First off, I usually hate this current format for the All-Star game. A ‘select’ side of MLS players against a club in preseason form. But last night’s game just looked and felt better than some of the previous ones I’ve watched in this format. I don’t know if it was just the overall level of play out of the MLS side, or the quality game (3-2 scorelines are always entertaining), or if it was just because Toronto was one hell of a host.

But getting back to reality for second, it was a good win, not a great one for the league. Beating a club that typically finishes in the middle of the EPL won’t raise too many eyebrows about how the league is coming along in other parts of the world. It will look good for a day or two and then everyone will go about their merry way come Sunday when the week 18 games kickoff.

I loved the starting lineup for the league, even though the first 20 minutes were largely a total bore. But that is expect in a friendly of this nature. But once the goals started and things got moving in the second half with all the subs, the game kind of got this electric feel to it. It didn’t hurt to see three Canadians out there and have the home crowd got absolutely bananas for Dwayne de Rosario’s game winning penalty kick.

In all I think this game was a success and this week was a success for the league. So let’s look back on some more thoughts and news from the week and try to finish up that clean up that I first mentioned.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco easily was the man of the match. – I just wish I could have seen more. Blanco put on a nice show for the crowd with his goal and assist. Why ESPN decided the game winning PK was the goal of the game was beside me because Blanco’s strike before halftime was as cool as the other side of the pillow. He continues to show his value to this league. No offense to Toronto’s home boy De Rosario, but had DeRo been picked as the MVP I would have gone crazy!

David Beckham is still a class act. – I’m sure the Toronto fans were finally happy to see Becks play. He worked well with Blanco, Christian Gomez and everyone else last night. Its amazing watching him link up with classy players like Juan Pablo Angel too. It just makes the game so enjoyable to watch.

Shalrie Joseph is mighty good my friends. -There is a reason why I dubbed him my preseason pick for MVP this year. He won’t win because of where he plays on the field but damn this guy is so good and most don’t even see it. What I love about Joseph is he just continues to get the job done, no matter what game it is. He proved last night that he deserves another shot at going to Europe in a year or two (when his current deal is out of course!).

Bornstein may have impressed me the most. – Out of all the guys that I didn’t think deserved the All-Star bid, it was actually probably Chivas defender Jonathan Bornstein. But after last night he totally erased all of those thoughts with what he did on the field. If he plays even half as good as he did last night for the rest of the season, Chivas will be fine and will still contend out west.

Didn’t care for the MLS jerseys. – Black on a almost dark blue? Eh, I thought these kits were a miss for the most part. Why wasn’t it black on red shorts? I dunno, for me it may have been the only draw back to the game because it just looked weird to me on TV. I may be the only one on that though.

BMO Field looks great on TV. – I remember first seeing the renderings of BMO Field a couple years ago and thought it would be a crappy little venue but man was I ever wrong. I love this venue for MLS. Its not just the great fans but for some reason it comes across very nicely on TV. Okay, its probably because of the fans and the fact that we hardly ever see an empty seat there.

‘Bitchy’ the Hawk. – If you watched the ESPN telecast of the game you will know what I am talking about. Honestly never thought I would hear the name Bitchy on Primetime television.

FC Dallas has a tough week ahead. – Are they staying or are they going? We will see I guess whether or not Juan Toja will be in Romania next week and if Kenny Cooper will indeed go to Norway. Listening to Cooper during the second half last night gave me the impression (and both ESPN commentators) that he has played his last game in MLS. As for Toja, he denies but we all know he is leaving.

Buddle to stay or go? – Edson Buddle is also getting a nice look at by a Scandinavian club (probably Rosenborg) too. If he does go then you can pretty much bet that LA will land former West Ham United midfielder Nolberto Solano will indeed sign with the club. Though there is word he will probably sign regardless of what Buddle does or even what happens to Carlos Ruiz for that matter.

The expansion game. – Two more clubs in 2011. The league says they are going to strike while the iron is hot. I guess at MLS Cup we will know those two cities, or at least by MLS Cup will know of those two cities. My best is the cap will be raised in the coming year (the CBA ends soon) and with the new academies in place with most of the clubs we won’t have to question whether or not there is enough talent to fill these clubs, because we will.

Anyways, on to tonight’s contest. The MLS All-Stars host West Ham United as we all know by now. The Hammers seem like a quality side (not a great one though) going through their preseason shindigs. Its always tough for a club in preseason mode to turn it up a notch in a friendly like this against a group of guys that are well into mid-season form.

I think this will be a competitive match though. But the big question I am curious to see filled is how West Ham will respond to playing on the FieldTurf at BMO Field. I know that has been a topic of discussion this week and I think it will play a factor in tonight’s contest.

The Hammers will put up a fight but I see the MLS All-Stars coming out on top here. I think the lineup will be too much in terms of star power for West Ham to over come. I said they are good but I just think the collective group of All-Stars will be just a little bit better tonight.

