A year after the MLS All-Star Game featured Scottish champions Celtic comes word that the next opponent for the MLS All Stars will be the fourth straight opponent from the British Isles.
According to multiple sources, MLS is closing in on a deal to have West Ham United play in the 2008 MLS All-Star Game. The match is scheduled for Thursday, July 24 at BMO Field in Toronto.
If they are the opponent, the Hammers will follow in the footsteps of Fulham, Chelsea, Celtic and Chivas de Guadalajara as MLS All-Star game participants. The MLS All-Stars are 4-0 in matches against foreign competition.
What do you think of West Ham being the opponent? Disappointing? Pumped because you’re a Hammers fan (And I know there are a bunch of you in the SBI Mafia)? Ready to go rent Green Street Hooligans to get yourself ready? Share your thoughts below.
Why would anyone want the imatation Aston Villa?
If you want a Claret and Blue team invite the first and best.
AVFC
the funny thing about this post is the fact that Chelsea would be seen as a big coup. Chelsea have no history and no fans, but because a russian billionaire bought them and gave them some pocket money you’d all love to see them.
Well WHU have their own billionairre and we do have a history (including the backbone of the only English World Cup winning team), so although our current squad needs a bit of fine tuning we are and will always be a bigger club than Chelsea.
As for Villa….??????
Ok, so I’m delusional huh? I guess the Hammers wouldn’t want some American talent? Altidore or Adu wouldn’t look good up top for the Hammers? And I know Mr. Adu is not in the MLS anymore but he was.
Anyway, I won’t argue my point anymore as I’m truly excited now to watch this match, especially with all of the hostility between American & English football fans on this post. Any EPL team coming over to play is a great thing for the MLS and we should be thankful West Ham might be the team this year.
I still think our All-Stars will win this match its just unfortunate that the same excuse Chelsea used will be put into play “it’s just a pre-season warm-up”. We can only hope that the Hammers come over to kick some yankee/canuck arse because I know our MLS boys will be out to make a statement.
Cheers!
Is it true that American TV networks still preempt MLS games for NCAA Women’s Basketball?
Landon Donovan….
Your aving a bubble. Bloke couldnt hit a cows arse with a banjo.
Give me the Z Man and Deano anyday.
richest… 🙂 blame the vodka!
Why would you not want to play the team with one of the ricest histories in the game.
Did you know we are the only club team to win the world cup?
‘A real treat for you american soccer fans, you get to watch tottenham hotspurs feeder team.’
You’re right Phil. By the way, how many places are the spuds above us in the league?
Still want to borrow our ground while they work on the Sunday league ground you play at?
A real treat for you american soccer fans, you get to watch tottenham hotspurs feeder team.
Foreget Greent Steet Hooligans, thats for little girls.. Watch The Footsoldier, ICF
well done steve, well have to swap links bruv!! 😉 BTW the guy who owns this site, is a hammers fan, i wont hold him responsible for his fellow countrymen.
Gilly73
You list is absolutely delusinal. WOW.
You guys are such hapless louts. If the MLS had announced Liverpool’s participation at Christmas (when they couldnt win a game) you guys would be whinging non stop. West Ham are going through a bad patch, but football is a form game. Im a neutral fan here but Ill stand up for the Hammers. They dont play joga bonito but they arent long-ball merchants either. Should be an ok game, not the apocalypse.
[IMG]http://i31.tinypic.com/14253eb.jpg[/IMG]
thats ok rooster i have posted it on http://www.westham-mad.co.uk
Well, i am glad i decided to post this topic on http://cmonyuirons.com, i think you have just met some hardcore fans, who live and breath West Ham.
In 60 years time you might just begin to understand what it is like to be true supporters.
I can promise you there will be a few thousand Hammers fans at the match, which is the same amount of US fans that went to see your national squad in there last game, and in a 55,000 seater stadium.
Firstly, i am a westham fan in england and i have a few pointers and opinions on this game.
