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MLS All-Star Game: A look back

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The 2008 MLS All-Star Game will be remembered not for the victory against West Ham, but for a collection of talent better than any we’ve seen in an all-star game before it.

When Landon Donovan and Juan Pablo Angel are coming off the bench in a game, you know there is some serious firepower on the roster. when Dwayne DeRosario can enter the game late and still work his magic despite being less than 24 hours from having played 90 minutes in Washington D.C., you know the game is special.

I don’t put too much stock into the whole "Beating West Ham legitimizes MLS" thinking. A result in a friendly doesn’t do that. Strong teams, good games, more star players and full stadiums do that. What last night’s game did was give the league a chance to show off a bit, and the game certainly accomplished that.

Here are some other observations from MLS All-Star week:

Cuauhtemoc Blanco stole the show. Yes, he’s easy to hate when he’s punching opponents, flopping and berating referees and opponents, but when Blanco does what he does best he truly is a special player. I get the sense that he was out to prove something on Thursday. Let’s face it, David Beckham gets most of the attention from non-Latino media and I’m sure Blanco can’t help but think to himself, "Hey, I’m a pretty good player too." He showed that and showed why he has been a great acquisition for MLS.

Dwayne DeRosario sent the crowd home happy. Not just because he scored the game-winner but because his 31 minutes of action were chock full of exciting plays. He gave everything he had to put on a show in front of his hometown fans and they showed him love for it. I know Toronto FC has Amado Guevara right now but I’m willing to bet good money that DeRosario is playing for Toronto FC next year.

DeRosario is 30 years old and you get the sense that he would love nothing more than to come back home. It also probably doesn’t hurt that MLS all but urged Toronto FC to deal the Brian McBride allocation to Chicago so McBride could come home. MLS will look pretty hypocritical if it doesn’t show the same enthusiasm for a DeRosario move back home to Toronto. Especially considering DeRosario has done far more for in MLS than McBride ever has. (One word can make all the difference. I meant no slight to McBride in the initial paragraph, should have written ‘in’ and not ‘for’. McBride is an MLS pioneer without question, but just as some feel he deserved special consideration with regards to his request to come home and play, I believe DeRosario has done enough in his career in MLS to merit the same treatment.)

Shalrie Joseph is too good for MLS. There, I said it. He didn’t do anything flashy like drop back-heels or blast a goal from distance, but he just gets the job done in central midfield. You almost got the sense early on that West Ham’s midfielders had given up trying to fight him for the ball because he’s just so tough to take off of it. He is on a new deal with MLS but told me he still holds on to dreams of playing in Europe. Thursday night showed us once again that Joseph could step into any league in the world and hold his own.

Jonathan Bornstein looked very sharp. He had a solid game and while I still don’t think he deserved the call-up he looked very dangerous getting forward and looks primed to get right back into the fight for the starting left back spot on the U.S. national team. it won’t be an easy fight. Heath Pearce enjoyed a strong run in the U.S. team’s most recent friendlies.

Juan Toja was adamant that no deal was done with Steaua Bucharest yet. He was pretty irate at having quotes attributed to him that he insisted were completely made up. He definitely wants to leave, and is desperate for the deal to be done, but he is rightfully concerned that premature talk about the deal could jeopardize it.

What were your favorite moments of the MLS All-Star game, eh? What stood out for you? Share your thoughts on the 2008 MLS All-Star Game Below.

Comments

  1. I am a West Ham supporter nad i have to admit the all-stars did play pretty well, all though it was a tired West Ham team and only a few of our best players were there.

    Maybe next season the All-Stars could come to England for a rematch against the English teams they have beaten so far, Chelsea, Fulham, and the Mighty Hammers! Should make for a great profile if yu beat these teams mid-season.

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  2. Jacob S. – you are totally right. I don’t know who decided that shirt/shorts combo was a good idea. It looked like it was chosen by someone who was color blind.

    In general I do think Joseph is too good for MLS, but he got away with some very rough play/badly mistimed tackles against West Ham.

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  3. It was a single game against an EPL side and all of the sudden Joseph should be crowned king and shipped to Europe? I don’t think so! He didn’t play as great as some folks think I also think there is more to the league than Blanco and Beckham… ESPN’s coverage still has a ways to go… Donovan definitely had an off game… Did I miss anything?

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  4. I don’t see DeRo playing for TFC until they get a grass pitch. He’s specifically mentioned the playing surface at BMO as being problematic both last year and again this year in regards to MLS and also Canadian Nats matches.

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  5. I enjoyed the game, and a lot of you have made some astute comments. The thing that bothered me about it is that the MLS sounds like an export league. Maybe it always has been, but Toja wants out, LD is talking about leaving, Angel was reminiscing about River . . . and then they talk about expansion. MLS should do a bit of research on what happens when leagues expand quickly: talent dilution. You can’t expand while selling some of your best players — you need to bring people in.

    I know they will likely raise the salary cap, but it’s not going to be to the degree that they can attract recognized stars who are in their 20s.

    Tread lightly, MLS . . .

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  6. “Then in is quotes after the match he barely mentioned other guys. Just “I did it for Mexico”.”

    He was asked specifically what the victory meant in Mexico, Europe and around the world. Through an interpreter and He answered “I’m very happy, thanks for the support. I do everything for country,Mexico and all my fans”.

    How is that insulting? Should he be singing God Bless America all of a sudden? I mean…he’s just working here for two years and he wasn’t even in US soil. I guess it’s only ok for Americans to be patriotic, Otherwise it’s uncouth.*rolleyes*

    What if it was Dero and had said the exact same words. Would he get the same scrutiny.

