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MLS announces 2014 All-Stars to play Bayern Munich

GotzeBayern (Getty Images Europe)

By FRANCO PANIZO

The reigning UEFA Champions League winners will soon be coming stateside to take on MLS’s very best.

MLS announced on Thursday that Bayern Munich will be the opponent for the MLS All-Stars in the 2014 MLS All-Star Game. The annual match will be played on Aug. 6 at Jeld-Wen Field in Portland, Ore., and will mark Bayern’s first trip to the United States since a preseason camp in 2004.

“The AT&T MLS All-Star Game is one of the premier soccer events on the North American sports calendar,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a statement released by the league.  “We are pleased that Bayern Munich, one of the most prominent and successful clubs in the world, will be part of our All-Star celebration. This will be the first MLS special event in Portland since the Timbers joined the league in 2011.

“One of the great stories in Major League Soccer over the last number of years has been the enormous fan passion, civic support and stadium atmosphere in Portland.  We look forward to showcasing this phenomenon to the rest of the world.”

The MLS All-Star game is usually played during the final week of July, but is being pushed back a week in 2014 to accommodate the U.S. Men’s National Team and Bayern Munich players returning from the World Cup.

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What do you think of Bayern Munich being chosen as the 2014 MLS All-Star game opponent? Preferred it to have been someone else? Planning on attending?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • Yeah, Bayern recently announced plans to ramp up their presence in the US. They’ll have a summer tour (which I assume the MLS All Star game will be part of) and will soon open offices in NYC. There’s a couple good articles about their global plans in The Guardian from maybe 3-4 days ago.

      Reply
    • During the announcement today they said they were doing a summer US tour. Like most other teams from Europe that have come over for an All Star appearance, they will likely play 2-3 other friendlies then this game. Though with the WC next summer, this may be more in the middle of the rotation or perhaps result in just 1-2 other games.

      The AllStar game date was moved back a week to allow WC players to recoup and then rejoin their clubs (the WC final is 7/13) which gives players coming home from the WC a little extra time (especially if they go deep) so a couple weeks for training and friendlies before the ASG.

      Reply
  1. I just don’t get this.

    Is it a gamble, MLS ends up beating them and then cred will flow in ? I really doubt it, guys that are “soccer geniuses” will not give MLS any credit…their lack of seeing things objectively is what makes the “soccer geniuses” in the first place.

    Is it that profitable ? I can’t imagine, as they must charge a pretty penny compared to East versus West, which is all but free.

    Why ? MLS, why ?

    Reply
    • Entertainment. Period.

      Unfortunately some of these games have not been entertaining because the MLS side simply is a collection of players with a couple of training sessions together. Strangely enough though the ragtag MLS sides have also knocked off some decent teams.

      In the end, all-star games are just exhibitions. People try to read way too much into them. Whether they are E vs W, N. America vs World, MLS vs Guest name squad …. it really doesn’t matter.

      Personally I wouldn’t miss it if it went away all together (I think it is unnecessary) but US sports all have these as sort of a “celebration of the game” type event and I would bet that MLS still thinks it is worth it for the exposure even if the game itself is a financial loss.

      Reply
  2. This has the potential to get truly out of hand.
    Bayern can score 4-7 goals on mid-table Bundesliga sides.
    They don’t make mistakes and they punish every mistake their opponents make.

    Just a straight up killing machine

    Reply

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