1) Liverpool man u chelsea would all take this game as a training pre season match and would not put the effort in, i watched the chelsea and the celtic games and they were yawwwwwwn, at least with a talentless middle of the road/struggling (clueless people) team we will give you a good game and until you meet the passion of a hammers fan don’t knock us!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2)If Juan “i couldn’t hit a barn door with a tractor” pablo angel can smash as many goals in, on that american football pitch in new york but couldn’t make it big in england then you would get a good game by playing plmouth argyll, as any west ham player would be playing for a top team in the MLS (sit down quashie i don’t mean you)!
3) Who gives a sh*t anyway it is just a game, just be grateful that our blessed players would walk on a pitch over there and play, if you don’t like it there is always hockey! Next you will be complaining that you can only get leicester to come over and play against USA at rugby!!
If a middle of the road ice hockey team/football team or baseball team came to the uk to play englands best we would just enjoy the game for what it is and hopefully learn something! But being americans you know, want and expect it all and you want it now.
COME ON YOU IRONS!!!!
PeteH
MLS All-Stars that could make West Ham’s 1st team are:
Jonathan Bornstein
Ricardo Clark
Shalrie Joseph
Dwayne De Rosario
Brian Ching
Landon Donovan
Michael Parkhurst
Juan Toja
And since I’m a Chicago Fire fan I’ll add Blanco & Conde to the mix.
I do understand your sentiment but some of MLS’s better teams could matchup with the lower tier of the EPL and certainly would compete with the lower divisions.
However I will stop being so delusional as the pace of the English league play blows away the MLS’s slow physical play.
Fellow Hammers fans (you are probably from abroad since you are being relistic and not petulant unrealisic fools)…I tried, this group is a lost cause. Thanks for posting to help try to balance out the comments…
Damn yanks you dont deserve us
The general comments on here about West Ham prove only how insular and delusional is the average American soccer fan.
It is true to say West Ham are not in the same class as Liverpool.
But they are one of the very best outside the EPL’s top four and have more history and tradition than even Chelsea.
To be frank, the MLS All-Star game doesn’t deserve better opposition than West Ham. It is a fledgling league that produces a very poor standard of football.
If you ever get over to England, get yourselves along to Upton Park for a West Ham game. Quite clearly, you will be in for a pleasant surprise…
Gilly73
I don’t think there are many of these so called Allstars that would get into the West Ham team….. apart from Beck’s….
Can you name any?
This is a great read. What I mean by that is I posted earlier in this thread that I wanted to see a league champion take on our MLS All-Stars but after reading the West Ham supporters comments I’m really looking forward to our boys serving some humble pie to our English friends.
Can you blame us American “knowledge-less football fans” for wanting a team that wins trophies every year to come play our “MLS best”? We do like to brag and as you say be “better then everyone” so what better way to do this then to beat the likes of Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barca, Real Madrid, Inter, Milan, etc…
Anyway, keep posting on this topic as it will set the match up to be quality theatre this summer. Hopefully this gives West Ham the incentive to try to kick our boys arses and we get an entertaining game.
Its very sad to read the insulting commets by americans about west ham, A club which produces quality home grown talent which chelsea and man utd (thats another story)have built their teams round a team which always plays football how it should be played.It dosnt matter win or loose for us as long as players put in good display of football as football fans you should be honnerd to be playing west ham and take a look at the next crop of young players comming through to the english game,
“Great…a mediocre Premiership team with little talent”.
A little message for our American inbred cousins, West Ham United has a history of producing some of the world best players and playing attractive expansive football. In this season where we have had up to 12/13 players unavailable at some points due to injury we are holding our own in the TOP half of the worlds best league. We have beated Manchester United and Liverpool this season too and even last season when we struggled we beat Arsenal and Manchester United twice. Every player in our squad would be a star in the MLS which shows how talented your little league is. Yes you managed to get Beckham, but you have little else.
What also you have to remember is this will be well into our Pre-Season, so you can expect to be playing against a fully fit West Ham squad, with no doubt a number of new signings (seeing as we also have a billionaire owner).
