Photo by Susan Ragan/USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
The MLS Homegrown Team is set to return to action this July against one of Mexico’s most highly-regarded youth teams.
MLS announced on Tuesday that the MLS Homegrown Team will take on the Club America Under-20s on July 28 for the second annual Homegrown Game. The first iteration of the event occurred last season, with the MLS Homegrown squad playing the Portland Timbers U-23s to a scoreless draw.
Club America U-20s, whose senior team recently claimed the CONCACAF Champions League title, features forwards Diego Pineda and Alejandro Díaz, both of whom were recently named to Mexico’s roster for the upcoming FIFA Under-20 World Cup.
“We are honored to partake in the Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game this summer, as we too believe in the importance of the development of future stars,” said Ricardo Pelaez, Club America president, in a statement. “We look forward to a competitive match in Denver, where we hope our fans will come out and support the team.”
All MLS clubs will nominate three of the club’s Homegrown players to a list that will be voted on by club technical staff members. However, rosters are subject to change as a result of this summer’s Gold Cup.
What do you expect from this summer’s Homegrown Game? Which players are you looking forward to watching?
Share your thoughts below.
MMM, Chipotle…
Please make the All Star game:
MLS All Stars versus Mexican All Stars.
Why hasn’t this happened?
A ratings bananza, fun to watch, a tradition can be started.
Do I need more reasons? No, but I will keep going.
The leagues can benefit off each other, it will benefit CCL, which will help both leagues, and MLS is wasting it’s time beating European teams, it is boring and does no good, none.
I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing MLS all-stars vs. MX all-stars, but I think MLS is making the right decision by not pigeonholing this event just yet. Who knows, maybe in a few years we’ll see a Premier League all-star team. Or maybe we’ll just end up going back to East vs. West. But for the time being, I’m cool with this being an ongoing experiment.
Good point on not committing too soon.
I would rather see Mexican All Stars. Local rivals, would help new soccer fans know players for CCL games, much bigger audience for the game, etc.
would defiantly enjoy this change. i doubt ligaMX or any other leagues would understand of the concept of loaning the club’s players to the league for a friendly… but im sure enough $$ could make them understand..
similar concept that I would prefer to the allstar games and summer friendly tournaments would be a MLS vs other leagues (LigaMX, EPL, etc) series where MLS #1 vs EPL #1, MLS #2 vs EPL#2… MLS #20 vs EPL#20. Would be interesting to see how MLS teams would stand up to others 1-20, especially lower down the table.
because All-Stars games are an american thing? Also I think most Liga MX coaches would be pissed if that kind of game interrupted their preseason.