Who really should be going to the All-Star game?
The MLS All-Star team unsuccessfully representing the best players in the league has become an annual tradition. The first eleven players are picked by fans and FIFA players and the rest of the squad is chosen by the coach of the host’s team, who often is not a reliable source. That’s how this year’s team is filled with Atlanta and Sporting KC players (those team’s fans are prolific voters) and Eastern Conference players who played well against Tata Martino’s Atlanta United.
Let’s take a shot at picking a more suitable team, one that can produce a coherent starting XI and rewards the league’s true best players. 23 players, split between positions like a national team, will be chosen:
Goalkeepers
Matt Turner (Revolution), Zack Steffen (Crew SC), Jeff Attinella (Timbers)
Only Steffen, darling of Dave Sarachan’s USMNT, will actually head to Atlanta, as part of Martino’s picks. He has been about as good as he has been for the Columbus Crew since the beginning of 2017, when he won the starting job for good; he is occasionally error-prone playing out of the back, but he’s one of the league’s best distributors, an athletic shot-stopper and capable coming off his line.
Turner, bursting onto the scene for a team that for years has been middle of the pack at best in the goalkeeping world, is the operating keeper of the year favorite. He’s cooled off a touch from a red-hot start, but he consistently saves the Revs and has avoided howlers, which cannot be said for pretty much anyone else.
The third pick came down to Tim Melia (last year’s GKOTY), Brad Guzan and Attinella. Melia and Guzan’s mistakes were ultimately the difference. Attinella is undefeated as a starter this season and has yet to make a significant blunder.
Attinella isn’t as much of a difference-maker at the back as Melia, Guzan and others like Luis Robles and Andre Blake. He isn’t flawless in situations that require him to close down angles, and his athleticism doesn’t jump off the screen. He does his job every week, though, and the results speak for themselves.
Honorable mentions: Melia (SKC), Guzan (Atlanta), Blake (Union), Robles (Red Bulls)
It really is an open year for MLS keepers.
Left-back
Milton Valenzuela (Crew SC)
I’m only putting one left-back on here and making up the full-back numbers on the other side of the field, because there simply aren’t very many deserving candidates. I couldn’t convince myself to give it to Mikey Ambrose, who’s been great in place of Greg Garza in Atlanta, and while Kemar Lawrence and Ben Sweat make compelling cases in New York, I find it hard to justify one of those two over a stronger right-back contingent.
But Valenzuela, a 19-year-old Argentine newcomer, has been wonderful in Columbus. In Gregg Berhalter’s system, which uses its full-backs heavily, he fits seamlessly. His 885 total passes rank sixth among all MLS full-backs. (His right-back companion Harrison Afful is second with 1,148.) Valenzuela also has 3.1 xG+xA, third-most among MLS full-backs. He’s Waylon Francis with more on-ball skills and line-breaking passes.
Honorable mentions: Sweat (NYCFC), Lawrence (Red Bulls), Nouhou Tolo (Seattle)
Center-back
Matt Hedges (FC Dallas), Aaron Long (Red Bulls), Matt Besler (Sporting KC), Michael Parkhurst (Atlanta)
Center-back is a much stronger position in MLS than full-back, so the options are deeper and clearer. It was difficult leaving off players like Tim Parker, Walker Zimmerman, Lalas Abubakar, Larrys Mabiala, Auston Trusty and Ike Opara.
Hedges has been solid for an improved FC Dallas team, one that looks much closer to the 2016 version of themselves than the 2017 version. Long, Parker’s partner in New York, moves well for his tall frame; he can defend one-on-one against a variety of attackers and understands space, always knowing when to step and when not to step.
Matt Besler is Matt Besler and Michael Parkhurst is Michael Parkhurst. Two veterans that continue to perform.
Honorable mentions: Parker (Red Bulls), Trusty (Union), Opara (SKC), Zimmerman (LAFC), Mabiala (Timbers), Abubakar (Crew)
Right-back
Graham Zusi (SKC), Harrison Afful (Crew), Steven Beitashour (LAFC)
Zusi, on a team with Besler and Opara (two perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidates), has been Sporting KC’s best defender. He does everything asked of a Peter Vermes full-back: he’s aggressive to the ball, he defends well in space and, especially, he is an adept attacking piece, with heavy responsibilities in SKC’s possession-driven attacking sequences.