    Face it, you’ve already made up your mind on Blanco and are just looking for any reason to critique him.

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  7. Eric K –

    Well, when we’ve had American organizations sing our anthem to “Oh Christmas Tree” (the Las Vegas team in the CFL) or had the Marines present our flag upside down (1992 World Series) then it’s not so hard to assume that your country is about to be snubbed when there is no flag present on the field and no indication that the anthem will be sung. And, as I explained in last night’s post, it was directed at the anthem but at the organizers.

    As for your examples, it happens on both sides of the border. It definitely sucks but I wouldn’t consider this case on par with those.

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  8. @ Eric K

    The problem was that the announcer didn’t say the two anthems would be followed by the Canadian one. If he had, there would have been no problem.

    Also, funny you should bring up MTL in the playoff this year, because Flyers fans booed the Canadian anthem multiple times during their series.

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  9. Duthie – there were people who said otherwise…. im not spreading false rumors, otherwise i would have made it a statement rather then a question…

    ie) “and they were singing OH CANADA during the national anthem at Toyota Park”

    that is starting a false rumor… i was merely asking a question… thanks for playing

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  10. The explanation for the Toronto crowd booing the US national anthem and singing over ours was that they didn’t see the Canadian flag out there and assumed they were getting snubbed. They didn’t realize that it would be presented afterwards, a situation arranged for dramatic TV effect. I just wonder why the insecure jump to a conclusion that there would be no Canadian flag or anthem – seriously? in Canada, at a major event, come on. What bothers me is that this is not the first time. Montreal fans booed our national anthem in the NHL playoffs against Montreal this year. I think it was Edmonton that did so a few years ago. Vancouver fans booed during the world junior hockey tourny a few years ago. I’m willing to let the TFC fans call a mulligan on this one but I just wish being disrespectful back wasn’t the automatic response.

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  11. Brett,

    they were sing the SSB in Chicago. please don’t spread false rumors. The Fire fan who writes articles here cleared this up already

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  12. Didn’t hear anything about that. I’d think taht was strange too. If they keep doing that at US venues we ARE definitely going to have some hooliganism starting. That doesn’t happen in the NHL or NBA. They’ve had ASG’s in those sports. What gives in soccer?

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  13. I thought the same thing about Joseph and wondered why he signed an extended deal with MLS. Security is one reason, I suppose.

    But the kid can flat out play the game.

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  14. Jsut read Andrea’s blog. Thanks Will. That’s great. i was thinking similarly but didn’t take it to heart as much. During the game I did wonder if they would ever get a game like this again. The camera kep panning the stand and the announcer were creaming over the crowd but they were jsut sitting on thier hands. The national anthem thing and the streamers at MLS team was a little strange too. Maybe they do need their own league?

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  15. i love how all the news articles about the game make DeRo this MLS ALLSTAR superhero b/c he nailed the winning goal… quite frankly he nearly missed the PK… ripped the crossbar and after the bounce went in b/c of the spin (bounce back into the upper part of the net)…. it was incredibly lucky to not have nailed the bar and seen the game as a tie

    altho im glad for DeRo… he’s been one of my favs in the league for some time

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  16. RE: Ives hating Chicago

    During that whole Conde wanting to go to NY to follow Osorio but Chicago not letting him, you seemed to be blasting the Fire for wanting him to honor a contract. You probably think Man U should give up Ronaldo too. You play favorites all the time with NY and Toronto and anyone who gets in those teams way get snarky comments from you. And if anyone dare question you, your “mafia”/cult try to stifle them. Overall you do a good job but I think you favor NY and Toronto a lot of the times in your stories

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  17. Donovan didn’t have a good game but his numbers speak for themselves in this league.

    Blanco outplayed Beckam, get over it!

    So what if he dedicated his game to the Mexican people; People didn’t complain when Pujols/Big Papi dedicated their World Series MVP to their Dominican people.

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  18. Ives, I agree with you. When DeRo is 36 and wants to go play in Toronto, by all means let’s find a way to get him there.

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  19. “Dwayne DeRosario can enter the game late and still work his magic despite being less than 24 hours from having played 90 minutes in Washington D.C., you know the game is special.” -Ives

    Or maybe it means that the all-star game is a meaningless exhibition game where the players are mailing it in.

    Sorta like when Whitey Ford would strike out a doddering Frank Crossetti in the the Old-timers game. Entertaining but not classic.

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  20. It was ironic how the commissioner clearly tried unsuccessfully to hide his irritation at getting streamers thrown at him during his halftime interview “they should get thrown out of the stadium”. Now he knows what it’s like for a player.

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  21. If Juan Toja is indeed close to joining Steaua Bucharest he may want to give some thought to the minor matter of Gigi Becali, the club’s illustrious neo-fascist owner. He freely admits to providing cash-in-suitcase “bonuses”. Or bribes. Whatever.

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  22. And Jordan, how old are you? 12? Your whole “Ives hates Chicago” rant was funny and absurd. I have absolutely nothing against Chicago, and have written plenty of positive things about the Fire. And I also never once suggested that McBride going to Chicago was a bad thing. Toronto and Chicago made a fair deal and now McBride is heading to Chicago, where he should be great.

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  23. Why the rant, Pete? Ives made it very clear the game did not “legitimize” MLS. In other news, Shalrie Joseph could play in the EPL tomorrow.

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  24. Apologies for writing what came off as a slap at McBride. I meant no slight to McBride in the initial paragraph, should have written ‘in’ and not ‘for’. McBride is an MLS pioneer without question, but just as some feel he deserved special consideration with regards to his request to come home and play, I believe DeRosario has done enough in his career in MLS to merit the same treatment.

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