It will be tight, with a lot of quality play in the midfield. I see Juan Pablo Angel scoring again in a starting role for the All-Stars. I also think a guy like Jim Brennan or Jimmy Conrad may get forward and surprise West Ham a bit on a set piece.

WVH Prediction: MLS All-Stars 2, West Ham 1

“We’re in no rush to expand at this time,” said Garber.

Garber did go on to mention in his press conference that he expects some sort of announcement to be revealed at this year’s MLS Cup.

The main points Garber talked about today in his press conference were about respect on the field of play. Once I get more details from his press conference I will pass them along to you all.

These are limited edition adidas gold Predator soccer cleats. adidas only made 2,000 pair and they are available exclusively at Eurosport (www.soccer.com) for $200 each.

There is also a group of players known as “inactive” all-stars, who are considered the players who would also be all-stars if the MLS All-Star Game still had the same MLS-only format….a format most of us would love to see the league go back to but that is a rant for another day.

Anyways, this distinction was created so that the same number of players could receive all-star selection contract bonuses. Still one notable snub from this list is Javier Morales from Real Salt Lake. To be second in the league in assist and not get the nod on this list is still a bit crazy to me. Some of the same cases could be made for keepers Nick Rimando and Kevin Hartman over Greg Sutton.

You be the judge though, for the most part its pretty solid. Here is the list:

GOALKEEPERS: Jon Busch (ChicagoFire), Greg Sutton (Toronto FC).

DEFENDERS: Gonzalo Segares (Chicago Fire), Bakary Soumare (Chicago Fire), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC).

MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Amado Guevara (Toronto FC), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew)

FORWARDS: Brian Ching ( Houston Dynamo), Luciano Emilio (D.C. United).

If you got someone who was snubbed let’s hear it.

I’ll keep with the same 3-5-2 formation that we’ve been using for the All-Star game.

Keeper:

Jon Busch, Chicago Fire: Easily putting up the best numbers of any keeper this season. It was clear that it was going to be tough to beat out Matt Reis but surprising enough Busch had to contend with Pat Onstad too. The Canadian won since the game is in Toronto and Busch is left with nothing.

Defense:

Gonzalo Segares, Chicago Fire: Hmm, another Fire player snubbed. But Segares was one I was pretty upset about. He’s one of the best defenders in the league and continues to show he is the most underrated defender in the league today.

Nat Borchers, Real Salt Lake: There is a reason why Salt Lake is starting to contend this season, and it is because of this guy on their backline. They finally wised up and signed some defense this season and it is paying off.

Gonzalo Martinez, DC United: He wasn’t a high profile signing in the offseason but something about Martinez works for me in DC. I think he is having a solid season and those early season struggles are why he was left off, then again its why any DC player was left off.

Midfield:

Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew: Three goals and eight assists have GBS sitting out of the All-Star game while one goal and two assist have Juan Toja on the roster.

Jesse Marsch, Chivas USA: We talk about veterans that lead clubs like Jimmy Conrad and Steve Ralston. Well, if it weren’t for Marsch the Red-and-White would be down in the dumps of the west with Dallas and San Jose right now and not in the thick of things.

Javier Morales, Real Salt Lake: Three goals and seven assists seem Morales sitting at home while one goal and two assist have Juan Toja on the All-Star roster. Man someone dropped the ball with picking Toja huh?

Carl Robinson, Toronto FC: Probably one of the most underrated players on the Toronto roster.

Justin Mapp, Chicago Fire: Another Fire player…hmm…I say Mapp because even though Blanco is making most of the magic in the Fire midfield, its Mapp that creates a lot of space for him on the wings to do that magic. Plus five assists is three better than Toja’s two.

Forwards:

Luciano Emilio, DC United: I don’t need to explain this one do I?

Alejandro Moreno, Columbus Crew: He may have cooled off but he still has six goals on the season. That’s not too shabby for Moreno.

Who’s going to get to go to Toronto in their place? Luciano Emilio? Guillermo Barros Schelotto? Gonzalo Segares? All the above? None of the above?

If you answered for the last item you are sadly correct.

Instead of Emilio, Schelotto and Segares, All-Star coach Steve Nicol selected Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein and FC Dallas midfielder Juan Toja, as well as the actually deserving Revs midfield Steve Ralston. Sources out there say that Toja, Ralston and Bornstein will be named to the roster later today after the Olympic roster is finalized.

Ralston is fine and I won’t even complain about his selection, I thought up until this news he was a snub for the game. But Toja and Bornstein? I can see Bornstein a little in this, he is a quality player who has had a so-so year due to injuries.

But Juan Toja?! Nicol has to be completely out of his mind to select Toja right now. All-Star selections should be based on actual performance in a season and not on popularity. Toja has exactly one goal and two assists for an FC Dallas team that would be in last place if not for expansion San Jose. He may also not be the best midfielder on his team right now! To take him over Schletto is crazy considering the numbers he has put up this season for the Crew (three goals and eight assists) who sit in second place overall in the league.

