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MLS All-Star Game Matchday

2008_004

Good evening folks. I’m coming to you from BMO Field and we’re less than two hours from kick-off of the 2008 MLS All-Star game between MLS and West Ham United.

The fans haven’t been let in yet but I can see them stacked outside the gates. A sell-out crowd is expected tonight and it will be interesting to see how Toronto fans embrace an MLS All-Star team that may have no Canadians in the starting lineup.

There is some All-Star news to report. FC Dallas midfielder Juan Toja’s long-rumored move to Steaua Bucharest is set to be completed, which will make tonight’s game his last in the league.

I will be doing a running commentary on the match so please check here throughout the night for updates on match. Also, if you will be watching the match please feel free to share your pre-game and in-game thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

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81st minute- Okay folks. I have some stories to write so I’m done for now. I’ll check back in after the final whistle. Feel free to pick up the slack in the commentary department.

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78th minute- I am now being told that Multiple teams are bidding for Kenny Cooper, which could make things very interesting in Dallas this summer.

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75th minute- Someone needs to tell the linesman on the left side of the field to stop calling the game so tight.

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73rd minute- DeRosario looks mighty fresh for someone who just played 90 minutes in D.C. last night.

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72nd minute- Joseph narrowly misses a header.

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71st minute- ANGEL has a goal called off for offside. What a finish and what a pass. Shame it didn’t count.

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70th minute- GOAL MLS. Dwayne DeRosario converts the PK, powering it off the underside of the crossbar. The hometown boy gets it done.

And Pat Onstad has come into the match. That’s three Canadians.

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69th minute- DeRosario is taken down in the box.

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67th minute- Goal WEST HAM. And we’re tied 2-2. Ashton’s shot was redirected by Conrad into the MLS net.

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63rd minute- I am also now hearing that reports of Kenny Cooper’s move to Rosenborg being complete are also premature.

Beckham comes VERY close on a free kick, but misses just wide.

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61st minute- The crowd is awake now. Should be a good final 29 minutes.

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60th minute- The crowd is going nuts with some very loud TFC chants.

And Beckham has a wide open shot but sends it high, leaving the crowd gasping. A goal there would have set things off here.

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59th minute- And here come the Canadians. Jim Brennan and Dwayne DeRosario are coming in for Christian Gomez and Juan Toja.

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58th minute- Did I mention how bad Frankie Hejduk has been tonight?

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57th minute- Jonathan Bornstein has had a good day today. I ripped his selection to the team but I think he’s played well. Gonzalo Segares still deserved it more.

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56th minute- Bornstein with a great ball in but nobody gets to the cross.

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55th minute- Frankie Hejduk has been pretty awful tonight.

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52nd minute- Bornstein with a foul near the edge of the area. Dangerous free kick chance for West Ham.

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51st minute- Brennan and the rest of the MLS reserves have begun to warm up, setting off some applause.

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50th minute- And the "We Want Brennan" chants are back, and even louder.

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48th minute- MLS corner and Beckham goes to the best corner in BMO Field for streamers. Not that many streamers though.

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HALFTIME- In other news, the Juan Toja stories that circulated today about him being sold already are apparently false. An FC Dallas source just told me that quotes attributed to Toja regarding a move to Steaua Bucharest were fabricated. The team is in negotiations, but no deal is imminent.

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HALFTIME- Landon Donovan and Juan Pablo Angel have come into the match, replacing Blanco and Cooper.

Luis Boa Morte has also come into the match.

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HALFTIME- MLS 2, West Ham 1. A very good show overall after a rather flat first 20 minutes.

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44th minute- GOAL MLS. And it’s Blanco with a SICK curler into the far corner. He cuts from his left to his right, then places a perfect shot past Green. MLS 2, West Ham 1

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41st minute- It needs to be said. It’s a shame that Shalrie Joseph isn’t playing in a top European league. He’s absolute quality in the middle of the field.

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40th minute- Beckham takes it and it hits a West Ham defender.

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39th minute- Blanco gets taken down and now we’ll see who gets to take the free kick. I say Blanco.

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38th minute- Some good passing from MLS. Would have been fun to see a rested Dwayne DeRosario on the left side instead of Juan "I can’t get hurt before I leave for Romania" Toja.

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34th minute- Blanco with a beautiful cross into the area but Cooper can’t get himself positioned for a good header.

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31st minute- Beckham with the rare left-footed shot to earn a corner. And here come more streamers. Okay, not that many streamers.  Beckham picks out Gomez at the top of the box for an open shot but Gomez shanks it.

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30th minute- The crowd is a little more into the match now. Not sure if they’re ready to root for MLS though.