So please crawl back into your caravans and stop insulting a club with a great history and with very good players.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the fact that West Ham are investing a lot of money in American soccer. They are putting a team of their own into the division below the MLS and will be doing there part in trying to actually give your country some true stars. Perhaps you should show a little gratitude towards someone who actually wants to help and invest in your league instead of other teams that (lets face it) only come to America for the big fat cheque. (And with the state of the dollar that cheque is getting smaller every day) Maybe at the moment we aren’t Liverpool, (Although with the investment and new 60,000 seater stadium that the club is getting that may soon change) but we are certainly better than Chivas (Aren’t they a brandy distillery?) and the team second from bottom of the Premier League, Fulham. Learn a bit more about football and stop shooting your mouths off as quickly as you do your M16s.
What a bunch of American twats…! Disappointed? the only disappointing thing is that West Ham are considering turning up and playing this game in front of such a bunch of knowledge-less football fans. Reading the remarks above shows that you have no idea about Football and like typical Americans think they are better than everyone….. Your teams wouldn’t even survive in our Championship… fools
I take it that this “All Star Game” is where you little league picks its best players, trains hard and pits them against a proper league team (I cant believe I’m including the Scottish league in that statement) who are in pre-season training and include a load of second string players. Then when you win because you care and the proper team don’t want the injuries you think your sooo good.
West Ham are mid table this year with at half a dozen+ fist team players out all season. We beat you precious Liverpool as mentioned above and even last season when we had a complete melt down we still beat Manchester United TWICE and Arsenal TWICE.
West Ham is a team with 113 years of history. 1895 that is, the year your first professional American Football game was held, 25 years before your national sport had a league. I think you people should consider your “soccer” abilities more clearly, I very much doubt that any of your teams would survive a season in our second or third tier divisions. So have a little humility before you start disrespecting any of our Premier League teams.
And finally what is all this talk of “turf”, in the country that spawned the language you attempt to speak turf is grass. The other stuff is plastic and nothing more.
I cant wait until this EPL side show us up. And they will. West ham are a very good team, beating Manchester U twice last season, arsenal twice last season… but with injury problems this season they can only find themselves in a secure top half position in the Table.
Once they get a few of there injury prone players back then we will be doomed! i say 3-0 West Ham UTD.
All stars will be embarrassed
What a waste of time. MLS all stars!!! bet none of them could cut it in the premiership. Might as well go and play a championship side they would give us a decent match. football in the US is awful
West Ham United football club have more history and pedigree than the whole of the USA’s ‘soccer’ teams put together your MLS all stars will get beat.All players in MLS are average at best!
What is MLS, and why is West Ham wasting its time playing, whats it called? All Stars. lol, we might as stay in England and play some high school team.
Seriously, it annoys me that West Ham are going to Toronto, it will benefit nobody, the players need to play teams in Europe, not some tiny little team somewhere in canada. Lets hope West Ham turn down the offer.
And this is to Chris. West Ham Beat Liverppol once this season. if you like boring football, watch liverpool, but i dare say its the men you like really, not the football. 😉 naughty boy.
First of all, not many in the MLS could make the EPL….and West Ham, after suffering a whole list of coaching, management, injury problems…pulled the upset of the decade to stay in Premier and then spend most of their time in the TOP 10 of the Premier League……plus what terrible reporting….why not mention the local talent that plays there…Jonathan Spector, who at 17 was the youngest contract with Man United, but without a starting spot was traded to West Ham and helped them stay in the Premier League….how do you not mention the US guys on the team…and the rest of you don’t get it…..West Ham is the only Premier Top 10 we have had…they had to beat Man U. to stay in Premier….now how many of you want points go up against Man U with the MLS……I thought so.
Haha James…I’m trying. Are you the James Clark from KUMB?
Just so I don’t scare you I’m “damn yankee” there…
Come on lads, we are a famous side with a great history. It’s not like they got Wigan !!!
Aristotle,
Don’t bother. Kpugs is the king of hyperbole on this blog.
KPUGs: MLS will beat West Ham, a top half EPL team, 6-1? Are you taking any bets on this?
