Twellman just got back from injury and probably belongs on the all-stars. valakari though???? He's nothing but a hack, there's no way I'm buying that he's one of the best mids in the league.
Agree with the sentiments that it's hard to understand no Quakes being on the team. Clarke picking two additional Dallas players is a bit over the top - 6 of the 18 players are from Dallas? They're good, but not that good. Valakari and Garlick have done well, but seems that Davis or DeRosario deserve a spot more than Valakari, and Cannon is as deserving if not more so than Garlick. But on the other hand, picking your own players seems to be a time honored tradition for coaches of all star teams in all sports, I guess that's seen as one of the perks of being the coach. But I also agree that other than the disappointment for the players not being selected and possibly some incentive bonus money lost, it's a good thing for the Quakes team as everyone will rest over the week. And maybe this will make the team a bit mad and more hungry to show the rest of the league how good they are.
An AP story noted that Gomez and Twellman were the two highest vote-getters not selected, so I really can't blame Garber or attribute any duplicitous thoughts to him. Better than last year's publicity-driven pick of Adu, who wasn't even a regular starter for his team.
That's the upside. I'd also be foolish to get too upset about this. I'm a fan of a lot of sports, and one of my pet peeves is All-Star games that require representatives from each team, because that usually keeps some deserving players out of the teams. I still think Davis and/or Califf should've been selected, but if MLS isn't going to water down their all-star teams by requiring representatives from all teams, good on them. Nobody from Chicago or Chivas, either, and the Flaming have the most points in the league.
Anyone heard anything about the league picking someone to replace Guevara on the All Star team? He just had surgery on his knee, so he would surely seem to be out of the game.
I'm still not sure Twellman actually touched the second goal he was given credit for....but on the third goal, where the heck was the defense? Nobody should be that open in front of the goal, much less Twellman......
You know, we wondered the same damn thing! Playing w/o ROB and Vanney at that point probable hurt us a bit, but Twellman has had a knack for getting open in situations like that...... My big problem on the second goal was Goodson - who basically took a whimpy stab at the ball instead of clearing the ball into next week. For the record, here's hoping Davis gets the call to replace Guevara.
Yeah, you'd think that this would be Davis's shot to be added. On a related note, I hope that Brad gets some time in tomorrow's Gold Cup game.
The Quakes are better then the LA Galaxy. They should have some players in the All-Star game. i think Brad DAvis should have been in it for sure. LA Soccer Nation just because your team is the leagues baby is why you had a exibition game. You guys lost any way. Did you forget that the Earthquakes are tied with your team for second.
Yeah - the announcers commented on it, saying that they couldn't see if he touched it, but of course Twellman (or any other forward) would surely act like he did so he'd get the credit for the goal
I missed the substitution for OBrien (just saw in Matchtracker that he went off in the 91st minute). Was he hurt, or what was the purpose of the substitution? Yep, I was thinking when Goodson didn't clear it that he was giving the Revs an unnecessary second chance. So as a Dallas fan, can you honestly say that you think Valakari deserves to be an allstar? Haven't seen him play much, but in the games I've seen he has not shown that much.
Yeah....I kind of wondered about how Dempsey felt. Although Twellman helped to create the opportunity as much as Dempsey, so it wasn't like some guy who had no part in the play just ran up and blew the ball over the goal line........which I've seen in other games before.... Speaking of Dempsey, he had a pretty poor effort in that game....it was like he wasn't even on the field for most of the game. Not sure if he was disappointed he didn't play in the USMNT game and just wasn't ready, or what. Other than that one play, I'm not sure what else he did. Maybe when the Quakes play the Revs we can stir up some controversy among the Rev players....let's remind Dempsey that Twellman stole his goal
Maybe a real good thing to not have a player in the all-star game because they would be gone again at the end of August. Real Madrid to play MLS all-star team at the Bernabeu MADRID, July 21 (Reuters) - Real Madrid will play an all-star team from the United States Major League Soccer (MLS) in their traditional pre-season exhibition game, the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy. The Spanish club said on Thursday they had reached an agreement with the MLS for the game to be played at the Bernabeu on August 23.
That's stinky. It likely means Sissypants won't be making a return appearance at Spartan this year, which means I won't have the chance to boo my head off at him. But the article also says "an" all-star team and since there are WCQ less than a week prior to and a little over a week after this match, I would be surprised for Bruce not to put his foot down on any overseas travel for the guys who get callups for the quals. Which means some of our guys may be picked to play in this game. Which is also stinky as we have the scum game that weekend and I want all of our boys there for the win.
So with Eddie Pope going down yesterday with an ankle sprain in the Gold Cup game, I'd assume he is questionable for the All Star game. So now maybe there are two open spots......maybe Robinson or Califf might get a chance after all........or maybe they just won't replace these guys, who knows......
Remember, the language of the Real match states "an MLS select" side, not necessarily "the MLS All-Star team". They don't have to send the best of the best of the league. They don't even necessarily have to send all US players.
Not that they are, but why in the world would MLS even consider sending all US players? Real Madrid isn't all Spaniards.