MLS Real Salt Lake

Pope named to RadioShack All-Time Best XI

November 11, 2005 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SALT LAKE CITY (Friday, Nov. 11, 2005) - Major League Soccer today announced that RSL defender Eddie Pope has been named as a member of the RadioShack All-Time Best XI team during MLS Commissioner Don Garber's State-of-the-League address at Pizza Hut Park, site of MLS Cup 2005 which takes place on Sunday, November 13 featuring the Los Angeles Galaxy versus the New England Revolution at 1:30 p.m. MT live on ABC Sports.

"Everyone at Real Salt Lake congratulates Eddie Pope for his selection to the MLS All-Time Best XI," said RSL General Manager Steve Pastorino. "Throughout his stellar career, he has embodied what MLS and American soccer are all about. He is a winner, a leader, a role model - and the most complete centerback this country has ever produced."

The classy defender scored the game-winning goal in MLS Cup '96 and has also claimed personal accolades by winning the 1997 MLS Defender of the Year award, along with MLS Best XI honors in 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2004. He was honored for his work in the community in 2000, when he accepted D.C. United's New York Life Humanitarian of the Year award for his work with the foundation in the D.C. area that bears his name.

Pope captured MLS Defender of the Year honors in 2003 and has been a finalist for the award several times during his career. Pope, one of the most decorated defenders in American history, has earned 74 caps with the U.S. Men's National Team.

While the North Carolina native played in just 20 games for Real Salt Lake during the expansion team's inaugural season due to U.S. National Team duty and injuries, Pope has truly made a difference on the RSL backline when he is in the lineup. Starting in central defense alongside a myriad of teammates throughout the year, Pope notched his only RSL goal with a dramatic equalizer shortly after halftime in the 2-1 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy on May 14.

The winners were selected by a combination of voting that included online voting on the League's official website www.MLSnet.com (50 percent), media votes (25 percent), and current MLS coaches and general managers (25 percent). The RadioShack All-Time Best XI team was chosen from a pool of 78 candidates comprised of players who were previous Best XI selections or were named to at least three All-Star Games since the 1996 Inaugural Season.

RadioShack All-Time Best XI:

GOALKEEPER: Tony Meola (MET, KC)

DEFENDERS: Eddie Pope (DC, MET, RSL), Jeff Agoos (DC, SJ, MET), Marcelo Balboa (COL, CLB)

MIDFIELDERS: Marco Etcheverry (DC), Landon Donovan (SJ, LA), Carlos Valderrama (TB, MIA, COL), Preki (KC, MIA), Peter Nowak (CHI)

FORWARDS: Jaime Moreno (DC, MET), Brian McBride (CLB)

With the online voting category representing 50 percent of the total votes and the MLS coaches / general managers and media each counting for 25 percent, the formula used for determining the award winners involved assigning 100 total points to each category for a possible total of 100 points. Therefore if a player received 50 percent of the votes in the online voting categories, he would earn 50 points and if a player earned 50 percent of the votes in the other two categories he would earn 12.50 points for those categories. The voting totals were as follows:

DEFENDERS

Fans C/GM Media Total

Eddie Pope 25.92 17.11 17.70 60.72

Jeff Agoos 15.04 10.53 12.36 37.93

Marcelo Balboa 14.25 5.26 8.71 28.22

Ryan Nelsen 8.16 9.21 3.65 21.03

Carlos Bocanegra 12.33 3.95 4.49 20.78

Lubos Kubik 4.66 11.84 3.93 20.43

Alexi Lalas 12.16 2.63 4.21 19.00

Robin Fraser 5.27 5.26 6.74 17.28

ACCESS REAL: Real fans can now receive up-to-date information on the team by signing up for the RSL Weekly Newsletter on our website at http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/MLS/rsl/fans/.

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