What: First ever MASL All-Star Game
When: December 5, 7:00pm CST
Where: Cable Dahmer Arena, Independence, MO
How: Tickets are on sale on Ticketmaster or you can stream the game live on Facebook Live Pay-Per-View for $14.99
Throughout its history, indoor soccer leagues have typically staged a midseason All-Star Game and then named two or three All-League teams at the end of the season. There hasn’t been an All-Star Game since 2006, but the MASL has had an expanded three All-League Teams and an Honorable Mention list each season since 2016-17.
I never liked the concept of Honorable Mention because it doesn’t fit into a format. In the Academy Awards you were either nominated or not. There is no list of people who were under consideration, but were ultimately not nominated.
Then I gained a new perspective on Honorable Mention in the non-All-Star Game era. In April I wrote:
I guess we have this amorphous Honorable Mention team because there is no All-Star Game anymore. More conventionally these 15 players (on Honorable Mention) and the 18 players on the three All-MASL Teams, would be the two All-Star teams of a given season.
April 8, Facebook’s MASL Off the Wall group
Putting that theory to the test, we checked in to see how well the MASL’s three All-League teams and Honorable Mention stack up against this year’s unconventional-preseason-All-Star-Game-in-the-age-of-COVID.
Naturally, some players opted out because of health concerns, other commitments, and visa and international travel reasons, so before anyone says, “They blew it,” I think it’s fair to say the teams ended up being a decent representation of the MASL’s talent under the circumstances. At the same time, even though this has the feel of a Kansas City Comets/Tacoma Stars production, the league allowed the All-Star brand to be placed on it, so that label carries heavy expectations.
- 17 out of 33 All-League/Honorable Mention players are scheduled to play in the All-Star Game
- 13 All-Stars have never been All-League or Honorable Mention
- Of those 13 players, three were on last year’s All-Rookie Team/Rookie Honorable Mention
- Two players last appeared on the All-League list in 2012-13
- There are 21 players on the Eastern Conference team, but only 18 players (17 with Franck Tayou out with an injury) on the Western Conference team in part because Vini Dantas is representing the Baltimore Blast instead of the Tacoma Stars, his current club
- Twelve of the 17 2019-20 MASL teams are represented. The division champs Monterrey Flash (20-2) and Florida Tropics (18-3) have one player, and no players, respectively, while the Rochester Lancers (1-21) have two players on the roster. Besides Florida, there are no players from the Sonora Soles, Mesquite Outlaws, Turlock Express, or the now-defunct Orlando SeaWolves.
| Player | 2019-20 Award | All-Star | Latest Award |
| Franck Tayou | 1st Team, MVP | Western | |
| Ian Bennett | 1st Team | Western | |
| Cristhian Segura | 1st Team | ||
| Drew Ruggles | 1st Team, DOY | ||
| Marcio Leite | 1st Team | ||
| Chris Toth | 1st Team, GOY | Western | |
| Brayan Aguilar | 2nd Team | Western | |
| Max Ferdinand | 2nd Team | Eastern | |
| Victor Parreiras | 2nd Team | ||
| Jake Schindler | 2nd Team | ||
| Onua Obasi | 2nd Team | ||
| Hugo Silva | 2nd Team | ||
| Leo Gibson | 3rd Team | Eastern | |
| Ricardo Carvalho | 3rd Team | ||
| Micheal Ramos | 3rd Team | Western | |
| Darren Toby | 3rd Team | Eastern | |
| Elton De Oliveira | 3rd Team | Eastern | |
| Andrew Coughlin | 3rd Team | ||
| Vini Dantas | HR | Eastern | |
| Enrique Canez | HR | ||
| Nick Perera | HR | Western | |
| Dominic Francis | HR | Eastern | |
| Moises Gonzalez | HR | ||
| Daniel Villela | HR | ||
| Gary Boughton | HR | ||
| Robert Palmer | HR | Eastern | |
| Cesar Cerda | HR | Western | |
| Adriano Dos Santos | HR | ||
| Alex Caceres | HR | ||
| Uzi Tayou | HR | Western | |
