St. Louis CITY SC’s captain and goalkeeper Roman Bürki and vice-captain and center back Tim Parker have been named to the 2023 MLS All-Star Roster. Bürki and Parker and the rest of the MLS All-Stars will face off against Arsenal in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, July 19 at Audi Field.
St. Louis CITY SC are one of seven teams in MLS that tallied two all-star selections. This is a first selection for both Bürki and Parker to an MLS All-Star game.
Bürki, 32, has carried over his illustrious career at Dortmund into his inaugural season at St. Louis CITY SC in Major League Soccer. The Swiss goalkeeper leads the league in saves with 76 and carries a 1.26 goals-against average with four clean sheets. He also leads the league with a +5.8 PSxG (Post-Shot Expected Goals minus Goals Allowed), which is expected goals based on how likely the goalkeeper is to save the shot. Burki is one of four goalkeepers with at least 60 saves and a 75+ percent save percentage.
Parker, 30, earned his first selection in his ninth MLS season. The Hicksville, New York, native has anchored a CITY SC backline to four clean sheets and 24 goals allowed. He tallied the team’s first-ever goal at Austin in a 3-2 victory. Parker has started in all 17 matches he has appeared in this season, missing just two matches. In his nine seasons in MLS, he has accrued 224 regular-season starts and 234 regular-season appearances out of a possible 280 regular-season matches since being drafted in 2015.
Burki and Parker join the organization’s list of first all-stars alongside Fritz Volmar. Volmar was the organization’s first academy player to be named an all-star as he was selected to the 2022 MLS NEXT All-Star game.
Very well deserved and I’m stoked for both of them, but please god don’t get injured playing in this meaningless game.