By AVI CREDITOR
HARRISON, N.J. — Major League Soccer's commitment to righting the wrong that was last year's All-Star Game result against Manchester United went unfulfilled.
Anderson and game MVP Ji-Sung Park scored in the first half, and Dimitar Berbatov added one early in the second half to essentially seal the deal, as Manchester United topped the MLS All-Stars for the second straight year, winning, 4-0, Wednesday night in front of a capacity crowd of 26,760 at Red Bull Arena.
Substitute Danny Welbeck added a fourth for United in the 68th minute to cap the rout, as his shot from just outside the area deflected off Houston Dynamo centerback Geoff Cameron and wrong-footed goalkeeper Tally Hall.
The MLS All-Stars, which fell to United last year in Houston by a 5-2 scoreline, generated a handful of chances, especially in the opening half hour, when the balance of play was more even.
Houston's Brad Davis had a chance in the 19th minute after being played into the area by Colorado Rapids striker Omar Cummings, but he slipped and hit his left-footed shot right to Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.
On the ensuing trip down the other side of the field, Manchester United struck to open the scoring. Berbatov and Wayne Rooney combined to find Anderson with a one-touch passing sequence at the top of the box. The Brazilian found his way into the area and slipped a low shot by Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon in the 20th minute.
"We had some chances to score maybe one or two, and that makes a difference when you play a team like Manchester United," New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry said. "Whenever they have one chance, they score."
David Beckham's blast from outside the area in the 23rd minute almost leveled the score, but Linegaard came up with a stellar diving save to prevent the goal.
When it looked like the MLS All-Stars would head into halftime with a managable one-goal deficit, Park came through with perhaps the defining moment of the game.
The South Korean midfielder ran at Sean Franklin in the box, turning the Los Angeles Galaxy right back around completely. With the space he created, Park laced a shot inside the far post in the 45th minute to double United's lead.
"They took their chances," MLS All-Stars manager Hans Backe said. "They are a little bit sharper in the attacking third."
Backe deployed a surprise 4-3-3 formation with Beckham, the only MLS player to go the full 90 minutes, in a defensive midfield role that afforded him the space to spray passes around the field. He was joined in the midfield by Davis and Shalrie Joseph and had wingers Henry and Cummings make runs down the flanks and into space.
"If you play Man United … playing a 4-4-2 against them, you will lose," Backe said. "They're better individual players on every position, so you need to do something different."
One of those top individual players, Rooney, set up Berbatov in the 52nd minute to make the scoreline 3-0.
Despite being serenaded with cheers of "Our Rooney's better" by Red Bulls fans in the South Ward (who were referring to Wayne's younger brother, Red Bulls midfielder John Rooney) the elder Rooney chipped a perfect ball to Berbatov, in stride. The Bulgarian ran onto the pass at the top of the box and chipped a shot over Hall and off the crossbar before hitting home his own rebound.
Rooney was frustrated early by Real Salt Lake defender Jamison Olave, though, who on a couple of occasions muscled Rooney off the ball to the delight of the MLS fans in attendance. Olave tweaked his knee when coming up with a counter-attack-stopping tackle on a pass headed to Rooney and had to exit in the 38th minute.
The early diagnosis is an MCL sprain, and Olave said that he would be evaluated upon his return to Utah.
Cameron replaced him as the first of Backe's 11 substutitions — which included a late cameo for retiring Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller. Five of those substitutes were made at halftime, which drastically changed the complexion of the MLS lineup.
MLS still managed a couple of chances, with Chris Wondolowski's shot from distance in the 64th minute being parried right to Omar Bravo on the doorstep. The Sporting Kansas City Designated Player forced his shot wide, though, and Welbeck scored four minutes later to ice the match.
Beckham nearly saved some face for MLS with an 88th-minute free kick, after Juan Agudelo was taken down outside the United box. Beckham's dipping effort missed the lower left corner, though, and hit into the side netting.
"Obviously they're a great side," Wondolowski said. "We had a couple chances, but it was just one of those games where, especially against a team like that, if you don't finish your chances, you get punished."
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What did you think of the result? Disappointed in the MLS All-Stars' effort?
Share your thoughts below.
Man U and Madrid are different animals…cconca-teams have been playing very competitively with the rest
eurosnob…lol
eurodouchy
by that logic, and given the fact that Man Utd only lost 4 games last season in the EPL, and by looking at the score line, apparently most of the EPL should be in the English 4th Division….
last night was a crap storm for sure, but don’t be retarded.
chris & marco blow each other
the finishing was atrocious. MLS played well in the 1st but couldn’t finish when they should have. A few chances in the second should have been finished too. when Olave went out, I said that’s it. It’s over. He looked, by far, the best defender out there. sure enough, that’s what happened. maybe it would have happened either way, but i took it as a sign things were going to go downhill.
