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Major League Soccer All-Star Game

Founded	1996
Region	Major League Soccer (CONCACAF)
Number of teams	2
Most successful club	MLS All-Stars (6 times)
Television broadcasters	ESPN2HD, TeleFutura, CBC
Motto	Major League Soccer Takes On The World
MLS All-Star 2009

MLS All-Stars celebrate a goal in the 2005 game versus Fulham of the English Premier League

The MLS All-Star Game has been held each season that Major League Soccer has existed. The set-up for the game has been far more fluid than that of All-Star Games in more traditional leagues such as the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. In six out of eleven years, the Eastern Division players have played Western Division players.

[edit] History

Twice, both during World Cup years, the league featured matchups based on nationality - in 1998, the Americans of MLS played the internationals; in 2002, the U.S. national team faced off against the (remaining) All-Stars of MLS.

[edit] 2003

In 2003, the MLS All-Stars played Chivas de Guadalajara in Los Angeles.

[edit] 2004

In 2004, an attempt to pit MLS All-Stars against Real Madrid fell through when Real Madrid failed to achieve automatic qualification for the Champions League, forcing MLS to return to traditional East-West play.

[edit] 2005

The 2005 MLS All-Star Game was played by selected MLS All-Stars against the English Premier League side Fulham (who have a long heritage of U.S. players) at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio as Fulham's American forward Brian McBride, the MVP of the 1998 MLS All-Star Game and a former Columbus Crew forward, made an anticipated return to the city (and also former Chicago Fire Carlos Bocanegra in the Fulham side). All-Star Clint Dempsey subsquently became a Fulham player, the successive all-star games would continue to compete against British teams.

[edit] 2006

The 2006 MLS All-Star Game was held at Toyota Park on August 5 versus English Premier League champions Chelsea, resulting in a 0-1 loss for Chelsea and a possible sign that the MLS is beginning to play major foreign clubs in an effort to boost interest and improve international and domestic perceptions about the quality of MLS players. Since the MLS All-Stars began to play international opposition, they have been remarkably successful, winning the first five out of six encounters. However, this may be because at the time of the All-Star game, the MLS players are in mid-season form, and the teams coming from abroad view the match as a preseason friendly.

[edit] 2007

The 2007 All-Star Game was held in Commerce City, Colorado, site of the new stadium of the Colorado Rapids and the all-star team beat the Scottish Premier League champions, Celtic 2-0.

[edit] 2008

The 2008 edition was held in Toronto, home to Toronto FC. On July 24th, the All-Stars played English Premier League side West Ham United, with the MLS winning 3–2.^[1]

[edit] 2009

The 2009 MLS All-Star game was played to a 1-1 draw against English Premier League team Everton at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, home to Real Salt Lake, which resulted in a loss on penalties (3-4). The first XI players were voted by the fans, in which former Premiership player Freddie Ljungberg received the most votes. The first XI consists of Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders FC), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Wilman Conde (Chicago Fire), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Ljungberg (Seattle Sounders FC), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), and Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy). The team is coached by Dominic Kinnear of the Houston Dynamo, who chooses the remaining players of the 18 man roster. The players Kinnear has selected are Pat Onstad, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Brad Davis, Davy Arnaud, Fredy Montero, and Brian Ching.

[edit] 2010

On September 8, 2009, the Houston Dynamo, Lone Star Sports & Entertainment, and Major League Soccer have announced that the 2010 MLS All-Star Game will be held at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The league announced on July 27 that Houston would host the annual event, and the venue will now be the 70,000-seat Reliant Stadium. The match, for which the date has yet to be announced, will pit the MLS All-Stars against an international club to be determined. ^[2]

[edit] Previous results

• ^†Tie
• ^sell-out crowd
• *Won on penalties

[edit] Game MVPs

• 1996 Carlos Valderrama
• 1997 Carlos Valderrama
• 1998 Brian McBride
• 1999 Preki
• 2000 Mamadou Diallo
• 2001 Landon Donovan
• 2002 Marco Etcheverry
• 2003 Carlos Ruiz
• 2004 Amado Guevara
• 2005 Taylor Twellman
• 2006 Dwayne De Rosario
• 2007 Juan Pablo Ángel
• 2008 Cuauhtémoc Blanco
• 2009 Tim Howard

[edit] Halftime shows

• 1996
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2001
• 2002 Paulina Rubio
• 2003 Third Eye Blind
• 2004
• 2005 Bowling for Soup
• 2006 Lupe Fiasco
• 2007 The Academy Is...
• 2008 Estelle
• 2009 Soulive

[edit] See also

• K-League All-Star Game
• J. League All-Star Soccer

[edit] Notes