PORTLAND, Ore. – Major League Soccer today announced that Portland Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and midfielders Diego Valeri and Rodney Wallace were named MLS All-Stars and were selected to the inactive roster.
Players on the inactive roster were selected through voting by MLS players. A minimum of 32 players are named annually per the League’s collective bargaining agreement.
Timbers midfielder Will Johnson was voted to the 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Fan XI and was named to the game day roster for Wednesday’s 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Game against Italian side AS Roma at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., at 6 p.m. (Pacific). The showcase event will be televised on ESPN2.
Ricketts earns his third MLS All-Star selection, while both Valeri and Wallace receive their first All-Star honors.
Ricketts, 36, was an MLS All-Star in 2009 and 2010 as a member of the LA Galaxy. With the Timbers this season, Ricketts has anchored a backline that is second in MLS in fewest goals allowed (20) and ranks among league leaders in goals-against average (0.90), shutouts (9) and wins (8). The Jamaican international is a seven-time winner of MLS Save of the Week in 2013.
Valeri, 27, is one of the club’s leading scorers with four goals and seven assists through 19 regular-season matches. He ranks among league leaders in assists and has a MLS-best three multi-assist games this season. Valeri is a three-time selection to the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week and has had two goals win MLS Goal of the Week in 2013.
Wallace, 25, ranks among the Timbers scoring leaders this season with four goals and five assists – both career highs – in 15 regular-season matches. Of his four goals, three have been game-winning strikes, which rank among league leaders. Wallace became the first MLS Timbers player to record three assists in a match on June 23 in a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rapids.
Players today named MLS All-Stars: Donovan Ricketts (Portland Timbers), Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo), Jamison Olave (New York Red Bulls), George John (FC Dallas), Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers), Rodney Wallace (Portland Timbers), Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders FC), Juninho (LA Galaxy), Justin Mapp (Montreal Impact), Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake).
