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My votes for the MLS All-Star Game
Here are my votes in the media balloting for the 2009 Major League Soccer All-Star team:
GOALKEEPER (1)
Kasey Keller, Seattle Sounders: Although he doesn’t have the best stats in the league, he’s having the best year.
DEFENDERS (3)
Chad Marshall, Columbus Crew: Scores goals, shuts down opponents, plays clean.
Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City Wizards: Consistent, talented and a scoring threat. A real leader, on and off the field.
Bobby Boswell, Houston Dynamo: A big reason Houston has given up only 10 goals in 2009 and leads the league in allowing the fewest shots. Dynamo opponents have taken only 129 shots this season; the Rapids are next at 137.
MIDFIELDERS (5)
Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew: the MVP of the season so far. An amazing player and a joy to watch.
Brad Davis, Houston Dynamo: Leading the league in assists and driving the big orange machine to the top of the Western Conference.
Dwayne De Rosario, Toronto FC: New rule — Major League Soccer is not allowed to stage an All-Star Game without D-Ro.
Paulo Nagamura, Chivas USA: A superior defensive presence, and he’s scored some clutch goals for the Goats.
Chris Pontius, D.C. United: Rookie-of-the-year candidate has second-highest goal total (4) for Eastern power.
FORWARDS (2)
Conor Casey, Colorado Rapids: One of two biggest aerial threats in the league.
Fredy Montero, Seattle Sounders: MLS newcomer has turned heads since the first week of the season. Exciting with the ball and spot-on finishing.
Voting by position was a little restrictive. I’d love to move Kenny Cooper and Landon Donovan to the midfield, but that’s not how the voting was set up. Players were already assigned a position, and nobody topped Casey and Montero up front.
If I had to choose three strikers, I’d be scratching my head. Who to pick among the following: Nate Jaqua? Six goals and five assists. Omar Cummings? Six goals and six assists. Donovan? Cooper? Eduardo Lillingston? Robbie Findley? Ryan Johnson? Brian McBride? Serious competition this year at striker.
MLS lists Pontius at midfield although he’s seen a lot of action as a striker. I chose him narrowly over Freddie Ljungberg, a big-name signing who has been worth every cent of the $1.3 million he’ll earn this year. But what a value Pontius is at $66,000.
Choosing only three defenders is crazy.
Houston’s Pat Onstad has a better goals-against average than Keller (0.63 to 0.84) and three more shutouts. But Keller has been a better goalkeeper this season. He’s shown it spectacularly. Oddly, the Rapids have missed penalty kicks against both of those guys. Onstad would be my second choice and would play the second half.
Casey has a high vertical leap
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