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28th minute- Blanco gets the pass from Beckham and delivers a perfect back-heel to Gomez on the run. Great sequence.

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27th minute- GOAL MLS. And it’s Christian Gomez with the instance response to equalize. Great finish.

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26th minute- GOAL WEST HAM. And it’s Dean Asthon with a great finish off a great pass from Faubert.


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24th minute- West Ham with some better stuff offensively, but still can’t test Matt Reis.

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20th minute- The first MLS corner doesn’t amount to much but Beckham got the streamers treatment from the fans. Telling you, this is one weird All-Star Game.

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19th minute- Cooper with a great run and give and go with Gomez, but he can’t get his shot on goal. Still some nice work by Cooper.

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17th minute- The "We Want Brennan" chants are back and they are LOUD.

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14th minute- The MLS lineup is very awkward. Christian Gomez looks a bit lost because Blanco is in his position so he’s dropped back and isn’t in position to do what he does well.

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13th minute- Landon Donovan was shown on the big screen and still got loud boos.

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10th minute- Carlton Cole with a nice turn and shot to force a corner. Only a few streamers for that one. They haven’t replenished the stock apparently.

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7th minute- The whole Kenny Cooper as lone forward thing doesn’t look likely to work today.

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6th minute- Not much to report so far. MLS with a bit more possession early on, but the game has no rhythm yet.

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2nd minute- We’re under way here and the fans have already begun their "We Want Brennan" chant.

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PRE-GAME- This is really a Bizarro World All-Star Game. Every MLS player is getting loud boos when their name is announced. Well, except for Beckham, which drew a good mix of boos and cheers (and a bunch of ‘Who Are Ya" chants.

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PRE-GAME- Canadian anthem just finished and, as you might expect, the crowd went wild.

The stadium is filling up pretty well as we get close to kickoff.

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PRE-GAME- We just got through the anthems and, yes, the American anthem got booed. Landon Donovan also drew some loud boos.

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PRE-GAME- The players just left the field  after warm-ups. Not sure how this game is kicking off any time soon. So much for a 7pm start.

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PRE-GAME- No West Ham fan violence to report. Apparently there are no tea and krumpets here at BMO Field.

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PRE-GAME- So there are no Canadians in the lineup today. So much for hoping to get some crowd support behind the MLS team.

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PRE-GAME- A correction on the West Ham lineup. Wonderkid Freddie Sears is NOT here. Joe Widdowson is the player in the lineup. Here is his lineup:

————–Dean-Ashton———-Carlton Cole———

————————Julian Faubert———————-

Etherington—————————————–Mullins

—————————–Parker————————

Widdowson—-Davenport——Ferdinand———-Neill

—————————Robert Green——————-

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PRE-GAME Landon Donovan not starting is VERY interesting. He did have some ice on his knee after training yesterday so maybe he’s hurt. If this was a straight coach’s decision I would really have to question starting Christian Gomez ahead of Donovan.

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PRE-GAME- Estelle is still singing. Maybe someone should tell her to stop so the fans can get to their seats. We’re a half hour from kickoff and BMO Field is about 10 percent full.

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PRE-GAME- Here is the West Ham Lineup:

——–Dean-Ashton———-Carlton Cole——–

——————–Julian Faubert——————-

Etherington————————————Sears

—————–Parker—–Mullins—————–

Davenport———-Ferdinand—————–Neill

———————Robert Green——————-

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PRE-GAME- Here is the MLS lineup:

————————-Cooper————————

————————-Blanco————————-

Toja——————-Gomez—————-Beckham

————————Joseph—————————

Bornstein——Conrad—Mastroeni———–Hejduk

————————-Reis—————————–

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PRE-GAME– Estelle, who is doing the half-time show, is performing outside. I’m not really feeling the song.

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PRE-GAME– The fans are making their way in and weather is clearing up. There’s still hope that this game won’t be a sloppy mess.

Comments

  1. the anthem thing was a debacle.

    the problem was the way it was organized. it was piss poor. they only trotted out with the England and USA flags. that pissed off everyone cause there was no Canadian flag at all. that’s why the boos. it wasn’t directed towards the US or English… it was because there was no Canadian flag and it seemed no canadian anthem. the fans sung the canadian anthem over the american one (which is stupid, i admit). then sang it again right after that, during the player introductions. THEN after all that … they trot out the Canadian flag to sing the anthem. WTF! how stupid. but it seems everyone was fired up for nothing. but it definitely seemed like no CDN flag was coming out. that was the problem and pissed everyone off. hey, what can i say we’re an insecure bunch. i guarantee you the american anthem would not have been booed otherwise. on the contrary i’d bet any money it would have been sung by the crowd (as it was in Chicago by toronto fans).

