Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com
By TRAVIS CLARK
It only took 23 seconds for Manchester United to open the scoring Wednesday night in Houston.
Italian starlet Federico Macheda took an errant backpass from Kevin Alston and beat Donovan Ricketts, a harbinger for the rest of the evening, as Manchester United beat the MLS All-Star team 5-2. Macheda then doubled United's lead off a corner kick just over 10 minutes later.
The All-Stars settled down, and Brian Ching pulled one back in front of a home crowd of 70,728. It would get no closer, as United hit again, scoring three more times, including a brilliant individual effort from Tom Cleverly, and a cheeky lob by Mexican forward Javier Hernandez, who scored on his Manchester United debut. Dwayne De Rosario added a second for MLS.
Here are a few other stories to get your morning going:
Vancouver wins priority coin toss
At halftime of last night's All-Star Game in Houston, a coin toss was won by the Vancouver Whitecaps, awarding the 2011 expansion side the choice of the first pick in either the MLS SuperDraft and MLS Expansion Draft. The Whitecaps will also get first priority over Portland when it comes to signing players from the second division, and the two will then get to choose alternately between things like Allocation spot, Designated Player ranking and other player mechanisms.
Marathon rolls, Joe Public snatches late draw
Marathon had no problem against Panamanian club Tauro, winning 3-0 on the road for a seemingly insurmountable advantage heading back home. A brace from Claudio Labarinas led the way as the Hondurans triumphed easily.
Trinidad & Tobago side Joe Public left it late, but left Costa Rica with a 2-2 draw heading into the second leg against Brujas. Trent Noel equalized in second half stoppage time as Joe Public aims to progress to the group stage. Brujas had opened the scoring just over a minute in, but couldn't hold on to a late 2-1 lead.
Internacional goes up in Libertadores
A matchup of two Brazilian clubs in the storied Copa Libertadores tournament ended with Internacional up after the first leg by a 1-0 margin over Sao Paulo. Giuliano's goal in the 67th minute was all the scoring this one would see, as Internacional dominated proceedings, outshooting their opponents 12-3, but only coming away with the single goal.
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What did you think of Wednesday night's All-Star game? Disappointed? Excited that Vancouver and Portland are so close to joining? Can Joe Public do it again? Is Internacional going to hold on to a one-goal lead?
Share your thoughts below.
“Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
“Except for the little shooting incident, it was great!”
The game was entertaining.
Talent wise, the gap was not massive. It was there, but it wasn’t HUGE.
Training and team “cohesiveness?” Uh….. yeah.
MLS looked like a bunch of guys who had never played together.
Because they were a bunch of guys that had never played together.
it actually is a big deal to the supporters. not all, but a lot of them. especially long-time fans of the club. i personally don’t see why you’re so offended by me being annoyed by it.
An MLS team played a match that mattered last night. Why is there not even a passing mention?
A few things re: last night’s game:
1. Pearce confirmed that he is useless and was rightfully left off the WC squad;
2. Cleverly is a star in the making;
3. Giggs is a legend;
4. Javier Morales and David Ferraro are legit;
5. Shalrie Joseph was the best player on the pitch for the MLS All-Stars;
6. Alston is fast but needs A LOT of fine tuning (see Wynne, Marvell)
7. O’Shea looked fat
As someone said above, who cares who won? I was entertained. Think about this. If these United players were playing for MLS clubs, don’t you think almost every one of them would be selected as All-Stars? Case in point, would you rather pick Jonny Evans or Chad Marshall as your starting center back or Oberton v. Pappa? Come on, we were beat by good players. Get over it.
Harkes picture is also next to a few other words that begin with “i,” including: infidelity and immaturity. Just as the former Mr. and Mrs. Eric Wynalda.
A. Lalas is the most bitter, uninformed soccer media figure we have available. Why the heck does he continually get a say in things?
B. That wasn’t United “B” team. European teams don’t have “B” teams, they understand how to rotate players. Almost all of those players will be rotated into the starting XI during the season. The likes of VDS, Rafael, Evans, O’Shea, Nani, Obertan, Fletcher, Hernandez, Macheda, Giggs, and Scholes.
MLS did well with what they had. Blame their piss poor scheduling capabilities for ruining it. They were without Buddle and Donovan at a 100% and Bruce is just a crap coach at times.
I’m a DC fan but you don’t put Moreno on with 30 left in a high speed game like that, as he disappears which is what happened.
+1
actually it was more like 2 or 3 days of training before the game. thats it. the lack of communication between players, especially the back line, was very evident.
Seattle did win and looked good in their game against Metapan but they probably didn’t score enough goals imo to advance. In fact I think all the MLS teams trying to qualify (TFC, LAG) for the group stages left goals on the field and they will probably pay for not finishing their chances. I think that is the weakest link in MLS, there are not enough quality goal scorers.
Lalas is an idiot, what do you expect?
ya If you forget the first 20 seconds (lol) of his game he was really good. First time I’ve watched him the whole season; maybe I’ll watch a revs game after all.
Only Joe Mama could top that.
Look up “ignorance” in the dictionary and you will find a picture of John Harkes.
…and the nickname “Dynamo” was made popular by the communist controlled East German police. But as time has gone by people associate it with the nickname of the German based soccer team. The meaning has changed over the years, just as “Man U” has. You can go anywhere in the world and people call the team Man U. It’s not a big deal anymore, to the club or the supporters. You’re just trying to make something out of nothing.
Hmm no morning wrap of how Seattle dominated Metapan in front of 17k in a midweek game.
and just to give you a little background, man u is the term used by opposing fans to make fun of the united players that died in munich.. so yeah maybe just a small deal to you, but not a small deal to the club.
it’s just a sign of ignorance. you would think someone that has been in the game that long and in england such as john harkes would know that.