To Ives,
You need start asking some questions to Don Garber about this pick. We need to know why such a poor team was picked. This is bad, real bad. This wont be worth watching let alone going to the game.
Wow! Nearly all one sided comments here. If you guys are representative of typical MLS fans then we probably should do away with the All Star Game, period.
I don’t really get it. It seems like you guys are a little spoiled. It wasn’t that long ago that it was East vs West of MLS. Isn’t that how all of the other All Star games work?
Then MLS decides to change it for the fans who are getting bored with it, even though I don’t see the other sports doing this. At first it’s great to have an EPL team like Fulham come here. Everybody’s thinking this is great, an EPL team! Then we get lucky enough to have champions like Chelsea and Celtic come here and play. Now all of a sudden unless a champion team from a big league comes here the whole thing sucks, and let’s just get rid of it.
I guess you guys think MLS is pretty powerful in the world soccer scene. They can have anyone they want come here and play the MLS All Star Team. Champion teams around the world are just lining up to play the mighty MLS, but MLS now just wants to kick it down a notch because having champion teams come here and play just wasn’t working out.
What makes so many of you think that MLS can get all of these teams to come here and play MLS? Now some of you are saying we should be playing international teams like England or Brazil? I’m sure these teams are chomping at the bit to come over here and play us, but MLS just won’t let them. At this point I don’t think anything would satisfy the people here, but, maybe we should have the MLS All Stars play only World Club Champions or the last World Cup winners?
Seriously, I would be happy to see MLS play ANY EPL team. Who do we think we are now that we can say we don’t want to play a “crappy” EPL team? Crappy EPL team? So now the only teams in what is perceived to be the best league in the whole world that aren’t “crappy” are the top four or five? We are now suddenly elitists? This is really funny. Look back over all of these comments and think about what they say. Go ahead and bite my head off, but you know it’s true.
How about this for a all-star game: we take the best international players in MLS and put them against the best homegrown talent. should make for a heated match.
6-1 MLS, easily. They need to start wooing much better teams if they are going to keep playing this type of all star game.
I propose we get rid of the ALL STAR Game period. How about turning our team exhibitions into the joke that is the all star game. I think that if the the top three exhibition matches such as real madrid vs Redbulls or any other high profile teams are as marketed and advertised as the All Star game, they could be even more successful!!
What are your thoughts on this issue Ives? Do you think that the all star game should be changed?
I hope west ham aren’t thinking they are going to win easily ( which is proably why they agreed to do is)
4-0 mls
Damn, you guys are quick
Mike O… The city owns BMO field, NOT the team.
Part of the reason why the stadium was built was under the condition that it could be used by the community year-round
MikeO, FYI nobody has claimed BMO Field can’t have grass due to the climate. Many people enjoy Canadian “Grass”
Toronto ownership (MLSE) does not own the stadium, therefore they can’t put in grass. The financing of the stadium when it was built was to ensure that it would be a multi-purpose facility to be used year round. Without the Fieldturf this wouldn’t happen, and there wouldn’t be a TFC. I’ll take my team on fake grass over that option.
Get it right Mike O… TFC co-owns the stadium with the City of Toronto and it is located on city property (the American equivalent od state fair grounds i suppose) right in the heart of the downtown. In order to get the stadium built TFC had to agree to let the city rent it out to community groups. The team makes litle to no money on the renting. I agree we need grass, but get your facts straight, it was necessary in order to get the stadium built when and where it is. Hopefully it’ll change to real grass, but not any time soon.
Danny,
I am just having some fun with you. Of course West Ham has talent. I just expect MLS to get a higher profile opponent for the All-Star game.
Nick,
I just want to be clear that I think West Ham is a disappionting opponent when Liverpool was bandied about.
I just take issue with you saying they have no talent. Guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
My fault. I got him confused with the other Aussie Craig Moore. He is the brute in the center. Neill isn’t bad, but he is best known for taking down Fabio Grosso in the World Cup with a clumsy challenge.