Let's Talk About The MLS All-Star Game

Jose Martinez was the only Philadelphia Union player named to the MLS All-Star squad on Tuesday.

The 2023 Major League Soccer All-Star Game roster was released on Tuesday afternoon.

Midfielder Jose Martinez was the only Philadelphia Union player named to the team that will play Arsenal on July 19 at Audi Field.

First and foremost, Martinez’s honor is long overdue.

The Venezuelan has been one of the best defensive midfielders in the league since his arrival in 2020.

It is VERY difficult for the league’s best defensive midfielders to be recognized because most voting processes for the ASG and Best XI use a blanket midfield term, and it still varies by the year.

Editor’s Note: I did not fill out a media ballot for the All-Star Game this year.

So now it’s time for the other conversation we want to have, and one that’s been percolating in my Twitter mentions for the last few hours.

The All-Star snubs.

The obvious candidates for this debate are Andre Blake and Julian Carranza.

Daniel Gazdag, Kai Wagner and (maybe) Jakob Glesnes can be thrown into that mix as well.

Goalkeeper

I actually don’t have any problem with the goalkeeper selections.

St. Louis City’s Roman Burki was voted in by the fans, D.C. United’s Tyler Miller and New England’s Djordje Petrovic were coach’s selections.

Burki and Petrovic rank second and third in save percentage, per FBRef, behind Nashville’s Joe Willis.

Burki has one more victory than Blake and Petrovic is tied with the Union netminder.

Burki got the large contingent of first-time All-Star voters from St. Louis and Petrovic has comparable numbers to Blake.

That leaves the third spot, which was filled by a hometown player in Miller, who is one of two D.C. players on the squad along with Christian Benteke.

You could actually make the strong case that Willis is the bigger All-Star snub right now compared to Blake.

Willis leads MLS in goals against per 90 minutes (0.80). Blake is second at 0.84. Willis also owns the best save percentage in MLS at 80.8.

Blake not going to D.C. isn’t that big of a deal, to me personally, because assuming Jamaica makes a deep run at the Concacaf Gold Cup, he is going to need a bit of a break that the ASG and everything that comes with it would cut into.

So yes I get your frustration about Blake, but it’s not the most egregious snub this year.

Defense

Four of the seven defenders on the MLS ASG roster come from the three teams in the Eastern Conference with a better goals against record than the Union.

Matt Miazga and Alvaro Barreal represent FC Cincinnati, John Tolkin is going for the New York Red Bulls and Walker Zimmerman is headed to D.C. for Nashville.

The Red Bulls, stunningly, have the best xGA in the East, per FBRef, at 17.8 and Tolkin is a rising American star.

Zimmerman’s Nashville defense, which has always been a strong unit, is second in xGA at 20.3. The Union are third at 21.6.

Barreal and Miazga won the fan vote in defense, and frankly, the team with the most points in the East should have the most ASG representatives.

Austin FC’s Jon Gallagher, who was a Union trialist for like a week back in the day, was voted in by the fans. He’s the one player you can strongly disagree with because Austin hasn’t been very good in 2023.

Tim Parker and Ryan Hollingshead were brought in as coach’s picks.

Glenses and Wagner have been good or very good, but not great, in MLS play this season.

That factor combined with the fact that both players have been to the ASG before makes them less of a snub in my eyes.

Midfield

So here’s where it gets very interesting.

Martinez is in for the Union, and that is very well deserved.

Riqui Puig is the only player worth watching on the LA Galaxy right now, and he wouldn’t be directly compared with Gazdag because he is a deeper-lying midfielder.

Luciano Acosta, Thiago Almada and Hany Mukhtar are slam dunk ASG selections.

Then there’s CF Montreal’s Mathieu Choiniere as a commissioner’s pick, Hector Herrera and Lucas Zelarayan as coach’s choices and Aidan Morris as a fan selection.

The biggest omission (bigger than Gazdag) is Carles Gil, who leads MLS in shot creating actions per 90 minutes (7.01) and is second to Almada in goal creating actions per 90 (1.06). Almada and Gil are the only players over one in GCA per 90.

Gil is third behind Almada and Cristian Espinoza, who is on the roster as a forward, in key passes and he is sixth in expected assists.

Herrera and Zelarayan are having solid seasons in their own right, so I don’t mind either over Gil and Gazdag, but Choiniere as the commissioner’s pick is the one to get upset about.

Yes, MLS wants a Canadian presence on the team and that’s where Choiniere comes into play, but if anyone opts out, Gil should get the call first.

Forward

Ok, here’s the one spot to really have a gripe if you’re a Union fan.

Christian Benteke, Denis Bouanga, Espinoza, Jesus Ferreira, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Kei Kamara and Jordan Morris are the seven ASG forwards.

Bouanga, Ferreira and Morris were voted in by fans, Benteke, Espinoza and Giakoumakis are coach’s selections and Kamara is a commissioner’s pick.

Bouanga has one more goal than Carranza, while Ferreira and Giakoumakis are tied with the Union’s Argentinian forward.

Carranza LEADS MLS in non-penalty expected goals at 8.7, and he is second to Mukhtar in expected goals.

Carranza is tied with Cucho Hernandez in shots on target and he ranks eighth in shots on target per 90 minutes.

So yes, Carranza has the biggest case as an ASG snub over any other Union player.

I get it.

Benteke was added as a home player in D.C., and MLS wanted to honor Kamara’s lengthy career.

And that’s why it looks so awful that Carranza is not an All-Star and those two players are.

It’s frustrating, for sure, but if we know one thing about the Union, it’s that they use these things as motivation and that could lead to an even better second half from Carranza.

Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.