Joe Public is still the best club name.
Italian starlet? That’s pretty funny.
man, u really burned me up with that comment
Alston made a crap pass…but to say that it set MLS “back a few years” is more than a little extreme. It was just an exhibition. No one will care about it next week.
the first error was horrific, but i think he played well afterwards
word to your last paragraph.
Is it really that frustrating to you? We’re not outside of Old Trafford…so who cares?
Why do some people always look for the smallest/silliest things to complain about?
kind of yoda-esque, your reply.
“The Whitecaps win means the club will now have the right to declare first priority on one of the player mechanisms on August 11. The Whitecaps and Timbers will then alternate choices through the priority list.”
From the linked article. Perhaps we should read the articles first, eh? 😉
i understand opposing fans calling utd “man u”, but its frustrating that the commentators and espn in general has started doing it. seriously, if you say “man u” outside old trafford, you are likely to get beaten up pretty badly.
I thought one of the more interesting moments was when Hopkins chimed in on a conversation he had with Shalrie Joseph where the Revolution midfielder reportedly took the senior management of New England Revolution for not doing enough to help the club.
Yeah, but that was such an ugly, glaring error that to look past it is difficult.
Yeah, the All-Stars didn’t come to play, and yeah, they’re not as good as Man U. This surprises people?
I’m not going to write off the league or panic about our talent pool because a team of decent but incohesive indidividual players lost big to Man U, even if it was a “B-C Team”. They’re Man U for eff’s sake, a team with ten times the economy of all MLS combined and a nearly unparalleled tradition of winning big. They lost the previous match to a 10 man KC side, and they sure as heck weren’t going to get beat by a clearly inferior team in front of so many of their fans. SAF was riding these players too; the EPL start is 2 weeks away, and you know they want silverware this season.
Overall, I was entertained, which is what All-Star Games are all about anyway. Great to see so many footie fans show up when in years past MLS struggled to put butts in smaller venues like Pizza Hut Park.
And like I said yesterday, I think the Galaxy’s poor result against PRI is more reason to be upset about the league. Go Quakes!
I think that is a little bit of an overreaction to one game. Did you think after the KC Wizards victory over Man U that MLS was one of the world’s best leagues?
Although I do love the fact that Alexi runs his yap in the pregame and Alston coughs up the ball for a goal in the first minute and then after the game Alexi pulls a 180 and starts being a litte bit more humble about the League and gives Man U their due. It’s just like what Landon said in Wahl’s book, Alexi is in over his head…classic!
…but Kansas City beat that same Man U team. I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on exhibition matches. That’s why they’re called exhibitions.
that was not MU’s B team…. though MU was missing several starters. The game was more a reflection of Ferguson – the ultimate manager – working his coaching magic with his team & his team responding as Ferguson’s team typically respond. It was not only a classy team beating the MLS, but arguably one of the best futbol managers doing what he does best – bring the best out of talented players.
Even though he botch the first pass and paid dearly for it, I didn’t think he play poorly overall.
Agreed. Especially because the Canadians should be back of the line anyhow
Alston is to blame for the loss. If he doesn’t give the gift pass in the first 22 seconds the game might have been different. To go down in the first 22 seconds to Man Utd definitely put all the players down a notch metally and physically. The game was basically over at that point. Alston shouldn’t have been invited in the first place and the proof was his play for the entire time he was on the field. I have 2 guys on my amateur team that are better than him and faster. That set the MLS back a few years…thanks Alston. Go play baseball!
Oh well back to the real games. If the MLS All Stars won the game, the haters would just say ManU is in its preseason. Not getting worked up over this one but it would have been a little better for the All Stars to play like this game meant something to them (as in play a little defense).
I was thinking it seemed a little unfair.
any real fan of the league dosent give a sh.it about the all-star game… They played together for what, 2 weeks before the game..if that.. and they had subs ever 2 minutes. it was a novelty for both teams. nothing to get worried about. Its not like i was throwing anything at the tv. but apparently you were
This is correct. The winner of the coin toss did not get 1st priority on everything, the only get to choose which individual category to pick from first and they’ll get the first choice in that particular category. Everything else will be alternated between who chooses 1st and 2nd.
It seemed like Marshall was the only guy who wanted to play for MLS.
Seriously. That would be wack.
M – I – C – K – E – Y M – O – U – S – E !!!!!
Everyone sing along.
That was Man U “B” Team at best and we couldn’t do anything and ofcourse the excuses will roll on in, the MLS guys were tired, Donovan only played 15 mins because he played the night before. These all-star teams only get to train together for like 2 days so they don’t know each that well, they don’t take it seriously, blah blah blah.
They got spanked and in turn MLS as a league got spanked. We need better american talent, Lalas pre-game talking up Alston for a future nat position and then 20 seconds in, he screws up.
I think Travis is wrong about that. I believe that by winning the toss, Vancouver gets to choose which of the 8 categories they would like a crack at first. Then Portland chooses and they alternate each category afterwards. The winner of the coin toss was not given first priority in everything.
It was an entertaining All-Star game. However, if you take away Kevin Alston’s crap pass, and if the linesman calls Javier Hernandez offsides, which he clearly was, then it’s a 3-2 game.
Alston: fail.
If what you say is true, it makes a lot more sense than completely giving Portland the shaft.
Seems a little unfair that Vancouver would get the first overall pick in the Super Draft and Expansion Draft as well as first crack at allocations, discover players, etc…why not allocate all that stuff evenly between the two clubs?
Well, for one night the Fort Worth Stockyards was no longer the biggest field of turds in Texas.
Your implications of the coin toss are incorrect. Because Vancouver won, they get to choose 1 of the 8 categories to choose first, then Portland gets to choose one of the remaining 7 to choose first, etc.