    Reply
  2. “Booing the Anthem….as someelse said, You stay classy Canada!!”

    The only reason the anthem was booed is because it was made to seem like only the England and US anthems would be played. Someone made a gigantic mistake that could have easily been solved by the announcer just saying “we will be singing the england and us anthems, and then the canadian anthem”. You can’t blame people for their reactions because I really wouldn’t put it past MLS to not sing the Canadian anthem at all. There was definitely some booing, but most of us just sung Oh Canada over the other anthems.

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  3. Excuses, Canada, will get you no where in life. The Anthems are always played, no matter the sporting event, with the home country’s last. Are you people that new? This “we were getting snubbed” stuff has got to stop. I guess I should boo if I go to a WHL, OHL, or QMJHL game then shouldn’t I cause they don’t play anything but “O Canada” before those games.

    As for the DeRo pk being ESPN’s goal of the game…puh-lease, pathetic. As for DeRo being snubbed for MVP, really, really, come on did you watch the game he was good but Blanco was fantastic.

    As for the comment about him doing his interview in Spanish in Canada, he does all of his interviews in Spanish. Are your Canadians insecure or what, everybody is out to get you, everybody snubs you. Just chill with an Iced Cap from Tim Horton’s.

    Reply
  4. Ives is not actually explaining what happened with the anthems. And if he was going to make that statement he should have at least qualified it with what happened to precipitate it.

    Prior to tonight i have never seen the SSB ever booed in Toronto, and is often sung by the crowd at BMO.

    They brought out the English and American flags and said please stand for the english and american national anthems. There was no mention of the canadian anthem and no canadian flag.

    It sent the crowd into a frenzy, booing was digust as it truly appeared that the canadian anthem would be snubbed and the crowd began to sing the canadian national anthem.

    After a couple of minutes they brought out the canadian flag and sang the anthem.

    Huge mistake by the people in charge. All they had to say was please stand for the singing of the three anthems. Every single person in the crowd was looking at each other, saying “No canada Flag, No canadian anthem”

    I’m not saying it was right for a second, and want apoligize to our american friends, but just want to explain the booing and singing of oh canada was in disgust that our anthem was being snubbed, rather than any anti-american sentiment.

    Reply
  5. To clear things up on the booing.

    Imagine if the All-Star game was in New York City and the staff and players came out with the Canadian Flag and the English flag…no stars and stripes…then the announcer said “please stand for the Canadian and English anthems” – what would you have done?

    Well, that’s what happened last night – they carted out the American and English flags and said please stand for the American and English anthem – so quite understandable, the place went bonkers.

    It was really a blunder by the league and TFC who intended on bringing out the Canadian flag on its own after both anthems…but they forgot to tell everyone so people just assumed that they were skipping the CDN anthem.

    I still don’t condone booing the SSB, but it was more a reaction of “where the hell is OUR anthem” rather than “screw you America, love America jr.”

    Reply
  6. Any chance some of the Americans on Toronto will call out their fans for booing the anthem? Jackass move from our little brother.

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  7. Let’s be clear about something. We didn’t boo the American anthem. We were booing what at first seemed like a slight against Canada. The English and American flags were brought out on to the pitch and we were told to rise and remove our hats for the singing of “God Save the Quuen” and “The Star Spangled Banner” – There was NO Canadian flag on the pitch and NO mention of the Canadian national anthem. Our booing was a reaction to that. Please report the truth…we booed what seemed like a slight against us and we have NOTHING against our American brothers.

    Reply
  8. I was in the south end tonight and I can tell you that our end was not booing for the most part, but instead lustily singing O Canada because we thought we were being snubbed.

    A Nice touch to get a Canadian Soldier just back from Kandahar Afghanistan to sing O Canada. Made me very proud to be Canadian.

    Agreed on Blanco, the little troll made a beautiful play on the goal and was .Becks was solid and to his credit played the whole match and played well. Dean Ashton is a poacher and I hope Capello was watching over in Blighty. He should definitely play for England.

    Best of all a local boy scored the winner. All in all a great night and I think a good advert for MLS and for Toronto.

    Reply
  9. Bellamy was here as I met him yesterday.They booed the anthem b/c they made a blunder and said that only the US and England anthems were going to be played. Is was not against the US anthem but the way they set it up.

    Reply
  10. and part of it was the crowd singing Oh Canada OVER the American anthem, as people spontaneously tried to get the song going.

    Then that skinny soldier dude came walking out and sang Oh Canada, but that was only after they brought the Canadian flag out.

    Reply
  11. PRE-GAME- We just got through the anthems and, yes, the American anthem got booed. Landon Donovan also drew some loud boos.

