SoccerBlogs

The 2012 MLS All-Star Game will kick off on Wednesday night with a strong team of MLS standouts taking on a Chelsea side that will certainly be dangerous despite the fact they are working their way through pre-season.

MLS All-Star coach Ben Olsen has a variety of options to choose from when picking his team, and the quality selections he made will make it that much of a more interesting process for him to settle on his starting lineup.

Eddie Johnson, finally an All-Star again.

Coming down at half-time of today's Seattle-New York match, here is the full All-Star roster after the "First XI" were named earlier this week.

Philadelphia's Carlos Valdes and San Jose's Ramiro Corrales were the commissioner's picks.

2012 MLS All-Star Gameday Roster

Goalkeepers (2): Dan Kennedy (Chivas USA), Jimmy Nielsen (Sporting Kansas City)

Defenders (6): Steven Beitashour (San Jose Earthquakes), Aurélien Collin (Sporting Kansas City), Ramiro Corrales (San Jose Earthquakes), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Heath Pearce (New York Red Bulls),Carlos Valdes (Philadelphia Union)

Midfielders (6): Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders FC), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Dwayne De Rosario (D.

Article by Luke Lohr

Major League Soccer has announced the First XI All-Star roster that could wind up taking on Chelsea in this years All-Star match. A star studded group headlines the list, with more selections to be made by coach Ben Olsen and two supplemental picks by MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

All stars?

The following players were announced Sunday as the fan selected "First XI" (not starters, but top fan choices at each position) for the All-Star game Wednesday July 25th at PPL Park in Philadelphia against Chelsea.

GOALKEEPER- Jimmy Nielsen (Sporting KC)

DEFENDERS- Steven Beitashour (San Jose Earthquakes), Aurelien Collin (Sporting KC), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps), Heath Pearce (New York Red Bulls).

I am a little late on posting this but that is due to a Lazy Sunday.

Anyways, just a quick post to tell you who was named to the First XI of the 2012 MLS All Stars.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen was the winner of the AT&T Text Voting, receiving 27% of all text votes submitted between June 8 and July 2.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, defender Aurelien Collin and midfielder Graham Zusi headlined the list of players chosen as part of Major League Soccer's All-Star First XI.

The selections, made by a combination of voting by fans on three different platforms: via the league website, text voting and Twitter.

David Beckham (LA Galaxy)

"Looking at who is left in the competition, if we can get a good result now against Ukraine and then push forward, I don't see why we can't go all the way because I think we have got a great goalkeeper, we've got a talented back four, a midfield that a lot of teams are going to be scared of.

The ballots have been tallied and we now know the finalists for the various end-of-season awards for Major League Soccer.

Last year it was easy to find some fault in the various finalists but this year, every award was fairly open enough.

2011 Major League Soccer Awards Finalists (Listed in alphabetical order by last name within each award category) Rookie of the Year Finalists – Winner to be announced Nov.

Goalkeeper:
Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo) 26 years old. Signed for Danish club Esbjerg when he was 22 years old and spent two years there, but didn't play in any competitive games. Scored a goal from his own half in a CONCACAF Champions League game against Isidro Metapán. He has a dog named Fifa and supports Spurs.

Goalkeeper:
Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo) 26 years old. Signed for Danish club Esbjerg when he was 22 years old and spent two years there, but didn't play in any competitive games. Scored a goal from his own half in a CONCACAF Champions League game against Isidro Metapán. He has a dog named Fifa and supports Spurs.

Forgive me for being a tad late to this party. I've been away from the computer for most of the day and I'm starting to catch up here. The 2011 MLS All-Star Game roster was announced this afternoon and for the most part, the 20-man game roster from Hans Backe isn't too shocking.

Only a couple real shockers, first off is Houston keeper Tally Hall.

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), Jámison Olave (Real Salt Lake), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls).

Hans Backe has spoken.

Sean Franklin...but you knew this picture was going here...

Below is his game-day roster to match Manchester United in the MLS All-Star Game July 27 at Red Bull Arena. That last statement was contradictory I know.

As long as Brad Davis was on the roster, it was mostly acceptable.

Major League Soccer announced it's All-Star First XI on Sunday, and no Colorado Rapids made the cut.

A 12th All-Star, the winner of the AT&T Text Voting, was revealed on Sunday on MLSsoccer.com.

On July 27, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., the MLS All-Stars will face the defending English Premier League champions Manchester United in the 2011 AT&T MLS All-Star Game (live on ESPN2, Galavision, and TSN at 6:30 p.

The MLS All-Star First XI have been selected and when you consider how the voting goes, there are few surprises. The LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls dominate the selections. There were certainly snubs and a few questionable choices but it's important to remember that this is not necessarily the starting XI.

Welcome to The Weekly Five. Each week I address a topic by presenting a list of five examples that support, oppose or simply relate to the subject.

Last month I ranked the best goals scored in April. Khari Stephenson ran out the winner with a long-range screamer for San Jose Earthquakes in their 2-2 draw against Seattle Sounders.

What do Beckham, Ronaldo, Tevez and Messi all have in common? The hottest women by their sides? The top teams in the world fighting for not only their skills but also their brand? More money than the mere mortal can ever imagine? Tick, tick and triple tick.

While there are many footballers out there who are admired, some are still yet to shine.

Leicester manager Sven-Goran Eriksson recently attempted to sign Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham on brief loan. The second division coach hoped to convince his former Three Lions captain (from 2001-2006) to join him back in England after a long absence from playing league football in his homeland since his departure from Manchester United to Real Madrid nearly a decade ago.

If I had a pound for every time I read the phrase 'Hollywood ending' over the next two days I would probably be a millionaire, but you have to say it did all have a very surreal feel to it. David Beckham brought the curtain down on his LA Galaxy career late last night, and [...]

The Beckhams will not be setting up their French court much to the chagrin of Paris society.

The French elites had been predicting which side of the Seine the Court of Beckham would be established. Existentialists in cafes debated whether this important choice would determine whether he played in left or right midfield for Paris St.