Sporting have transformed themselves from a high-line, high-press team to something vaguely resembling last year’s Toronto FC, a team that condensed space, counter-pressed and made a concerted effort to pin the opposition deep by keeping the ball and probing in the attacking third.
Zusi, capable of cutting in on his left foot, overlapping and driving passes through the lines, is a central feature of this year’s version of Kansas City.
Afful resembles Zusi in a lot of ways, just with more responsibilities in the build-up. (Berhalter’s Crew, of course, keep the ball deeper than almost every team in the league.) The Ghanaian is dynamic on the ball and always willing to run at goal — think back to that solo goal he had at the end of last year’s conference semifinal leg one against NYCFC, which proved to be the difference. Afful even started in central midfield in a friendly against Deportivo Saprissa recently.
Beitashour, who did a lot of the things Zusi currently does with TFC last year, has been great for LAFC.
Honorable mentions: Keegan Rosenberry (Union), Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas), Brooks Lennon (RSL)
Central midfield
Diego Chara (Timbers), Wil Trapp (Crew), Tyler Adams (Red Bulls)
This section of the team encompasses deeper-sitting midfielders — we’ll get to the Almirons and Velas in a second. I wish I could include more true center mids. There are plenty of others that deserve consideration; Darlington Nagbe, despite his recent injury, has fit well in Atlanta, Alejandro Bedoya is quietly performing in Philly, and Alex Ring continues to anchor NYCFC.
Chara has become the league’s best defensive midfielder amid Michael Bradley’s disastrous season in Toronto. He covers as much ground as ever, winning the ball in opportune spots and initiating instant transition sequences with smart, quick passing. He’s a pitbull in front of Portland’s backline.
The last time the Timbers won a game without Chara in the starting lineup was July 5, 2015 against San Jose. In the 15 games without him since, they have 10 losses and five draws. He is, uh, kind of important to that team.
Trapp runs Columbus’s Build From The Back system and is having his best season since 2015. Adams, still just 19, is drawing interest from big European clubs as a result of his play as the Red Bulls’ number 8. I’m inclined to believe his best long-term position is as a box-to-box mid, although I would not be opposed to seeing him in a shut-down-corner right wing-back role again.
Honorable mentions: Nagbe (Atlanta), Bedoya (Union), Ring (NYCFC), Artur (Crew), Ilie Sanchez (SKC), Jonathan Osorio (TFC)
Attacking midfield
Miguel Almiron (Atlanta), Carlos Vela (LAFC), Kaku (Red Bulls)
If the season ended today, Almiron would be the MVP. He has eight goals and seven assists as the fulcrum of the best team in the league. He’s also taken 78 shots this season and is underperforming his xG by 2.2, per American Soccer Analysis. The Paraguayan never ceases to amaze.
Vela, who revealed himself to the world in a dominant World Cup performance for Mexico, has seven goals and five assists in 1,050 minutes. Bob Bradley has placed him all over the attack, and each time he’s produced moments of magic.
Kaku is leading the league with 10 assists, taking the place of Sacha Kljestan in New York, and he is an important part of the Red Bulls’ press.
I very much wish I could put Mauro Diaz (#GraciasMauro) here.
Honorable mentions: Maxi Moralez (NYCFC), Federico Higuain (Crew), Roland Lamah (FC Dallas), Ezequiel Barco (Atlanta)
Winger
Alberth Elis (Dynamo), Ignacio Piatti (Impact), Julian Gressel (Atlanta)
Elis is electric — the most dynamic attacker in MLS this season. He has eight goals and six assists for a Dynamo team that’s been hit hard by injuries in central midfield, taking away his most prolific distributors. He makes something happen almost every time he gets on the ball.
Piatti is Montreal’s only real attacking piece, and yet he’s managed nine goals and six assists for a team that was in a plummeting tailspin for much of this season.
