Fire's Kappelhof a new all-star - and husband

Chicago Fire defender Johan Kappelhof has had to incorporate a couple of new words into his vocabulary following a hectic few days.

One of those words is "all-star" after Fire coach Veljko Paunovic named Kappelhof and central midfielder Dax McCarty to the MLS All-Star team for the Aug. 2 game at Soldier Field against Real Madrid. McCarty is with the U.S. national team in Philadelphia for Wednesday's Gold Cup quarterfinal.

"It was a surprise for me this morning," the 26-year-old Dutch central defender said, a big smile on his face. "I came in and heard the good news, so I'm very excited and very thankful for the coaching staff who elected me for the game, and I will give everything to give that back to them."

The other word is "wife." The Amsterdam native got married Saturday in the Netherlands, taking advantage of the league's schedule break for the Gold Cup.

"It's a special week for me," Kappelhof said after Tuesday's training session, the first since the break for him and Bastian Schweinsteiger, who both were given extra time off. "A stressful week, but it was a beautiful day. (I'm) happy that I'm a married man now and I'm back to play again."

Schweinsteiger and forward Nemanja Nikolic were voted to the 24-man All-Star Game roster by MLS fans.

There's still one thing left on Kappelhof's agenda.

"Maybe end of the season we'll plan a honeymoon," he said.

Kappelhof hopes that comes after December's MLS Cup.

Left out:

Among the tough decisions in picking players for the All-Star Game was the one involving Fire forward David Accam. Accam did not make the team despite 10 goals and 7 assists this season.

"We had to take everything into consideration," said Paunovic, who will coach the MLS All-Stars. "It's not easy to, when you have to pick guys from your team and some guys you think deserve to be there, you can't because of the limitations, and this is how it is. I think that's important that everyone understands."

The Fire is the only MLS team with more than three players picked to the all-star squad.

"This is the first time since a long time ago that we have four all-star players, which is also now an achievement," Paunovic said.

Ready to go:

Schweinsteiger said he's eager to get back on the field for the first time since July 1. He missed the Fire's July 5 draw at Portland due to right hip pain, but he said he's 100 percent now.

"The break was nice," said Schweinsteiger, who celebrated his wedding anniversary last week in Italy with wife Ana Ivanovic. "It was good to recover, not only for the body, also for the head. Maybe more for the head. I'm ready for the second part of the season."

Back in town:

Fire forward/midfielder Joey Calistri was excited to be back at training with the Fire after being recalled from his loan to USL team Tulsa Roughnecks.

"I always knew that if I played well enough hopefully I would get a shot to come back. They just called me up, said we're flying you back, so I didn't ask them any questions," the Deerfield native said with a laugh.

Calistri had 5 goals and 2 assists in 16 games for Tulsa and said he improved his distribution in the final third.

Still at Tulsa is fellow homegrown signing Collin Fernandez (Downers Grove).

"He's been playing really well," Calistri said. "He's been playing holding mid for us and he did a great job. He's up and down, can cover a lot of ground. He's like a little pit bull out there kinda. He's a good player. He's good in the middle. A lot of energy out there. He definitely helped Tulsa do really well."

Calistri said he has not been told if or when he will go back to Tulsa.