U-Sector – The Original Toronto FC Supporters Group » MLS: Get Your Priorities Straight!

MLS: Get Your Priorities Straight!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Dwayne De Rosario was named today to the MLS All-Star Team’s First XI.

The All-Stars will take on Manchester United at Houston’s Reliant Stadium on July 28th. Toronto FC has a home CONCACAF Champions League qualifying match versus Honduran side Motagua July 27th. De Rosario will be playing in both. Does anyone not see anything wrong with this scenario?

Last year, De Rosario skipped the All-Star Game as TFC hosted Puerto Rico in the CCL the same night. De Ro, whose commitment to the club cannot be questioned, communicated his dismay with having to choose between the Champions League match and the MLS showcase )while making the right decision and representing his club). His beef was that the players shouldn’t have to make that decision in the first place, that the league should make sure that its brightest stars would not have to miss an event that the players no doubt enjoy taking part in.

In the offseason, league commissioner Don Garber went on record saying that MLS wanted to place more importance on the Champions League, as the continental competition offered benefits to the growth and reputation of the league. Then MLS promptly scheduled its All-Star Game during the same week as the CCL qualifiers, for the second year in a row.

So once again, the league puts its own clubs and players in the unenviable position of having to choose between advancing in real competition or advancing a meaningless — albeit very high profile — exhibition.

Within minutes of the All-Star roster being released, it was announced that De Rosario would be playing in both matches. He’ll suit up at BMO Field against Motagua on Tuesday, hop on a plane to Houston and play in the All-Star Game on Wednesday, then he’ll fly out to Kansas City on Thursday to meet up with his TFC mates ahead of the Reds match against the Wizards on Saturday. Oh, and then TFC – with De Ro in tow – will fly out to Tegucigalpa immediately following the KC match for the second CCL qualifying leg three days later.

That is absolute insanity, and a recipe for an injury if this writer has ever seen one. Unfortunately an injury to De Rosario will likely bring nothing more than the requisite lip service from the league before it carries on with its ridiculous stance of placing exhibitions above actual competition and player well-being. He’s a star in MLS, but he’s not that big a star.

LA Galaxy’s World Cup heroes Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle were also named to the MLS All-Star Team, and both will also be playing in a Champions League match the night before. Given the sheer amount of mileage both players have tacked on over the past few months, they may actually be more at risk for injury than De Rosario.

While it’s bad form to hope for an injury to anyone — let alone the face of the entire league — one has to wonder if it’ll take a career-threatening setback to new MLS Golden Goose Landon Donovan before the league re-evaluates placing such unreasonable demands on its stars for the sake of a little face time on ESPN against The Biggest Team in the World(TM).

Posted by Rudi Schuller