Gressel isn’t quite Elis and Piatti, nor does he have the attacking skill of other contenders like Alphonso Davies and Cristian Penilla. But he has been too good for Atlanta at a variety of positions to be excluded from the All-Star team. He’s been one of their best players at right-back, right wing-back, box-to-box midfielder and on the right wing.
Honorable mentions: Davies (Whitecaps), Penilla (Revolution), Darwin Quintero (Minnesota), Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (NYCFC), Diego Rossi (LAFC), Romell Quioto (Dynamo)
Next: The 10 best teams in MLS history
Forward
Bradley Wright-Phillips (Red Bulls), Josef Martinez (Atlanta), Gyasi Zardes (Crew)
The Golden Boot race provides numerous All-Star candidates at this position. Teal Bunbury and Danny Hoesen each have 10 goals. Red-hot Mauro Manotas and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have nine. David Villa, Sebastian Giovinco and Nemanja Nikolic lurk a bit deeper.
But it’s these three — BWP, Josef and Gyasi — who have set themselves apart. Wright-Phillips, who has 11 goals and five assists, has been magnificent and clinical for the Red Bulls, to the point where it would be reasonable to question the England national team’s reluctance to call him in. (Imagine bringing him off the bench to play next to Harry Kane.)
BWP’s movement continues to be far and away the most efficient and effective in the league. He has a knack for putting himself in positions to score, whether through headers, runs in behind or playing off the back shoulder of center-backs.
Martinez has a lot of the same qualities. His striker instincts, like Wright-Phillips, are off the charts. They are unprecedented in MLS beyond Wondo. The Venezuelan’s low center of gravity and quick acceleration allow him to find slivers of space that make him the target of Almiron, Gressel and Barco passes. His 11 non-PK goals (he’s converted four penalties) put him level with BWP.
It could be argued that Zardes is the product of Columbus’s system, which historically has been good at creating easy chances for its strikers. But Zardes has had a career year and has been the only Crew player who’s been able to finish his chances. He deserves to be rewarded.
Honorable mentions: Hoesen (Earthquakes), Manotas (Dynamo), Zlatan (Galaxy), Bunbury (Revs), Darren Mattocks (D.C. United), Villa (NYCFC), Giovinco (Toronto)
First half starting XI
This would be my best XI if the season ended today, as well. It would have a realistic shot of beating Juventus, with Elis hugging the touchline and creating space underneath for Almiron and Vela. Imagine those two working together running at Juventus defenders and distributing to BWP and Elis.
Snubbing Long in favor of Besler was difficult, but the longtime U.S. international deserves it, and he’ll have a built-in partnership with Zusi already.
Second half starting XI
This one reveals the flaws in this 23-man roster. There aren’t enough real box-to-box midfielders (I wanted to play Gressel at wing-back, his best position, but there just wasn’t room). Depth on the left side of the field simply does not exist, so Piatti will have to have some extra defensive responsibilities in this XI. Beitashour isn’t really a center-back, but with only four CBs on the team, that’s where he’ll have to play.
I’d still be very interested to see a Martinez-Zardes forward partnership, though.
Other notes:
- 62 players in total were chosen as part of the roster (23) or as honorable mentions (39). 10 teams were represented on the main roster. Only three teams (Chicago, Colorado and Orlando) did not have a single player represented on that 62 player list.
- The Crew had the most selections on the main roster (5), followed by the Red Bulls with four and Atlanta and LAFC with three.
- Columbus also had three honorable mention selections, solidifying itself as the overall leader, at eight. NYRB, with seven total, were one behind.
- Center-back Jonathan Mensah and the two wingers were the only players in Columbus’s primary starting XI that did not get picked.
- The Impact were the only team to have a selection on the main team (Piatti) but no honorable mention selections.
- NYCFC (5) had the most honorable mention selections despite not having any main All-Star picks. Philly (4) were second, also without any players on the 23-man roster.
- Montreal, D.C. United, Minnesota, the LA Galaxy, RSL, San Jose, Seattle and Vancouver had just one overall selection.
- As you can probably tell, this was an enjoyable endeavor.