Olympics and All-Stars

The Olympics only comes around once every 4 years - so I figured I could take some time to think about the Olympics for a little bit. I had a hard time finding a full Olympic schedule - so here ya go: 2008 Beijing Olympics Soccer Schedule.

So a camping trip this weekend kept me away from everything happening, but I was able to watch the All-Star game on Thursday night before leaving for the camping trip. It was great to see the MLS All-Stars win again! Thats about all I have the energy to write today.

MLS All Star roster is completed

Coach Steve Nicol added 5 players to the MLS All Star roster and commissioner Don Garber added his 2 commissioner picks to the squad that will face West Ham.

Nicol added Pablo Mastroeni, Juan Pable Angel, Jim Brennan, Christian Gomez and Pat Onstad. Garber choose Edson Buddle and Dwayne De Rosario.

So this is what the full squad looks like:

Goalkeeper: Pat Onstad (Houston Dynamo), Matt Reis (New England Revolution)

Defenders: Jim Brennan (Toronto FC), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution)

Midfielders: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo), Christian Gomez (Colorado Rapids), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Forwards: Juan Pablo Angel (forward, New York Red Bulls), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

The bold names could be on an Olympic roster - so alternates will be named by Nicol soon.

Who is most deserving that isn’t on that list? Emilio? Schelotto?

Who would likely replace those 3 if they are not able to compete?

Protest at the All Star game

I saw a headline this morning that said something about Toronto FC fans protesting at the upcoming All Star game.  We know the All Star game is taking place at BMO field - so why would TFC fans be planning to protest?  My first thought was that they didn’t get any players into the MLS All Star first XI even though TFC always has a lot of players high in the fan voting.

It turns out that was not the case at all.  They don’t want BMO field modified to accommodate the American Football team that plays in Toronto.  Right now BMO is soccer specific - which is part of the reason it is such a great atmosphere during TFC home games.  To allow the other team to play some major construction would need to be done - which would take away from the intimate setting of those TFC home games.

All Star first XI lineup

The first XI for the 2008 MLS All Star game was announced. This isn’t necessairly the starting lineup - coach Nicol will decide who starts. These are just the first 11 guys named to the team. If it were the starting lineup it would look something like this:

Donovan - Cooper

Rogers

Kljestan - Blanco - Joseph - Beckham

Parkhurst - Conrad - Hejduk

Reis

What other players do you think will be added to the team?  What will the starting lineup really look like?

2008 MLS All-Star Game possible opponents

Rumors are flying about the possible opponents for this 2008 MLS All-Star Game.  In the past few years we’ve seen Fulham, Chelsea, and Celtic all cross the pond to get beat by our MLS All-Stars!  Now there are 4 more big European teams that have been mentioned.  Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are the teams rumored to be possibilities.  Any of these would be great games for the MLS All-Stars, and hopefully the MLS can keep its streak of beating the world’s top clubs in this game!

Who would be the best option for this coming years All-Star game?

Angel Enjoys MLS And His All Star MVP Performance

Juan Pablo Angel hasn’t even had time to stop and think about why he chose to come play in Major League Soccer.  He hasn’t looked back and is very happy with his decision to come to play in the United States.

Angel scored the first, and game winning, goal versus Celtic in the MLS All Star Game last nite which the MLS All Stars went on to win 2-0.  Another Colombian (Juan Toja) scored the 2nd goal of the nite which made it 2 for the first year Colombians, 0 for one of the most famous teams in the world.

I used to not like this type of format for the MLS All Star game, but when they beat Fulham I started to come around.  Last year when the MLS All Stars beat EPL champions Chelsea I became a really big fan of this All Star format.  I can’t wait to find out more details about next years game.  Next year I’ll be looking forward the MLS all stars to make it 5 - 0 vs the world!

2008 All Star Game Goes To Canada

Toronto will host the 2008 MLS All Star game at the brand new BMO Field.  For a fifth year the format on the MLS All Star game will be the MLS All Stars versus a high power international team.  Coming up soon the MLS All Stars will take on Celtic.  In the past years the MLS All Stars played against Chelsea, Fulham and CD Guadelajara.  The MLS All Stars have won each of these games so far.  Opponents for the 2008 game will be determined later.

Cobi Jones And Eddie Pope Complete All Star Roster

The first XI was decided last week, and now the All Star roster is complete.

MLS All Star coach Steve Nicol added 5 players of his choosing, and then Don Garber added his two commissioner’s picks. Nicol choose Brian Ching, Landon Donovan, Ronnie O’Brien, Kevin Hartman and Pable Mastroeni. Don Garber choose Jones and Pope, both long time MLS stars who are retiring after this season.

Maybe they aren’t quite all stars this season, but Cobi Jones and Eddie Pope have served Major League Soccer for a long time and deserve a spot on this team.

The MLS All Stars will be facing Celtic at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on July 19th.  The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 8:00 PM CST.

MLS All Star First XI announced

The MLS All Star game first 11 was announced today. This isn’t necessairly the starting lineup, just the first 11 guys voted onto the team. 7 more will be added later. No representative from the Colombus Crew, Toronto FC, Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake.

Juan Pablo Angel - Eddie Johnson
Chrisian Gomez - Dwayne De Rosario - Juan Toja
Sharlie Joseph - Ricardo Clark
Jonathan Bornstein - Jimmy Conrad - Michael Parkhurst
Matt Reis

Steve Nicol Will Coach MLS All Stars Versus Celtic

When the all star game comes around this year, the New England Revolution’s Steve Nicol will be in charge of the MLS all stars that will face Scottish Champions Celtic.  The Revolution head coach got the job because his team has the most points per game in the league right now.  The job would have been given to Bruce Arena had the Revolution not beat Toronto FC this weekend.

I used to not really enjoy the format of this all star game, but since the MLS all stars beat Chelsea I’ve been a fan.  With a small league it works for me.  The single all star team will draw just as many fans as 2 all star teams will, but their opponents will bring some more attention to the game and also make it a little bit more competitive.  You can always argue that Chelsea was (and Celtic will be) in pre-season playing a meaningless game, but no European team is going to want to come into the US and lose to an all star team from a league most of them probably view as second rate to wherever they are coming from.

Well that can’t last too long, because soon those big clubs will not have any reason to come to the US and lose to the MLS all stars.  Then what will we be left with?  The regular old boring no-defence east vs west  completely meaningless just like baseball or basketball all star game.  I don’t want that, so I hope the all stars take it a little easy on Celtic.