| Berna Valdovinos | HR | ||
| Paulo Nascimento | HR | Eastern | |
| William Vanzela | HR | Eastern | |
| Nicolau Neto | All-Rookie HR | Eastern | |
| John Sosa | Eastern | 2017-18 2nd Team | |
| Axel Duarte | Eastern | ||
| James Togbah | Eastern | 2018-19 3rd Team | |
| Nate Bourdeau | Eastern | ||
| Alex Bradley | Eastern | ||
| Jeremy Ortiz | Eastern | ||
| Ignacio Flores | Eastern | 2017-18 HR | |
| Doug Miller | Eastern | 2012-13 1st Team | |
| Kevin Ellis | Eastern | 2018-19 All-Newcomer | |
| Duduca Carvalho | ROY | Eastern | |
| Danny Waltman | Western | 2015-16 1st Team | |
| Israel Sesay | Western | ||
| Guerrero Pino | Western | 2018-19 3rd Team | |
| Cory Keitz | Western | ||
| Evan McNeley | Western | ||
| Lipe Andrade | All-Rookie | Western | |
| Charlie Gonzalez | Western | ||
| Brian Farber | Western | 2012-13 1st Team | |
| Kraig Chiles | Western | 2018-19 HR | |
| Slavisa Ubiparipovic | Western | 2018-19 3rd Team | |
| Philip Lund | Western | 2017-18 ROY |
Full rosters
East:
- Player-coach- Leo Gibson- Kansas City Comets
- GK- William Vanzela- Baltimore Blast
- GK- Paulo Nascimento- St. Louis Ambush
- GK- Nicolau Neto- Kansas City Comets
- D- John Sosa- Kansas City Comets
- D- Darren Toby- Utica City FC
- D- Elton De Oliveira- Harrisburg Heat
- D- Axel Duarte- St. Louis Ambush
- D- Robert Palmer- Kansas City Comets
- D- James Togbah- Utica City FC
- MF- Nate Bourdeau- Utica City FC
- MF- Alex Bradley- Milwaukee Wave
- MF- Ian Bennett- Milwaukee Wave
- MF- Jeremy Ortiz- Rochester Lancers
- MF- Ignacio Flores- Kansas City Comets
- FW- Max Ferdinand- St. Louis Ambush (representing Milwaukee Wave)
- FW- Dominic Francis- Harrisburg Heat
- FW- Vini Dantas- Tacoma Stars (representing Baltimore Blast)
- FW- Doug Miller- Rochester Lancers
- FW- Kevin Ellis- Kansas City Comets
- FW- Duduca Carvalho- St. Louis Ambush
West:
- Player-coach- Nick Perera- Tacoma Stars
- GK- Danny Waltman- Tacoma Stars
- GK- Chris Toth- Tacoma Stars (representing Ontario Fury)
- D- Israel Sesay- Ontario Fury
- D- Guerrero Pino- San Diego Sockers
- D- Cesar Cerda- San Diego Sockers
- D- Uzi Tayou- Ontario Fury
- D- Cory Keitz- Tacoma Stars
- D- Evan McNeley- Tacoma Stars
- MF- Lipe Andrade- Dallas Sidekicks
- MF- Micheal Ramos- Tacoma Stars
- MF- Charlie Gonzalez- Ontario Fury
- MF- Brian Farber- San Diego Sockers
- FW- Franck Tayou- Ontario Fury
- FW- Kraig Chiles- San Diego Sockers
- FW- Brayan Aguilar- Monterrey Flash
- FW- Slavisa Ubiparipovic- San Diego Sockers
- FW- Philip Lund- Tacoma Stars
I did this exact same thing but then I also looked at who was in the top 10 in stats; whether points, assists, goals or blocks.
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I also looked at the “Stars” point system and looked at players that had made 100 points or more. I feel that while some names are definelty missing (and we don’t know why) and some of the teams couldnt/wouldn’t share players Leo and Nick did a decent job and the event should help in promoting the league
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As a Utica City fan, I find it very frustrating that Cristhian Segura is not an all star, considering that he had an explosive breakout season, and it hurts even more to see some rival players on the all star teams (namely 51-year old Doug Miller, who only played one or two games last season), but the MASL isn’t as big as, say, the NFL, so fans rarely ever get the full story, and transfer rumors are nonexistent (which is also very frustrating as a fan). I think there’s room for improvement, but the teams are decent and this could be an exciting game. (However, I won’t watch it because $15 to watch one sports game on Facebook is a HUGE rip-off, if you ask me.)
Also, and this is totally random…am I the only one who thinks that a promotion-and-relegation system would make the MASL more exciting?
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