With announcements coming throughout the day, and across the country, A-League clubs unveiled their All-Star representatives on Thursday. Seven more players from six clubs were added to the list of those who will face Manchester United in the league’s inaugural All-Star Game on July 20 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
A-League names seven more All-Stars
League taps players from every club but Newcastle Jets so far, filling out its All-Star roster amid fan frustration.
The All-Stars announced Thursday included:
Michael McGlinchey and Josh Rose (Central Coast Mariners), Billy Celeski (Melbourne Victory), David Williams (Melbourne Heart), Nigel Boogard (Adelaide United), Josh Risdon (Perth Glory) and Paul Ifill (Wellington Phoenix)
Those players join Brett Emerton (Sydney FC), Thomas Broich (Brisbane Roar) and Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Ante Covic, Youssouf Hersi, Michael Beauchamp and Mark Bridge (Western Sydney Wanderers). Despite the fanfare with which the league has brought forward these names, just eight of the fourteen selected were even listed among the top 35 players, by position, in fan voting. While the players themselves will surely be happy to play Manchester United on behalf of the A-League, fans are understandably underwhelmed.
The league faces a doubt frustration in filling out its Representative Team, suffering from absences due to personal or club preference and the finals of the East Asian Cup tournament. Stars like Alessandro Del Piero, Shinji Ono and Emile Heskey are stripping the league of its most marketable foreigners while the Socceroos snatch up other leading vote-getters like Dario Vidosic and Mark Milligan. Still others are unavailable due to European transfers, like 2012/13 Johnny Warren Medal winner Marco Rojas (Stuttgart) and Mat Ryan (Club Brugge).
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