Transfers, All-Stars

A few of you had sent comments and emails asking me why the opening of the MLS summer transfer period seemed to have moved from June 15 to July 15, so I made a few phone calls and found your answer.

Turns out the league's pre-season literature contained a typo. Even though this year's official MLS Factbook says the transfer period starts in mid-June, opening day has always been July 15.

Last season FIFA mandated a 60-day summer transfer window, running from mid-June to mid-August. This year, according to my guy at the league, FIFA wanted a month-long transfer period, prompting the shift to July 15. Apparently this was all decided before the season, but not reflected in the Factbook.

So now we know.

ALL STARS I

TFC's head coach John Carver is still in the running to coach the MLS All-Stars against West Ham on July 24.

MLS awards the All-Star gig to the coach whose team has the highest points per game as of June 29 and right now TFC is one of four teams with a chance to top the league in that category. New England, Columbus and LA are the others.

So what will it take to put Carver in charge on July 24?

TFC would have to defeat New England at Gillette Stadium this weekend, Columbus would have to lose and the Galaxy would have to lose or tie.

The other possibilities are numerous, and the league outlined them in its weekly newsletter to the media. For clarity's sake, I'll paste them below.

* If the Revolution defeat Toronto FC, Steve Nicol is the All-Star Game coach.
* If the Revolution tie Toronto FC and Columbus loses or ties, then Steve Nicol is the ASG coach.
* If the Columbus Crew defeat the Colorado Rapids and New England ties or loses, then Sigi Schmid is the ASG coach.
* If Toronto FC defeat New England and the LA Galaxy win and Columbus loses there is a two-way tie with Carver and Gullit each having 1.714 points per game.
* If Toronto FC defeat New England and the LA Galaxy win, and Columbus ties there is a three-way tie with John Carver, Ruud Gullit and Sigi Schmid each having 1.714 points per game.

Tiebreakers work the same way they do in the playoffs. Head-to-head records first, then goal differential, then fewest goals against and so-on.

But somehow I don't think it'll come to that.

REUTERS PHOTO

TFC leading scorer and a good quote: Dichio is an all-round all-star.

ALL STARS II

All-Star voting closes July 2 and I'm literally in the middle of filling out my ballot. Here's my team so far:

GK -- Jon Busch, Chicago

D -- Marvell Wynne, TFC; Jimmy Conrad, K.C.; Adrian Serioux, Dallas

M -- Becks, L.A.; De Ro, Houston; Amado Guevara, TFC

F -- Landon Donovan, L.A.; Danny Dichio, TFC

You guys who hate Landon Donovan (and I know there are PLENTY of you in Toronto) probably find it ironic that I've got him paired with Danny Dichio, but TFC's leading scorer was actually my third choice at forward. I would have selected Edson Buddle but he's not on the ballot.

(Sidebar on Donovan: I know local fans can't stand him but from a media standpoint he's one of the best players in the league to deal with. Always makes time for the press, always forthright with his quotes. You've got to respect that, fans, even if you don't like him.)

Now, you may have noticed that I've only chosen nine guys, but as I said, my All-Star ballot is still evolving.

They asked me to choose up to five midfielders and I could easily add Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Guillermo Barros Schelotto to this list. Stats certainly say they deserve it. But as much as I hate playing coach, I had to think tactically for a second:

If I add Blanco and Schelotto to the midfield, who's going to play defence?

Answer: Nobody.

So I'm still seeking two defensive midfielders. I'm keeping my ballot open until early evening and listening to any and all suggestions.

** Just before I posted I added Shalrie Joseph to my ballot. It's nice to actually see the first-place team represented. Anyway, still seeking one defensive-minded midfielder....

-- Morgan Campbell

Comments

[Kelly]

The reason Donovan always makes time for the media is because he wants to be the center of attention. Not an easy task in a team that includes Becks.

[oxybrain]

Morgan, thanks for the "legwork" on the window thing...I guess we can surmise that our FO isn't looking to do anything involving a transfer, seeing as Carver apparently didn't know about the change...

[doug]

Hi Morgan -

Interesting team - i had a hard time selecting full backs for my all-star team as well. it seems to be a thin position in the MLS. however i'm a bit puzzled with your pick of wynne - while he's been alright this season, i don't think he's been near the best full back on toronto. i think you could make a case that marshall specifically, but also brennan and velez have been better.

Also, i think the fans need to vote the likes of blanco, gallardo, emilio, lopez and angel on the team. this is an all-star game - lets see all the big names! we get to see dichio all the time - while its kind of fun to have TFC players on the all-star team, they've got to earn it. i would be happy with just guevera from TFC on this team. the fact sutton is in the running to be the starting goalie when he's not even the best goalie on his team (i'm a brian edwards convert) is crazy.

Finally, what did you make of Julian De Guzman and Atiba Hutchinson being at the game on Saturday? Guests of the team? Future stars of the team?

[St. Catharines]

My Midfield:

Beckham: lets face it, hes a shoe-in - but will he finally play on the BMO Turf?!?!???

Guevara - he creates midfield magic, creativity that needs to be displayed at the ASG.

DeRo: proven scorer, need to represent Canada and show him our hometown crowd what we have to offer

Sacha Kljestan: young guy, lots of speed, scoring goals this year and has had caps for the US MNT, i think he could fit in to the ASG lineup.

Ricketts: here is your defensive minded midfielder you've been looking for. he works hard up front to move the ball and we have all seen him hustle back on D (including when he cleared it off the goal line)

[mike]

Umm oxybrain - Marshall and Velez are not fullbacks for TFC (Velez may be some day, but both have played as centrebacks). Brennan is a fullback, but I think Wynne has consistently been better.

Edwards may be better one day, but certainly hasn't played better this year.

De Guzman and Hutchinson are in and around town because of the recent MNT games - both are on record as far as I know saying they won't play on turf given the choice...

[Patrycja]

Hi,
I think you should vote for Robinson as defensive midfield. He is an unsung hero for TFC and he has been around a long time. He breaks things up brilliantly for us. He has mentore Edu well, but you can see the problems arising when he is missing for international games. I think he is an excellent underrated player who we can't do without. And I think he could more than hold his own in the all=star game.

[John Dinner]

How will West Ham approach this game? It is an all-star game, and in other sports, all-star games usually lack any sort of defense. Will MLS ask West Ham to keep things wide-open, so the 'stars' Beckham, Blanco, Guevara, Emilio, et. al can showcase their 'skills'? Will their best players play?
As for TFC players in the line-up, I think we can get away with rewarding the play of Sutton and Brennan at the back end, Guevara in the middle, and of course Dichio up-front. The MLS will want the kind of reaction it gets when Danny enters the game and then scores a little later broadcast throughout North America!

[Cmac]

Clyde Simms - DCU for your defensive midfield spot. He's a good stopper and can distribute the ball up field very well.

[brucio]

no matter landon donovan does, someone will always find something wrong with it

the main reason people don't like him is simple - they are jealous

and

as for amado guevara, as good as he is, he hasn't played nearly enough for me to include him on the all-star team

in my book, that position on the field is filled by javier morales of salt lake

[alex]

Few too many non-performers on that list.

I'm a fan of both Dero and Guevarra, but can you really add either of them based on the way they played this season? Guevarra has only played a handful of games and Houston hasn't been much of a success. If this was who i'd want on my team, i'd have both of them, but i think the ASG has to be based on current performance there are other guys out there doing better. I think you'd have to drop them for Kljestan and Christian Gomez.

I also can't see any reason why you'd pick Dichio over Kenny Cooper. Appologies to the club hero, but he's been far less impressive.