Bornstein over Segares is pretty bad too. I like Bornstein but he isn’t having nearly as good of a season as Segares.

My favorite snub may still be Emilio. I still believe taking Juan Pablo Angel over Emilio is ridiculous. Angel just recently returned from injury and has scored three goals to go with two assists for the Red Bulls who sit in last place in the East. Emilio has 10 goals and two assists, helping lead D.C. United’s revival to the top of the overall table.

Who else got snubbed out there?

Just as expected and talked about earlier in the day. New England boss and MLS All-Star coach Steve Nicol added a few players today to the roster today.

Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad, Toronto defender Jim Brennan, New York forward Juan Pablo Angel and Colorado midfielders Christian Gomez and Pablo Mastroeni.

Commissioner Don Garber chose Galaxy forward Edson Buddle and Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario in his two Commissioner Picks.

The All-Star roster:

Goalkeepers: Pat Onstad (Dynamo), Matt Reis (New England Revolution)

Defenders: Jim Brennan (Toronto FC), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (Revolution)

Midfielders: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Dwayne De Rosario (Dynamo), Christian Gomez (Colorado Rapids), Shalrie Joseph (Revolution), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Rapids), Robbie Rogers (Crew)

Forwards: Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls), Edson Buddle (Galaxy), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Galaxy)

We knew about Onstad and Angel. But no Steve Ralston?

Three Canadians out of this bunch, hmm, interesting. Very surprising to see two names on there that aren’t having good seasons. Mastroeni and Angel are going to be shockers to some considering DC’s Luciano Emilio, Chicago’s Jon Busch, and Columbus’s Schelotto were not called up for this game…yet.

I say the keyword there “yet” because more picks will be added later this week when the Olympic team is announced and players such as Michael Parkhurst, Sacha Kljestan and maybe Robbie Rogers are not available for the all-star festivities.

Still one could consider this game to still be a total joke with some of these selections. Not to say that some of these players aren’t totally worthy but come on, can we get some guys that have actually had good years in this game if we are going to call it an All-Star Game? Does anyone actually take this game serious besides a couple people in the league’s front office? Most of you know my feelings on this game and each year I continue to state it because of how bad the game continues to be with the player selections and just the format in general.

What do you feel about some of these selections? Good, bad, plain stupid?

First up some All-Star news, we all know who the first XI are for Major League Soccer in this month’s game against West Ham United. But now we are hearing a couple more names that will be added by All-Star coach and New England boss Steve Nicol.

Soccer America is reporting on it’s website this morning that New York’s Juan Pablo Angel, Houston keeper Pat Onstad and Rev’s midfielder Steve Ralston will get all-star calls from Nicol. Onstad and Ralston are not surprises but Angel’s inclusion is a bit of a surprise considering Angel has only recently returned from a hamstring injury. Maybe Nicol is giving the 2007 All-Star MVP the benefit of the doubt on a season filled with injuries. Still, its a shock and hopefully not true as I can think of about three or four strikers that would be more worthy based on this season alone than Angel.

The way this all works from my understanding Nicol gets a few picks of his own to round out the roster and MLS Commissioner Don Garber gets one or two “Commissioner Picks” to finish up the team. No word yet on who Garber is going to select.

In other news, to follow up on the Scott Sealy trade to San Jose I was passed down some numbers that are quite shocking to see in regards to this trade.

We all know why Kanasa City pulled the plug on this deal, they needed some cap space for Josh Wolff and so they traded for some allocation. A source tells me the Quakes gave KC an allocation larger than $125,000 for Sealy. Yeah, that’s a lot of money for a guy that doesn’t even make half that amount in a year.

Also, that’s more than $60,000 for each of the two goals he has scored this year. That’s just a bit too much for a forward who is planning to leave MLS after this season and is likely to miss time due to World Cup qualifying with Trinidad & Tobago later on this fall.

I think this move falls into the same category as another move the Quakes did this season with striker Peguero Jean-Philippe.

Other related Quakes news, San Jose has waived midfielder Joe Vide yesterday. Vide didn’t impress the Quakes all that much this season and thus was cut. Tough break for a guy that showed a lot of promise a season ago in New York. I honestly wouldn’t be shocked to see him back in New York, word has it assistant coach Richie Williams is a big fan of Vide, so he could get a look there. Though with all the new players coming into New York that may not happen.

Again, this is the first 11, not the starting lineup. That will come later on.

MLS First XI:

GK- Matt Reis, New England Revolution
D- Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City Wizards
D- Frankie Hejduk, Columbus Crew
D- Michael Parkhurst, New England Revolution
MF – David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy
MF – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chicago Fire
MF – Shalrie Joseph, New England Revolution
MF – Sacha Kljestan, Chivas USA
MF – Robbie Rogers, Columbus Crew
F – Kenny Cooper, FC Dallas
F – Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy

No real shockers there folks. Anyone you’re surprised by?