On a "State of the League" conference call this afternoon, MLS Commissioner Don Garber revealed the 2011 season's Best XI and Kasey Keller is the lone Sounders representative. This is Keller's first appearance in the Best XI and he becomes just the second Sounder named to the team with Freddie Ljungberg winning the honor in 2009.
Keller certainly had a tremendous season and his appointment to the team is hardly controversial, but the failure to include any other Sounders is a bit of a head-scratcher; Osvaldo Alonso at the very least seems a fairly obvious omission. Fredy Montero and Mauro Rosales have a decent case as well. But again, end-of-season awards are certainly nothing to get all that excited about when they don't go your way and well worth celebration when they do. I'll be the first to admit that's not especially rational, but as a counterpoint: sports!
Full Best XI after the jump. And yes, I am aware that Kasey Keller is no longer the Sunders goalkeeper; it's just going to take me a while.
Kasey Keller - GK, Seattle Sounders
Jamison Olave - D, Real Salt Lake
Omar Gonzalez - D, LA Galaxy
Todd Dunivant - D, LA Galaxy
Brek Shea - M, FC Dallas
Brad Davis - M, Houston Dynamo
Landon Donovan - M, LA Galaxy
Dwayne DeRosario - M, DC United
Chris Wondolowski - F, San Jose Earthquake