Which Vancouver Whitecap could return to Austin for the MLS All-Star Game?
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Even in June 2018, when he was just 17, Alphonso Davies was already a star. He was being connected to teams like Liverpool, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich, an electric young talent whose speed and skills had the biggest clubs in the world taking notice.
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And two weeks before his ground-shaking transfer to Bayern, Phonzie got recognition of another kind — being named to Major League Soccer's all-star team.
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Players were chosen by fan vote and the all-star coach. But neither of them selected Davies, who has been arguably the biggest talent to come out of the North American league. He got in as the commissioner's pick, with Don Garber tabbing the teen and two-time MLS Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips of the New York Red Bulls for the exhibition game against Italian icons Juventus.
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Including Davies, only six Whitecaps have been selected to the showcase event since the team came into MLS in 2011: Jay DeMerit (2012), Camilo (2013), David Ousted (2015), Kendall Waston (2016), and Ryan Gauld (2024). The only player ever selected by fans was DeMerit, who was recognizable to the domestic fan base as a U.S. international who started for the Americans at the 2010 World Cup, and whose inspirational story had begun to reach folklore levels thanks to an indie film.
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And none of those Whitecaps teams that produced the all-stars had as much success as this current edition, which sits atop the MLS standings and is playing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup title game for the first time in team history.
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The team — finally — has the attention of the rest of MLS. As the club heads to Austin, site of the 2025 All-Star Game in July, for a Saturday night league fixture, the question becomes: Can this translate into all-star selections?
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'We've got a lot of guys on this team that definitely deserve a shout,' said midfielder Ali Ahmed. 'Vancouver is not the most attractive market to watch; late games, people kind of forget about us. But I think we've made it hard this year not to put a name for the team. A lot of players have stepped up and shined, and definitely deserve to be there for sure.'
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One player tops the list of potential all-stars for 2025: Brian White. Austin will be game-planning to defend him Saturday, after he torched them for four goals — that's a 'haul,' in soccer lingo — in April. His eight goals is third-most in the league, only trailing Philadelphia's Tai Baribo (10) and San Jose's Cristian Arango (nine).
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But the U.S. international has only played nine league games compared with Baribo's 12 and Arango's 13, as White has been busy in the CCC tournament, where's he's banged in six goals, second only to Cruz Azul's Ángel Sepúlveda.
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White was asked Friday, as the team prepared to travel to Austin, if he would like to head back there for another game: the All-Star Game. In his usual infallibly humble manner, he replied: 'Recognition is always nice, but that's not really something I'm focused on. Honestly, I haven't really thought about it at all. There's a lot of games, lot of things coming up before then. So if it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't, I'll have a couple days off to chill.'
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