    EXPLANATION – Please people, you tell me that if you go to an NHL or MLB All Star game in New York and you say “Please rise for the singing of the Canadian and Russian National Anthem” with no Stars and strips in sight, that those Ny’ers wouldn’t go off like we did??

    I couldn’t believe how they didn’t bring out our flag until AFTER the English and US national anthems. Made us absolutely livid and we even ended up booing and signing during both the other anthems because we honestly thought MLS skipped it. TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TIMING on the ORGANIZERS part.

    I sort of feel bad now after the fact … But Seriously… What were we suppose to think?

    Reply
  12. I just want to second what Maple Leaf Red said. I too came from the game and can confirm that the booing was NOT because of the playing of the US National Anthem, it was simply because we were asked to stand for the English and American anthems and then only those two flags were brought out on the field. Once people saw only the two flags they immediately began to think that Canada was being snubbed for some reason. Also, while some wanted to protest and boo everybody touching the ball, the vast majority was cheering for the MLS, although with a little less enthusiasm than a regular TFC game.

    On a side note, while I normally can’t stand the guy, I agree completely with Blanco being the MVP. Beautiful goal especially and it was nice to cheer for guys we normally boo! Well done MLS all-stars. MLS (front office) announce the that 3 anthems will be sung before the game and no booing would’ve ensued guaranteed!

    Reply
  13. That makes sense Maple Lead Red, it’s just hard on TV to discern what the crowd is actually doing. I want the streamers to stay, but the commish did not look very pleased when he was hit. I laughed at the “I think someone’s going to get kicked out of the stadium..” comment though.

    It seems more like an error made by the MLS in terms of organization of the event and unfortunately Canada was on the short end of that one. It was great to see such a vocal crowd and supporting the home side with the Brennan chants.

    Reply
  14. Maple Leaf Red: Okay, thanks for the explanation. I’m glad it wasn’t anything shocking, because up to that point I had been talking with my girlfriend and pointing out parts of Toronto I visited on my last vacation (like the CN Tower and the Air Canada Centre.) The residents of Toronto have always been very welcoming whenever I’ve visited.

    Reply
  15. No problem Lilywhites. I knew it would be a big talking point but I know that, while it does happen frequently in other sports (on both sides of the border), in this case it was no disrespect to the American anthem but voicing displeasure at an apparent snub from the league.

    As for the streamers, some of the ones that got thrown at ESPN cameras were because they had a camera panning over the south end that was blocking the field.

    It’s a shame that they didn’t have the game on a Saturday because I saw more out of towners than I expected and it would have been great to have more events over the weekend to interact with them.

    All in all, it was a great game, great atmosphere (it went from booing everyone to cheering for the MLS really quickly), and hopefully a great advertisement for what the entire MLS can be one day.

    Reply
  16. Thanks for the explanation Maple Leaf Red. Even if they were booing the anthem I don’t think it’s a big deal, but those people sitting near the ESPN booth throwing streames got old quick. Also someone threw streamers towards the en dof the match that hit a camera at the opposite corner at the camera on the crane thing, you could hear a big thug.

    Streamers are definitely a nice touch but TFC fans it won’t last long if you keep doing things like that.

    Oh and for those who think Americans don’t have class, you ought to check this Canadiens-Bruins YouTube video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TxpxFqAV4I

    Reply
  17. anyone who says Blanco didnt deserve the MVP is just plain stupid …………..Joseph did have a good game; but Blanco did just as much work in only 45 minutes

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  18. Re: Booing of the Anthem

    Just got back from the game and knew that this would be a talking point. First off, the fans were not booing the American anthem. They announced that they would be singing the anthems and asked that we please remove our hats and stand to sing the anthems for England and the United States. Fans were booing at the apparent cutting out from the pre-game ceremonies of the Canadian anthem not booing the American anthem.

    In fact, at the first TFC home game ever last year the anthem singer forgot the words and the entire crowd jumped in to help finish the last half of the anthem. At every game the American anthem is sung by some in the crowd and always well received with applause at its conclusion.

    Just wanted to clarify that, having been at the game, that the booing was not directed at the anthem but arose because of a misunderstanding caused by a stupid series of events (bringing in the players, announcing only the English and American anthems, then after a delay bringing in the Canadian flag).

    Reply
  19. I find myself wanting to learn more about Bitchy the hawk!

    BTW, can somebody tell LD that Guiseppi Franco’s Procede is not supposed to be used on the chest.

    Reply
  20. Pretty fun game to be at.

    A little confusing as to who to cheer for (I support TFC only) but in the end found myself (and my section) cheering for MLS.

    Reply

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