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Major League Soccer will be announcing its 2009 MLS Best XI later this afternoon and while some of the picks are easy to make, some others will be very difficult.
Picking this year's forwards was especially tough, with a half dozen worth candidates for the Best XI nod. You can see the quality on display this season when you see the SBI's selections for MLS Best XI, Second Best XI and Third Best XI.
MVP Finalists Landon Donovan, Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Cunningham all made the squad as expected, while MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Zach Thornton also gets the nod.
The SBI selections for the 2009 MLS Best XI feature nine players who took part in this year's playoffs, and includes players representing four different countries.
Here are our selections:
SBI MLS Best XI
------------Jeff Cunningham--------Fredy Montero---------------
----------------------------Landon Donovan-------------------------
Brad Davis---------------Dwayne DeRosario--------Stuart Holden
-----------------------------Shalrie Joseph---------------------------
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado----Chad Marshall----------Geoff Cameron
------------------------------Zach Thornton---------------------------
SECOND TEAM
----------------GB Schelotto------------Omar Cummings--------------
Claudio Lopez--------------David Ferreira---------Freddie Ljungberg
---------------Kyle Beckerman-------------Jeff Larentowicz -----------
Wilman Conde-------------Bobby Boswell-----------------Bryan Namoff
----------------------------Donovan Ricketts------------------------------
THIRD TEAM
---------------------Conor Casey----------Robbie Findley---------------
Dave Van Den Bergh--------Sacha Kljestan-------------Steve Ralston
-----------------Osvaldo Alonso----------Amado Guevara---------------
Tyrone Marshall-------------Omar Gonzalez---------------Carey Talley
--------------------------------Kasey Keller---------------------------------
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Some thoughts on the selections:
Tough choice between Fredy Montero and Omar Cummings, but Montero was just so key to Seattle's attack for a large part of the season (at least until Freddie Ljungerg got going).
Another tough call was Stuart Holden over Ljungberg. It was probably more DeRosario over Ljungberg to be honest, but in the end I just couldn't overlook Ljungberg's lack of impact in the first half of the season (yes, I'm aware he had issues with migraines and such, but you're chosen based on what you do, not what you could have done).
One first-teamer I struggled with was MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall. Why? He only played in 18 matches. Folks who think Boswell (29 matches) or even Omar Gonzalez (30 matches) would have a valid argument that their contributions as a whole were greater than Marshall's. Also, the Crew defense didn't exactly fall apart without Marshall. All that said, he's still so dominant when he's in the lineup that it's tough to leave him out.
Wondering how Schelotto only made second team? Consider how little he contributed in the second half and you realize that it actually wasn't that tough to leave him off.
A tough second team call was Larentowicz over Alonso. I really could have gone either way, and actually switched to Larentowicz late after considering how strongly he finished the season and how key he was to the Revs reaching the playoffs. Alonso, as amazing as he was in the first half of the season, wasn't quite as strong later on in the year, but still put forth a stellar season.
On the third team, I really thought Ricardo Clark and Jonathan Bornstein played well enough to get on, but ultimately missed the cut, as did Marco Pappa and Darrius Barnes.
The very last cut from the squad? Juan Pablo Angel, who deserves tons of credit for still scoring 12 goals on an absolutely terrible New York Red Bulls team. As impressive as that was, I had to give the nod to Robbie Findley, whose 12 goals helped RSL get into the playoffs.
Lastly, I didn't bother with naming the teams based strictly on specific positions, so no, there are no fullbacks on the first team (and no left backs on any of the teams). Best left back in MLS this season? Gino Padula overcame a rough start of the season to come on strong for Columbus, while Chris Wingert also enjoyed a good season. And no, choosing three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards wasn't my idea. It's the MLS format. I suppose I could have gone with my own, but that "formation" does make it easier to select these teams since the league has more quality midfielders than defenders.
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What do you think of these selections? Which pick do you disagree with the most? Which player is missing from all three lists that you thought should have been on?
Share your thoughts below.