LA game is sold out. NJRB will win the Emirates
+1
Has anyone else seen Club America getting beat up recently by euro competition too? Losses to Juventus and Manchester City. It’s not just MLS, European clubs are just playing well in preseason this year.
Ok only four Americans started and three of them in the back?
This isn’t a problem for you? That MLS hasnt developed any offensive American players who can start?
And we bode well against foreign teams? Really? How many Concacaf champions leagues have we won? 1 how Many copa libertadores have we even qualified for? None?
MLS needs to decide if they want to show-case their best players or have a competitive match with another side. This game produced neither, because of format, scheduling, and opposition.
I understand the financial and “exposure” motivations for the All-Star Game and mid-season friendlies, but on balance I think they do way more harm than good. To make money, just have the foreign clubs come and play in MLS stadiums. Consistently losing games while playing reserves in the second half or getting your (unprepared) All-Stars hammered by the second-best club in the world is not the kind of “exposure” MLS needs. The exhibitions don’t win MLS any new fans, here or abroad, and just illustrate the obvious about the relative strengths of MLS and the EPL. From disrupting their clubs’ schedules to putting down grass just for the visitors’ sakes, MLS ends up looking desperate and second-rate.
I’m no Euro snob and am an MLS season ticket holder but must say this is embarrassing and the league isn’t much better today than 10 years ago. I think expansion has diluted the talent and having the hack a man style in MLS instead of a technical one really doesnt make the American player much better. This is why the attendance in some cities is like that of minor league baseball teams…
Because in the grand scheme of professional soccer MLS is minor league. Even the American player in MLS isnt much better. Look at the Fire only three of their field starters are American…and arguably the three worst starters and definatley the three least technical players.
You can argue lack of cohesion for all-stars Man u plays together all the time but…
Man U is in preaseasoj MLS is in mid season
…and unless your in denial the HUMONGOUS difference in SKILL and TECHNICAL ability
Was OBVIOUS
exactly.
Well you would have no idea how the MLS all-stars would do unless you play against the Man U’s or Barcelonas. There was real atmosphere at the game, despite the result. I think the MLS players got too disheartened quickly and never had a chance after the 2nd goal.
So you left after 19 minutes? That’s just silly.
I disagree. If these last couple weeks have taught us anything it’s that Backe might be the best the game has seen.
It seems as if Tim Ream still has problems making the most simple of passes out of the back. This has been an issue with him since he has been a Pro. No one doubts his ability to spot a man up-field and play the ball to him at his feet however, he compromises possession with the simple 15-20 yard pass. The worst thing you can do as a defender is give the ball up in your own half. If you give possession up you invite the other team to expose your weakness and turn up the pressure through the course of the game.
It was sold out and packed. Are you high?
Chris, You are wrong about RBNY. They aren’t imploding.
Also, you’re wrong about east-v-west all star game. That’s boring.
I like the idea floating around last year for… instead of one MLS all-star game, on one specified day let every team play a high profile friendly in their own stadium. Lots of games all over the US where fans can actually attend. May generate media coverage all across the country… thoughts?
MU learned something in last year’s tour of the US…. (especially losing to KC!) MU came to play some futbol! Evidenced in the scores of all the games they played this year! It was no vacation for them as every player on the MU team was focused and ready to take it to the US teams!
BS. He had 2 practices with these guys. No blaming the coach for that. You are as much to blame for the All-Stars losing as Backe is.
DON: are you reading this?
Do not mold the league in the vein of NBA/MLB, etc.
CANCEL the “Allstar” Game. This is an absolute JOKE.
Maybe bring in Fulham or Bolton next year to at least sugarcoat the mediocrity of this league.
Switch to a single table format, think of working w/ NALS/USL on promo-relegation in the long term, ditch the Jabulani POS ball.
In what universe does the worst team in Division II, the Montreal Impact, gets “promoted” to allegedly the highest level of pro football?
Only in the sick, make-believe universe of Don Garber…get out of there, Don. You have reached your capacity, have someone else take over and take football in this country to the next level.
Don, Sunil, Bob: all OUT! Otherwise, we will keep losing to the likes of Panama…
East vs. West = boring and no point. MLS is an up-and-coming league…why not admit it and continue to improve quality while giving annual reality-checks like this? I think its all good.
That was the worst MLS game I’ve ever seen! Hans Backe made no effort to try and win that game, plus several of those players should never be considered all-stars. The massive change at halftime was a joke. 4-3-3 is just stupid! Man U came to the US to have strong competition and all they got was routes of every team they faced. Some of these coaches don’t understand that they made the league look like rec league. I know all the teams only care about the league, but they should have been more professional and played their best players for the majority of these matches and then gave a 1-2 of their best players on the bench a chance to play against Man U, not the academy player. Seattle was the worst about this entire tournament, very disappointed. Until we start beating some of these European powers whether if it’s a friendly or not, we won’t be considered a competitive league…that is how the world will see and especially the writers. Hans Backe should be fired!
