blanco (CHI), Ricardo Clark (HOU), Osvaldo Alonso (SEA), Paulo Nagamura (CHV), Fredy Montero (SEA), Brian McBride (CHI).

For those of you keeping track at home, there are 5 Seattle players, 4 Houston players, and 3 Chicago players, the top three clubs represented.

There are four determinants that go into an all-star selection: fan voting, player voting, media voting and coach/general manager voting. It's very interesting to note the difference in fan voting from the other three groups, specifically towards Seattle Sounders players. (is anyone really that shocked about this though?)

The top four vote-getters from the fan voting were all Sounders. In descending order, they were: Ljungberg, Montero, Hurtado and Alonso. Only one of them (Ljungberg) is starting, however, signifying that the fans were alone in supporting these players, since they obviously didn't garner enough support from the other three groups to get picked as a starter.

On the flip side, the lack of a fan vote significantly hurt players on teams who have little to no fan support. This may explain why Jonathan Bornstein (who certainly could deserve it) isn't starting, or why no players from Real Salt Lake were chosen for example (their average attendance of 16,045 thus far this season just won't cut it compared to the 32,000 or so Sounders fans all voting for their own players each home game).

Of course, no Red Bulls players were selected. No surprises there.

The game is against Everton at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday, July 29th at 9:30pm ET. It's on ESPN, so there's no excuse not to watch.

PS. Congrats to my boy Stuart Holden who made his first MLS All-Star team. That's how we do it.