American Stars Lead MLS All-Star Balloting

CHICAGO (Tuesday, June 19, 2001) - Major League Soccer's American stars keep racking up the votes as 2001 MLS All-Star fan balloting continues with little more than one month remaining before the league's sixth midseason classic. Perhaps reflecting the team's recent success in World Cup Qu

CHICAGO (Tuesday, June 19, 2001) - Major League Soccer's American stars keep racking up the votes as 2001 MLS All-Star fan balloting continues with little more than one month remaining before the league's sixth midseason classic.

Perhaps reflecting the team's recent success in World Cup Qualifying, members of the U.S. National Team's player pool have claimed the most votes at every position. Despite a recent knee injury that will sideline him for the remainder of the season, MLS fans have shown their devotion to MetroStars forward Clint Mathis, who leads all players with 9,044 votes. Close behind him are U.S. National Team regulars Chris Armas (8,694), and Jeff Agoos (8,435). If voting for the All-Star game concluded today, American players would dominate 17 of the 22 starting positions available.

Compared to last week's numbers, fans from Columbus and Chicago had a strong voting turnout, as the Crew's Brian McBride increased his lead among forwards for the East team, while several Chicago players including Armas saw significant increases in their vote totals.

The league's top international stars are also showing well, as perennial All-Stars Carlos Valderrama (6,362), Marco Etcheverry (5,487), Peter Nowak (5,225) and Mauricio Cienfuegos (5,576) currently stand among the top five in their respective positions.

The following preliminary numbers are based on in-stadium ballots and Internet voting at http://mlsallstars.yahoo.com/. Soccer specialty store ballot counts will be added to the running Internet totals at the close of voting, on July 8.

%=macroPart|font/arialBlue2=%MLS West All-Stars

Forwards (2) - Votes

1. Josh Wolff (Chicago) - 7,024* will not play/injured
2. Cobi Jones (Los Angeles) - 6,202
3. Hristo Stoitchkov (Chicago) - 4,141
4. Jason Kreis (Dallas) - 3,675
5. Ariel Graziani (Dallas) - 3,363
6. Ronald Cerritos (San Jose) - 2,652
7. Roy Lassiter (Kansas City) - 2,140
8. Luis Hernández (Los Angeles) - 2,112
9. Dwayne DeRosario (San Jose) - 1,829
10. Junior Agogo (San Jose) - 1,583

Midfielders (5)

1. Chris Armas (Chicago) - 8,694
2. Landon Donovan (San Jose) - 7,456
3. DaMarcus Beasley (Chicago) - 6,473
4. Mauricio Cienfuegos (Los Angeles) - 5,576
5. Peter Nowak (Chicago) - 5,225
6. Dema Kovalenko (Chicago) - 4,587
7. Chris Klein (Kansas City) - 3,095
8. Jorge Rodriguez (Dallas) - 3,086
9. Chad Deering (Dallas) - 3,075
10. Manny Lagos (San Jose) - 2,908

Defenders (3)

1. Jeff Agoos (San Jose) - 8,435
2. Marcelo Balboa (Colorado) - 6,484
3. Carlos Bocanegra (Chicago) - 4,206
4. Lubos Kubik (Dallas) - 3,817
5. Alexi Lalas (Los Angeles) - 3,613
6. C.J. Brown (Chicago) - 3,589
7. Greg Vanney (Los Angeles) - 3,538
8. Robin Fraser (Colorado) - 2,690
9. Eric Dade (Dallas) - 2,630
10. Richard Farrer (Dallas) - 2,418

Goalkeepers (1)

1. Tony Meola (Kansas City) - 5,248
2. Zach Thornton (Chicago) - 4,807
3. Matt Jordan (Dallas) - 2,451
4. Joe Cannon (San Jose) - 2,283
5. Kevin Hartman (Los Angeles) - 1,957
6. Adin Brown (Colorado) - 1,774

%=macroPart|font/arialBlue2=%MLS East All-Stars

Forwards (2) - Votes

1. Brian McBride (Columbus) - 7,929
2. Mamadou Diallo (Tampa Bay) - 4,806
3. Alex Pineda Chacon (Miami) - 4,722
4. Dante Washington (Columbus) - 4,081
5. Jaime Moreno (D.C. United) - 3,115
6. Diego Serna (Miami) - 2,897
7. Adolfo Valencia (MetroStars) - 1,849
8. Alex Comas (MetroStars) - 1,794
9. Chris Albright (D.C. United) - 1,655
10. Ali Curtis (Tampa Bay) - 1,067

Midfielders (5)

1. Clint Mathis (MetroStars) - 9,044* will not play/injured
2. Carlos Valderrama (Tampa Bay) - 6,362
3. Marco Etcheverry (D.C. United) - 5,487
4. Tab Ramos (MetroStars) - 5,341
5. Preki (Miami) - 5,016
6. Bobby Convey (D.C. United) - 4,955
7. Mark Chung (MetroStars) - 4,013
8. John Harkes (Columbus) - 3,900
9. Brian Maisonneuve (Columbus) - 3,258
10. Ben Olsen (D.C. United) - 3,150

Defenders (3)

1. Eddie Pope (D.C. United) - 7,046
2. Carlos Llamosa (Miami) - 6,856
3. Mike Petke (MetroStars) - 4,971
4. Mike Clark (Columbus) - 3,907
5. Tenywa Bonseu (Columbus) - 3,586
6. Ansil Elcock (Columbus) - 3,350
7. Pablo Mastroeni (Miami) - 3,029
8. Steve Jolley (MetroStars) - 2,933
9. Jay Heaps (Miami) - 2,748
10. Mauricio Wright (New England) - 2,294

Goalkeepers (1)

1. Nick Rimando (Miami) - 4,039
2. Tom Presthus (Columbus) - 3,742
3. Tim Howard (MetroStars) - 3,226
4. Scott Garlick (Tampa Bay) - 2,915
5. Mike Ammann (D.C. United) - 2,416
6. Juergen Sommer (New England) - 1,719* will not play/injured