Time to turn in my ballot for the MLS All-Star Game
A few weeks ago the Fire looked likely to send several players to the July 24 All-Star Game in Toronto, in which the MLS XI will take on England's West Ham United.
With one week left in the voting, Fire players' hopes probably are fading. A three-game losing streak will do that. Nevertheless, the Fire should get at least one or two players on the squad.
The fan ballots account for 25 percent of the vote, with players, coaches and general managers, and the media each counting for 25 percent also. So far, Toronto fans are voting like, well, Chicagoans.
Here's who got my vote, going with the 3-5-2 formation on the league's online ballot at www.MLSnet.com.
Goalkeeper: This is between the Fire's Jon Busch and New England's Matt Reis. Busch has the lower goals-against average, 0.92 to Reis' 1.13. Reis has 5 shutouts to Busch's 4, but New England also has played more games, 15-12, which also helps explain why the Revs have soared into first place in the Eastern Conference with 27 points to the fourth-place Fire's 19. The pick here is Busch.
Leader in fan voting: Greg Sutton, Toronto.
Defenders: Despite its losing streak, the Fire's going to get another spot here. The best defensive team in the league deserves at least one defender, and left back Gonzalo Segares gets the spot over central defender Bakary Soumare, though both young guys are playing very well.
Danny O'Rourke represents a resurgent Columbus club, and Kansas City's Jimmy Conrad gets a vote over the Revs' Michael Parkhurst.
Leaders in fan voting: Frankie Hejduk, Columbus; Jim Brennan, Toronto; Marvell Wynne, Toronto.
Midfielders: Picking five midfielders, we'll go with two at the holding midfielder spot - Toronto's young Maurice Edu, who is finding a spot for himself on the U.S. national team, and New England stalwart Shalrie Joseph.
The Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco will get a vote here also, though some might argue he's looking tired lately. Go ahead, call me a homer.
The Galaxy's David Beckham has 4 goals and 6 assists, and he's certainly not going to be intimidated by West Ham United. He gets the nod over Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA.
Robbie Rogers of Columbus has 5 goals to earn the final spot.
Leaders in fan voting: Beckham; Blanco; Amado Guevara, Toronto; Dwayne De Rosario, Houston; Edu.
Forwards: This might be the easiest position to decide on. After all, forwards are supposed to score, so just go to the scoring leaders list and pick out the top two.
There's just one problem with that method, however. The top two scorers are the Galaxy's Landon Donovan, an obvious choice every year, and Edson Buddle. Buddle is not on the ballot, and some might feel queasy about selecting two front-runners from the same team, even if that team leads the league in scoring.
The online ballot doesn't allow for write-ins, and I'm going to skip over D.C. United's Luciano Emilio, who has suddenly found a scoring groove, to pick FC Dallas' Kenny Cooper.
Leaders in fan voting: Donovan; Danny Dichio, Toronto.
The next stage: With Sunday's 1-0 victory at Barbados, the United States advances in 2010 World Cup qualifying.
The U.S. is in a round-robin semifinal group with Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and Cuba, with the home game against T&T to be played Sept. 10 at Toyota Park. The Americans' first match will be Aug. 20 at Guatemala, followed by a Sept. 6 match at Cuba.
The toughest of the CONCACAF semifinal groups is Group A, which includes favorite Mexico, Canada, Jamaica and Honduras.
The weakest group looks to be Group C, where Costa Rica is the favorite. Unseeded Suriname and El Salvador advanced to that group, which will be filled out by Haiti. The Costa Ricans should breeze into the final group.
Two teams from each of the three groups will advance to next year's hexagonal. CONCACAF is guaranteed three spots in the South Africa in 2010.
Presidential search: There's little to report on the Fire's search for a team president to replace the fired John Guppy.
"It's still going on," team spokesman Gregg Elkin said. "They're still looking at people. I don't have a timetable. No idea who they are. I think they hope to make a decision soon."
Since Guppy's firing April 11, Javier Leon, the managing director of Andell Sports Group, has served as interim team president. Leon flew to Chicago on Monday from his base in Los Angeles, but he is not likely to take the job on a full-time basis. Whoever does take the job probably will just handle the team president duties, leaving player moves to technical director Frank Klopas.
Elkin added the team had made no progress toward acquiring forward Brian McBride, whose MLS rights are held by Toronto FC. McBride, the Arlington Heights native, spent the past 4 seasons playing in England before deciding he wants to end his career near home.
oschwarz@dailyherald.com