Major League Soccer on Saturday announced the first 11 players selected for this month’s 2016 AT&T MLS All-Star Game in San Jose, but any Seattle Sounders players hoping to be selected will have to wait another week to hear their name called.
The MLS All-Star Fan XI revealed on Saturday includes some of the biggest stars in the league as voted by fans, including reigning league MVP Sebastian Giovinco and World Cup veterans Andrea Pirlo (NYCFC), Didier Drogba (Montreal Impact) and Kaká (Orlando City). The MLS All-Star Team will take on English Premier League club Arsenal FC at Avaya Stadium, home of the San Jose Earthquakes, on Thursday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on ESPN, UniMás, UDN, TSN, and RDS.
Despite not being selected by the fans, Sounders players can still make the roster via selection from MLS All-Star Team head coach Dominic Kinnear. The full MLS All-Star game day roster will be announced on July 17 and include the two Commissioner’s Picks as well as 20 players selected by Kinnear.
While the players named to the Fan XI are not guaranteed a spot on the game day roster, the outcome of fan voting is taken into consideration as the 22-man roster is decided.
While 10 of the 11 players on the Fan XI are determined by fan voting online, the 11th player is determined through the AT&T/EA SPORTS™ “More Than a Vote” Challenge. In a closely contested tournament, NYCFC striker David Villa took the top prize as fans scored more than 800,000 goals with the NYCFC star in EA SPORTS FIFA 16.
2016 MLS All-Star Fan XI
Goalkeeper: Andre Blake (Philadelphia Union)
Defenders: Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Laurent Ciman (Montreal Impact), Keegan Rosenberry (Philadelphia Union)
Midfielders: Kaká (Orlando City SC), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Andrea Pirlo (New York City FC), Giovani dos Santos (LA Galaxy),
Forwards: Didier Drogba (Montreal Impact), Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC), David Villa (New York City FC – AT&T/EA SPORTS™ “More Than a Vote” Challenge)
