Seattle Sounders FC dominating all star voting

posted by kidpurple May 20, 2009

Fan voting is under way for this years MLS All Star Game.  Just like with other all star games sometimes the fans of one team can dominate the voting.  Luckily for everyone that is not on the Seattle Sounders FC roster the fans vote only count 25% of the final tally to determine the starting 11.  If that were not the case – as of today the All Star starting 11 would be made up of 8 Seattle Sounders FC players.

Kasey Keller, Freddie Ljungberg, Fredy Montero, Osvaldo Alonso, Tyrone Marshall, Steve Zakuani and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado are the top 7 in the voting right now, while James Riley comes in at the 9th highest voting total.  Non-Seattle players currently in the top 11 are Columbus Crew defender Frankie Hejduk, TFC’s Dwayne De Rosario and LA Galaxy’s Landon Donovan.

How would that be for a starting lineup?

The team that is 8 points ahead of anyone else in the league (Chivas USA) would not even be represented.  Certainly someone there must be worthy?  Would Brian McBride not make the starting 11?  How about Josh Wolff?

Maybe Seattle will get into gear and get a starting 11 fully represented by Seattle Sounders FC players.  That would be swell.  Would MLS realize then that fan voting for all stars is a bad idea?

What do you think?  Should fans still be able to get 25% of decision of who starts the all star game?

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Brian McBride traded to Chicago Fire

posted by kidpurple July 30, 2008

The rumors were true. Brian McBride is going to join the Chicago Fire. Toronto FC had the right to McBride, but McBride made it known that he wanted to play near his hometown which is right near Chicago. The Fire sent forward Chad Barrett to TFC along with future considerations in order to get McBride.

McBride spent several years playing for Fulham FC in England after a long and very successful career in Major League Soccer playing for the Columbus Crew. At the league’s 10th anniversary they named the all time best XI team which included Brian McBride.

Any team should be happy to have a player like McBride, but Toronto doesn’t come out of this deal in a bad way at all. Chad Barrett has played with both the US Olympic team and the full men’s national team. He should be a welcome addition at Toronto.

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Brian McBride coming to Major League Soccer?

posted by kidpurple May 29, 2008

Brian McBride recently announced that he would not be returning to Fulham for another season in the English Premiership, and that he wants to return to the United States.  Right now Toronto FC would have the rights to get McBride because they have the highest allocation ranking due to their last place finish in the league last year.

So would McBride be coming back to play in Toronto?  A more likely situation would be that he ends up at the Chicago Fire.  McBride grew up near Chicago and has said that he’d like to return to his home.  So Chicago would likely have to make a deal with TFC to get the rights to McBride unless TFC wanted to pass on him in order to keep the top allocation spot open in case someone better comes around.  I can’t imagine they’d see someone better than McBride coming into MLS this season.

The Chicago Fire are currently tied at the top of the league and looking pretty good.  With the addition of Brian McBride they could be a very dangerous team looking for another MLS Championship.  What do you Fire fans think?  I’d be quite happy to see McBride joining my team.

Is there any chance that McBride would end up anywhere other than Chicago?  Would he go back to his former team – Columbus Crew?

Posted in Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, Toronto FC | Tagged | Comments (1)

Eddie Johnson on his way to Fulham?

posted by kidpurple January 15, 2008

Is Eddie Johnson on his way out of Kansas City to play for Fulham?

The Daily Mail reports that Eddie “the Juice” Johnson has left the US National team training camp which is a sign that a deal with Fulham is near.   Johnson has had an up and down career recently with the Kansas City Wizards.  Right now he’s on the up side of that roller-coaster.

If this does happen and Johnson does end up playing at Fulham, he will be the 5th American to join the team.  Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey and Kasey Keller currently play for the London club.

There has been lots of talk about Americans playing in Major League Soccer to be moving to Europe recently.  If Taylor Twellman and Eddie Johnson both go to play in England, will that be good for the US Nationals?  Will it increase their chances of getting more time with the National Team? I think it they did make the move and got significant playing time it would have to help them.

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