Sporting Have Eight Players Up for Fan Vote for All Star Game

MLS today announced the players eligible for each team that can be voted into this year's All Star game in Portland against Bayern Munich. Sporting KC had eight players named to the list available for selection.

KC's goalkeeper, Eric Kronberg, defenders Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, and Seth Sinovic, midfielders Benny Feilhaber, Oriol Rosell, and Graham Zusi, and forward Dom Dwyer were all named to the list of available players. With each team had eight players nominated for voting which began today and runs through July 11th. Fans can choose a full 11 players for the team. The All Star Fan XI will be made available to Caleb Porter, who will coach the match. The full roster will include 32 players, but only 18 will be available on game day. The rest will be "reserves" as the collective bargaining agreement requires.

I'll get on my soap box for just a second here. I understand that it's an honor to be selected and it's fun to see your team's players play against the likes of Bayern Munich, but I'll again implore not voting for Sporting players. It's extra games that Sporting won't need at that point of the season with a game in Vancouver four days later and Champions League starting soon after that.

The past three years the all star game has been less than kind to KC. In 2011, Omar Bravo played 81 minutes against Manchester United. Then in 2012, Aurelien Collin suffered a facial fracture in a challenge with Michael Essien and missed the next two league games because of it. Then in 2013 at KC, Graham Zusi limped off after just 24 minutes with a quad injury. Zusi missed the next four games (three league, one Champions League).

And while injuries can happen in any game, it's the fact that it's not a game that means anything come the end of the season that's always been my problem. As I stated above, 32 players end up being "all stars" the rest of the roster that doesn't make the game day 18 still receives their all star bonus. So if they really are deserving all stars, they'll still make the reserves and get their bonus.