Michael Boxall’s desire to shirk the spotlight came out moments after the Minnesota United captain was made the center of attention Tuesday.

Loons teammates, coaches, club staff and members of the ACES non-profit he supports choreographed a reveal that Boxall has been voted into the MLS All-Star Game for the first time in his 10-year MLS career.

After basking in the celebratory scene as much as a stoic can stomach, Boxall saw the amount of reporter lens focused on him and said, “Too many cameras.”

Boxall and MNUFC goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair will participate in the MLS showcase match against Liga MX All-Stars on July 23 in Austin, Texas. St. Clair, who is away with the Canadian men’s national team, made his first appearance in 2022 when the exhibition was in St. Paul.

Boxall didn’t want any more attention cast on him with the club’s get-out-the-vote campaign over the previous month and passed the credit when singled out Tuesday.

“I’ve never been disappointed when I haven’t made (the All-Star Game), so I think making it doesn’t really bring the opposite of that,” Boxall said in an interview. “I think me being there … feels more like a team award. If there ever was a time when an individual took credit for what the whole team does, I think this is an example of that.”

Boxall did get emotional when his wife and two young kids were a part of the presentation at the National Sports Center in Blaine. His son Beau had an All-Star jersey for his dad.

“Yeah, that’s, I mean, just not expected,” Boxall said. “Obviously, everything I do, it’s for my kids. So just seeing them happy, happy for me, is pretty cool.”

Boxall and St. Clair are stalwarts on a Loons’ defense tied for the fourth-fewest goals allowed (20 in 18 games) this season. St. Clair is tied for MLS lead with eight clean sheets. Boxall is fifth in the league with 117 clearances.

For Boxall, an All-Star nod is also a bit of a career achievement award, given the 36-year-old’s 250-plus appearances nine seasons at MNUFC.

“On so many fronts, he is deserving of this,” head coach Eric Ramsay said Tuesday. “First and foremost for a player who has been here this long to have this opportunity at this stage in his career is huge. It’s a testament to how he’s looked after himself and the level of performance he’s been able to maintain and the way people look at him here.”

The Loons have had five other players named to All-Star games: Robin Lod (2024), Emmanuel Reynoso (2022, ’21), Romain Metanire (2019), Darwin Quintero (2018) and Francisco Calvo (2018).

By the numbers

MNUFC’s player salary ($13.8 million) registered as the fifth-lowest total in the 30-club league, according to MLS Players Association data released Wednesday.

The most notable numbers came in new contracts for three Loons players: Hlongwane netting a substantial raise from to $1.1 million from $655,000; Joseph Rosales to $579,702 from $93,998 and Tani Oluwaseyi to $558,750 from $89,716.

Four new players had their initial salaries revealed: Nico Romero, $457,500; Owen Gene, $430,100; Hoyeon Jung, $168,039; and Kipp Keller, $104,000.

Julian Gressel, whom MNUFC acquired from Inter Miami in primary transfer window, has a salary of $1.1 million, but Loons are paying for only a fraction of that total.