Real Salt Lake lands one player on the MLS Best XI list

Well when Nick Rimando wasn't in the 3 nominated for keeper of the year, and Kyle Beckerman's name was nowhere on the list of award nominees, I knew it was unlike for anyone on the RSL roster to get much attention from MLS this year. Yeah I know we were the 3rd best team overall, yeah we battled injuries all year, yeah we carried the MLS flag into the Champions League final, but they have short memories and lots of personal preferences. So here is the official announcement of the Best XI:

NEW YORK (Thursday, November 10, 2011) - MLS Commissioner Don Garber today announced the 2011 Best XI during his annual State of the League teleconference call. The Best XI recognizes the League's top 11 players at each position on the field.

This year players, club leaders, and media members voted one goalkeeper, three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards to the Best XI, listed below by alphabetical order within each position:

Goalkeeper - Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC)

Defender - Todd Dunivant (LA Galaxy)

Defender - Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy)

Defender - Jamison Olave (Real Salt Lake)

Midfielder - David Beckham (LA Galaxy)

Midfielder - Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo)

Midfielder - Dwayne De Rosario (D.C. United)

Midfielder - Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)

Midfielder - Brek Shea (FC Dallas)

Forward - Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)

Forward - Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

Also today, MLS announced that Mark Geiger is the 2011 MLS Referee of the Year and Corey Rockwell is the Assistant Referee of the Year. Like the Best XI, Geiger and Rockwell were selected by voting from MLS players, club leadership, and media members.

It is funny that there is still so much focus on offense only from lists like this, so players like Kyle Beckerman and Osvaldo Alonso both get overlooked after both had huge years. Such is the way of MLS.

OFF MY SOAPBOX