D.C. United and Major League Soccer have announced that Homegrown goalkeeper Bill Hamid has been selected to the 2014 MLS All-Star Team and will represent MLS in the 2014 MLS All-Star Game vs. Bayern Munich on Aug. 6, 2014, at Providence Park in Portland, Ore. This will be Hamid's first All-Star appearance.
On Sept. 2, 2009, Hamid became the first D.C. United Academy player to sign directly with the First Team, and he made history on May 5, 2010, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to win an MLS contest at 19 years and 161 days old, besting the previous record held by Tim Howard. With 99 career starts (31-42-23), the 23-year-old from Annandale, Va., is poised to become the youngest goalkeeper and the first MLS homegrown player to reach 100 MLS regular season games should he start against Chivas USA on Sunday, July 20.
"Bill has continued to improve with every match he's played since graduating from the D.C. United Academy to the First Team," said General Manager Dave Kasper. "We're proud of the player he's become and are excited about his future."
In his fifth season, Hamid has started in 14 games for D.C. United, which finished the first half of the 2014 campaign in first place in the Eastern Conference. Hamid currently leads the East in saves percentage (73.5), has the fourth best GAA in MLS (1.14) and is tied for fourth in the league with four shutouts.
This is United's first All-Star selection since Chris Pontius and Dwayne DeRosario in 2012, when Pontius was named MLS All-Star MVP.
The full 2014 MLS All-Star roster is below.
2014 AT&T MLS All-Star Roster
Goalkeeper:Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders:Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Aurélien Collin (Sporting Kansas City), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Chad Marshall (Seattle Sounders FC), Michael Parkhurst (Columbus Crew), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)
Midfielders:Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders FC), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Will Johnson (Portland Timbers),Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
Forwards:Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls), Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Obafemi Martins (Seattle Sounders FC), Erick Torres (Chivas USA), Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls)
