4 Galaxy players named to first XI All-Star picks

(MLSsoccer.com)

Just in case you missed the news, four Galaxy players were among the first eleven choices for the MLS All-Star team. That team will also be coached by Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena (as the coach of the team with the most points as of the beginning of July) and will take on Manchester United on July 28th at Reliant Stadium in Houston. (Yes, Houston in July. Awesome. At least it won’t be in the afternoon.)

The Galaxy players are (in case you can’t make them out in the kind of bizarre Photoshop job above) are:

**Landon Donovan
**Edson Buddle
**Omar Gonzalez
**Donovan Ricketts

Apparently, according to the folks at MLSSoccer.com, Kansas City’s Jimmy Neilsen ran away with the fan voting for Goalkeeper, but the media, players, and coaches votes led to a landslide for Donovan Ricketts. To which I say, when did the KC fan base take the lead in internet ballot stuffing? They must have run a much better campaign that anyone else to get their guys the votes. Because as much as I like his hair, Neilsen’s not having an All-Star season. Just sayin’.

The full roster of first XI selections (and that doesn’t mean they will actually be starting – which is good when you see that the top three defensive picks are all center backs, for example) (have I used enough parentheses in this post yet?) is:

GOALKEEPER (1): Donovan Ricketts (LA Galaxy)

DEFENDERS (3): Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jamison Olave (Real Salt Lake)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake), Marco Pappa (Chicago Fire)

FORWARDS (2): Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)

What do you think of these selections? Who else would you pick (there are another 12 to pick – Arena gets 10 choices and The Don gets two)? Personally I’d like to see FC Dallas’ David Feirrera, New England Revolutions’ Shalrie Joseph, DC United’s Andy Najar, Houston’s Brad Davis, and NYRB’s Juan Pablo Angel.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Category: Player News