@Jason, the All-Stars practiced together for what, three days? And they were playing the Champions of the EPL and Champions League Finalists. Yeah, TOTALLY Backe’s fault.
(SBI-To act like Backe did nothing wrong is a bit silly. He played multiple people out of position and the system the team used just didn’t really work at all. You can’t blame him for losing, but you can definitely point to him for the squad looking bad at times, and players just not looking good because they were out of position.)
+!
I love this s*#t about how bad MLS is and how bad American soccer is blah blah blah. A collection of players training once and taking on one of the two or three best teams in the world is never going to succeed. I think were all wishful but realistic. But to say a 4th division English is a bunch of crap. How many teams beat Man U last yr? Only a few and one of them barca had one of the best teams in modern soccer history. If anyone is objective they will realize the all stars came out on the front foot and were good. Brad Davis’s inability to finish from 12 yds on his left foot and within 30 secs man u scoring shows what the issues are. The ability to finish. The chances were even in the first half but the quality of finishing was different. the goal before the half was a dagger. To correct the jerk that mentioned technical ability in the first half of “American” players obviously doesnt realize that only 4 Americans started the game 3 of them in the back. Were we ever going to win this game…no…was 4-0 indicative of the match…no! Lets lay off mls and our league and American soccer. Weve come light years in a short amount of time. Our teams have consistently fared well against mid table epl teams who can’t beat man u either. And against other leagues from around the world we’ve fared even better. Look epl is great but its not because of the English players. It’s a league of all stars that minus Rooney and a few others is a league of decaying English internationals past their prime who barely help their club teams. England struggled just like us in youth tournaments this years and oh yea the USA won the group in 2010 so I guess just like you who say American soccer sucks and all we do is run…I can say English soccer sucks and all you do is kick people! Support MLS and be realistic! These exhibitions do need to go away though! 16 young years and a $2.8 million salary cap minus dp’s…that’s Rooney’s bar tab! MLS is what it is…and it’s ours!
+200
Didn’t look too bad to me, but I remember at least one horrible pass out of the back, straight to Park when Ream wasn’t even under pressure.
“If you play Man United … playing a 4-4-2 against them, you will lose,” Backe said.
Yeah, cause your 4-3-3 worked out so well.
Ream has been so unimpressive lately. Watch the game again, thank-god Mondragon stoned that Rooney cross because berbatov outpositioned him. He can pass outoif the back, great but his form against quality has been lacking.
+1
+1
Backe lost this for the MLS. Nowak or Arena would not have embarrassed the league. Way to showcase the “best” of MLS, Backe!
Backe should be fired. He gets nothing out of an RBNY team that has by far the best talent in their conference, and wrecked the Allstar team.
It’s tough to compete with the cohesion ManU possess (as they’ve well proved this tour). The MLS boys did OK. It’s not difficult to recognize they haven’t been able to play together very much. Becks looked like he was having a great time.
I feel that the scoreline doesn’t do justice to all-stars play, since it really was a fairly even match in the first half. We easily could have taken the lead with the chances we had. For next season, I would like to see MLS bring in another club from another league for this match.
It’s a ALL STAR game, that’s it and it is only to be a party. Make some money, put back into MLS, built more stadiums and improve the youth system. I’ll take it, I don’t care and I will support DC UNITED until I die.
I don’t buy that this super team would make enough money back to break even. In fact, soccer is not really a money making business. Which MLS clubs actually make money now? I would think Seattle and LA Galaxy. Is MLS over expanding? Why the race to get to 20 teams? It looks like the overall level is dropping because there are too many mediocre players. A smaller league would have a better chance to be higher quality because there’s more competition for roster spots.
oh those washed up Euros were impressive last night…and the no name Latinos provided much needed support…MLS is Minor League Soccer…maybe 4th division in England…
Or a salary cap…
It is actually “you’re” correct. Your grammar gaffe is just precious.
Catering budget… LoL
maybe, but barça will be without Messi, or sanchez, or mascherano. eh not too worried about it.
Or Howard doesn’t watch anything OTHER than MLS… Mlessosnob…
Don’t know many teams that haven’t been hurt by injuries and call-ups (and most of them don’t have the league leading scorer). The problem with NYRB on the field is something much deeper. But agree with you that the Toronto comment was unfair…4-3-3 last night was a complete disaster,but hope Toronto keeps improving.
Hahaha good one considering I’m far from it
American soccer is a mirage.
You’re an idiot. Most in NY/NJ love Backe. He completely tuned this team around by bringing in Limpere, Solli, Tanio, and Rogers. Those additions have been genius. The team has looked flat all month but this is when MOST teams look flat. You know why, bc our dumb league uses a play off system that encourages players to go strong strong in Oct and not burn themselves out in the middle of summer. Backe is the best thing to happen to the franchise since NY/NJ had a team.