Despite playing in just eight of Real Salt Lake's 16 games thus far because of World Cup duty, and not once walking off the field with a victory, defender Eddie Pope was voted to his MLS-record 10th all-star game, the league announced on Wednesday.
This year's MLS All-Stars will battle European giant Chelsea on Aug. 5 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. The match begins at 4:30 p.m. (MDT) and will be televised on ESPN.
Nine of the 11 players voted onto the "First XI" are repeat all-stars, while only D.C. United keeper Troy Perkins and Houston midfielder Dwayne DeRosario are first-time participants.
The rest of the First XI includes: Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City), Chris Albright (Los Angeles), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Christian Gomez (D.C. United), Clint Dempsey (New England), Shalrie Joseph (New England), Ante Razov (Chivas USA) and Jamie Moreno (D.C. United).
The squad will be coached by D.C. United's Peter Nowak, who earned the honor by virtue of his team leading MLS through Week 14. He will add five more players to the roster on July 17, and the commissioner will add two more to round out the 18-man roster. Nowak will also name 14 alternates.
"We are excited to announce the All-Star First XI and give MLS fans a glimpse of who will be facing one of the strongest soccer teams in the world, Chelsea FC," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a press release Wednesday. "The game will be competitive, it will be intriguing and exciting for the fans and we're confident it will showcase the talent in our league."
In a scheduling conflict, players from New England and Chivas will not be able to participate in the all-star game. Their teams play a match the following day in California, which is part of a doubleheader with FC Barcelona and Chivas de Guadalajara. The all-star game was originally scheduled for July 30, but had to be moved to Aug. 5 to accommodate Chelsea's preseason schedule
Voting for the MLS First XI is composed of four different areas, each consisting of 25 percent: Online fan voting, media, players and coaches/general managers.
Donovan received the most fan votes (30 percent), while DeRosario received the highest percentage of the final weighted tally.
Pope received his highest percentage of votes amongst defenders from the media (35 percent), and his least percentage of votes from the league's coaches and general managers (9 percent). Voting amongst the fans (20 percent) and the players (19 percent) was about the same.
Pope's final weighted tally of 21.09 out of a maximum 100 is the least among the First XI. Kansas City defender Conrad was second among all 11 players and first among defenders with 41.31 points. DeRosario led everyone with a final weighted tally of 48.92.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com