MLS All-Star Game

[Fred T. Jane]

0-0 at the half (I got home at the 31st minute, so I haven't seen much).

Comments? Complaints?

[Brian in Boston]

It's the exhibition match to end all exhibition matches.

Chelsea is in the middle of their pre-season training. The MLS All-Stars don't feature any members of the New England Revolution or CD Chivas USA (Taylot Twellman, Clint Dempsey, Ante Razov, etc.) because the two clubs are set to play a league match in Los Angeles tomorrow. The likes of Landon Donovan and Eddie Pope are out with injuries.

The outcome is meaningless. If the MLS All-Stars win, Chelsea supporters will simply say that their club wasn't in regular-season form. If the MLS All-Stars lose, people shrug and say, "Well... what did you expect? They're an EPL side and we didn't have all of our league's best players on hand."

Bottom line? A "Shakespearean" match: full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing.

[Fred T. Jane]

They spoke to the Commissioner of MLS at halftime, and according to him, the front runner for the next franchise is Cleveland, followed by St. Louis, and Milwaukee "is coming on strong." Figured I'd throw that out there.

[Geoff]

1-nil!!! Too bad the world will say "It took the best from the USA just to beat Chelsea."

[Geoff]

They spoke to the Commissioner of MLS at halftime, and according to him, the front runner for the next franchise is Cleveland, followed by St. Louis, and Milwaukee "is coming on strong." Figured I'd throw that out there.

Why don't the try expanding south again? Tampa and Miami could have survived if they didn't have their closest away games (outside of eachother) in Ohio, DC, New York, and Illinois.

[NJTank]

Today was the MLS All-Star Game? I didnt even know. Who was the game's MVP?

[DGivens87]

I just read the Chelsea version of the game. They were tired. Gotta love the built-in excuses.

I love how they call Jaime Moreno "chubby."

BTW Tank, Dwayne De Rosario (Houston) won the MVP for scoring the lone goal of the match.

HOORAY MLS!!!

[xxjdm66]

Today was the MLS All-Star Game? I didnt even know. Who was the game's MVP?

Dwayne De Rosario - Houston Dynamo

[Fred T. Jane]

I just read the Chelsea version of the game. They were tired. Gotta love the built-in excuses.

I love how they call Jaime Moreno "chubby."

BTW Tank, Dwayne De Rosario (Houston) won the MVP for scoring the lone goal of the match.

HOORAY MLS!!!

Heck yeah. With all of those United players on the pitch (Oh man, if Adu would have scored on that opportunity late in the match), it was nice to see someone from the Dynamo stand up and be counted. (and yes, I count myself as a Dynamo fan now, for those of whom had asked whether I had a domestic team to cheer for)

[-kj]

Not a bad game. The MLS XI really took play to Chelsea. At times it got to be men against boys, but I think those times were limited. That DDR shot was fantastic.

Sure, it doesn't signify anything... but tell me it wasn't satisfying seeing a bunch of MLSers taking it to Chelsea.

[ColeJ]

oh ... cleveland might actually be getting a team?

a little while ago, brad friedel said the only way he'd ever play for another club than blackburn was if his hometown of cleveland got an mls team... then he'd want to play in front of his home fans.

[TNT44]

It seemed like a pretty good game. For having been a soccer hater before, I'm finally starting to like it more.

[Breakwood]

1-nil!!! Too bad the world will say "It took the best from the USA just to beat Chelsea."

Alas the lone goal was scored by a Canadian

And yes I do agree the result is meaningless, but at least it will hopefully show that MLS isn't as weak as many people seem to think.

[jkrdevil]

1-nil!!!  Too bad the world will say "It took the best from the USA just to beat Chelsea."

Alas the lone goal was scored by a Canadian

And yes I do agree the result is meaningless, but at least it will hopefully show that MLS isn't as weak as many people seem to think.

Their All-Star team barely beat a club team (Granted a good one). That's pretty weak in my book.

[STL FANATIC]

1-nil!!!  Too bad the world will say "It took the best from the USA just to beat Chelsea."

Alas the lone goal was scored by a Canadian

And yes I do agree the result is meaningless, but at least it will hopefully show that MLS isn't as weak as many people seem to think.

There All-Star team barely beat a club team (Granted a good one). That's pretty weak in my book.

Gonna have to harken back to the movie (and of course true story) Miracle when Herb Brooks notes that the NHL All Stars didn't get creamed by the Russian team because they weren't good enough. An All Star team is very often not gonna be as good as a league champion because All Star teams rely on soley talent while championship teams take talent and put it in an established system.

Maybe this game didn't mean much, but it wasn't because it was all stars vs. some club team.

[LMU]

Their All-Star team barely beat a club team (Granted a good one). That's pretty weak in my book.

Bingo. An entire league vs. a single team proves nothing.

[Original6]

What are the chances of DeRo coming home to play for Toronto FC next year? Hopefully MLS sends him although he is the Houston Dynamo's "Franchise Player."

[Breakwood]

What are the chances of DeRo coming home to play for Toronto FC next year? Hopefully MLS sends him although he is the Houston Dynamo's "Franchise Player."

Unfortunatly, its not too good. He's one of the top players, and the only way I see Houston giving him up is to a European Club, that will compensate them more than Toronto FC could afford.

[Geoff]

1-nil!!!  Too bad the world will say "It took the best from the USA just to beat Chelsea."

Alas the lone goal was scored by a Canadian

And yes I do agree the result is meaningless, but at least it will hopefully show that MLS isn't as weak as many people seem to think.

There All-Star team barely beat a club team (Granted a good one). That's pretty weak in my book.

Gonna have to harken back to the movie (and of course true story) Miracle when Herb Brooks notes that the NHL All Stars didn't get creamed by the Russian team because they weren't good enough. An All Star team is very often not gonna be as good as a league champion because All Star teams rely on soley talent while championship teams take talent and put it in an established system.

Maybe this game didn't mean much, but it wasn't because it was all stars vs. some club team.

THANK YOU!

Also, people have said that the MLS All-Stars barely beat Chelsea. So, if Chelsea beat the All-Stars 1 nil would they barely beat the All-Stars or would people just refer to it as a victory?

[Jigga]

Does it matter? You bet your ass it matters!

I'm an admitted soccer "hater." I watched only 3 world cup games...can you guess which 3? I ended up watching the MLS-Chelsea match, because there was nothing else worth watching at the time, and I was impressed with the effort. It matters in the soccer world. The better question is, how many of those MLS All-Stars could have even made Chelsea's roster?

Two other notes from the game:

First, good lord, Freddy Adu looked like a child out there! He's a gifted dribbler, but he was completely overmatched. He had two great chances that a guy like DeRosario would probably have converted. Freddy looked very timid at times and did not aggressively take the chances you would have expected him to take. He's got a long way to go to be great, but the talent certainly is there.

Albert Pujols would have singlehandedly won the game for the MLS side, if he had played. Based on his sheer dominance and ability to shine in the clutch. Albert would have scored 7 goals in the first half, and played flawless goalkeeper in the second half...and still hit that home run for the Cardinals yesterday.