Shep Messing could wind up on the veteran ballot again.

Twenty-two men and women from the metropolitan area have been selected to the preliminary player and veteran ballots for the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

In alphabetical order, the player ballot had nine candidates:

Gregg Berhalter (Tenafly, N.J.), Shannon Boxx (New York Power), Kenny Cooper (Red Bulls), Brad Davis (MetroStars), Kevin Hartman (Red Bulls), Thierry Henry (Red Bulls), Shalrie Joseph (St. John’s University, Brooklyn, N.Y.), Sebastien LeToux (Red Bulls) and Christie Pearce (Sky Blue FC).

In alphabetical order, 13 area players were on the veteran ballot:

Chris Armas (Red Bulls, Adelphi University, Brentwood, N.Y.), Mark Chung (MetroStars), Carlos Llamosa (New York Centaurs), Clint Mathis (Red Bulls), Shep Messing (Cosmos, New York Arrows), Emily Pickering (Massapequa, N.Y.), Ante Razov (MetroStars), Branko Segota (N.Y. Arrows), Mike Sorber (MetroStars), Richie Williams (New Jersey), Zoltan Toth (N.Y. Arrows) and Steve Zungul (N.Y. Arrows).

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.