Real Salt Lake midfielder Will Johnson and Chicago Fire defender Bakary Soumare have been added to the MLS All-Star roster as replacements for Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching and New England Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph.

Johnson replaces Joseph, who has been diagnosed with bone bruising in his right knee. Johnson was a member of Canada’s Gold Cup roster and helped lead the Canadian squad to the Gold Cup quarterfinals, where they fell to Honduras.

Soumare, from Mali, will replace Ching, who is being given rest after a grueling stretch of games with the U.S. national team. Ching has played in four of five Gold Cup games as the U.S. men advanced to the final, where they will face Mexico on Sunday. Now in his third MLS season, Soumare has become one of the league’s most outstanding defenders. He has started 14 games this season, helping lead Chicago to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

This will be the first All-Star appearance for Johnson and Soumare.

The 2009 MLS All-Star Game will be Wednesday at Rio Tinto Stadium, in Sandy, Utah. The MLS All-Stars will play Everton FC, whose roster boasts international stars Tim Cahill, Louis Saha, Marouane Fellaini, Steven Pienaar, Tim Howard and more. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and Galavision at 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time.

Ching was among six selections for the squad made by Houston’s Dominic Kinnear, coach of the All-Star Team.

Kinnear also chose his club’s Pat Onstad as the squad’s second goalkeeper; Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis; Seattle defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Sounders forward Fredy Montero; and Kansas City’s Davy Arnaud. The Wizards midfielder will replace Columbus’ Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who has been ruled out because of an injury.

The Final 18-player MLS roster includes four members of the Houston Dynamo and the Seattle Sounders, three from Real Salt Lake and the Chicago Fire and one player from the Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards and Los Angeles Galaxy.

2009 MLS ALL-STAR TEAM
Goalkeeper: Kasey Keller (Seattle), Pat Onstad (Houston)

Defenders: Geoff Cameron (Houston), Wilman Conde (Chicago), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Bakary Soumare (Chicago)

Midfielders: Davy Arnaud (Kansas City), Kyle Beckerman (Salt Lake), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago), Brad Davis (Houston), Stuart Holden (Houston), Freddie Ljungberg (Seattle), Javier Morales (Salt Lake), Will Johnson (Salt Lake)

Forwards: Conor Casey (Colorado), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Fredy Montero (Seattle)