Houston will host the MLS All-Star game against which takes place on July 28 in Reliant Stadium. The all-stars will take on Manchester United as a part of their summer tour of North America. The MLS announced the all-star starting XI today: Goalkeeper- Donovan Ricketts (Los Angeles Galaxy) Defenders- Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Jamison Olave (Real Salt Lake) Midfielders- Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Marco Pappa (Chicago Fire), Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake), Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew) Forwards- Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy) I haven't been able to follow MLS that closely this summer, but I don't think that any of these selections are too shocking. The rest of the roster will be filled out with 10 selections by Bruce Arena and then two by MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Here's the roster that Sir Alex will be bringing around the States with him: Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov, John O'Shea, Wes Brown, Rafael, Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher, Darron Gibson, Chris Smalling, Nani, Fabio, Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez (will join in Houston on 27 July), Mame Biram Diouf, Tom Cleverley, Ritchie De Laet, Corry Evans, Ben Amos, Gabriel Obertan Its worth pointing out that the young Mexican striker, Javier Hernandez, will be joining Man U just in time for the all-star game and will likely be making his debut in the match.
Here are the reserves announced today. Again, Coach Bruce Arena picked 10 and Commissioner Don Garber picked the other two. G - Nick Rimando - Salt Lake D - Kevin Alston - New England D - Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA D - Wilman Conde - Chicago D - Heath Pearce - FC Dallas M - Brad Davis - Houston M - David Ferreira M - Shalrie Joseph - New England M - Jeff Larentowicz - Colorado M - Sebastien LeToux - Philadelphia F - Juan Pablo Angel - New York F - Brian Ching - Houston F - Jaime Moreno - DC United Nine reserves will be named to receive bonuses but are not going to be available in the match, as per players' union rules requiring 32 all-star bonuses to be paid. The first 11 named in the first post is not necessarily the starting XI. CONCACAF Champions' League action takes place the day before and the day of this match, so that could alter the players a bit. LA Galaxy and Toronto FC play the day before, while Seattle will be in action on the same day as the all-star game.
Starting 11s are in: MLS: Donovan Ricketts Kevin Alston, Jamison Olave, Chad Marshall, Heath Pearce Sebastien Le Toux, Javier Morales, Shalrie Joseph, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Marco Pappa; Juan Pablo Angel Manchester United: Edwin van der Sar Rafael, Wes Brown, Johnny Evans, Fabio Nani, Darren Fletcher, John O’Shea, Ryan Giggs Gabriel Obertan, Federico Macheda I'm sure we'll see Javier Hernandez come off the bench. There's a packed house in Houston's Reliant Stadium (70,000+) and from the crowd shots, there's a lot of Man U merchandise in the stands. I'm guessing there are a lot of Mexicans who are pumped to see the debut of Hernandez.
For MLS to do well, Shalrie Joseph will have to show the form that made him a major target for Celtic a few years ago. Morales and Schelotto will be looking for chances up front and Joseph will be pretty exposed in the midfield. He is in my opinion the best midfielder in MLS and a healthy David Beckham wouldn't change my opinion at all. Joseph has been key for the Revs as they have made the play-offs every year since 2002. Its also worth watching Kevin Alston on the right as he is a serious competitor for caps in qualifying and, looking way too far ahead, 2014.
Kicking off now. Lots of smoke left hanging from some silly prematch show. And a goal 21 seconds in as Macheda cleans up some sloppy play by Kevin Alston. He tried passing it across the back line to Olave and Macheda pounced on it and sent it past Rickets.
4 - Kevin Alston did something well. Giggs sent a through ball looking for Nani streaking in from the left and Alston cut it out and then didn't turn the ball over as he did in each of his three previous touches.
6 - Donovan Rickets thought he was Schelotto for a second. Macheda nearly caught him sitting on the ball for no evident reason. Rickets was able to push him off though and sent the ball out for a throw. 8 - Looks like Man U are going with a 4-5-1, playing Giggs in the middle and Obertan on the left with Macheda all alone up front. That's normally asking a lot of a guy who is on the brink of turning 19, but Chad Marshall can make most people look pretty good. 9 - Joseph now cuts out another throughball from Giggs. No one is spending much time on the ball for Man U in the middle of the field. Maybe Becks told them Joseph is pretty serious.
12 - Jamison Olave heads a Nani cross out for a corner. Macheda was there and would have made it two without a problem. First corner is deflected wide. Second corner finds Macheda who sends it across Rickets. Macheda was pretty wide open as LeToux was just chillin' taking a look at what was going on around him.
14 - Giggs wins the ball from Schelotto, but the dive from Schelotto wins MLS a free kick for Angel or Schelotto to take. Angel sends it in on goal, forcing a leaping save from Van Der Sarr. Giggs got a chatting at for no reason as there wasn't a foul. 15 - Corner for MLS finds Angel who tries to send it back across the goal, but it pops up on him. 16 - Its getting a bit chippier than I'm sure SAF as Kevin Alston just cleared out Nani.
17 - Obertan is limping around a bit after a collision with Joseph. Joseph was holding back his run after Obertan passed it. Obertan is off now getting some treatment on the sidelines. 18 - Alston plays the ball out for a corner, which is cleared by MLS. Alston showed his recovery speed on that one. He likes to get involved in the attack as he is a skilled crosser and has a strong shot from distance. He has the speed and the feel for the game to cover himself when he's getting forward, which is ideal. 20 - John Harkes covers for Shalrie Joseph. As Harkes put it, he took a break for some "personal reasons." By personal reasons, Harkes probably means his suspension for failed drug tests. Also, Allen Hopkins with a summary of a chat he had with Joseph, where he hoped to voice his displeasure to the Revs' front office, encouraging them to add some players during the summer. 22 - MLS just had possession for about a minute straight and were stringing some passes together. It was cut out eventually by Evans. 23 - Obertan is leaving the match. Tom Cleverly is entering. The trainers were looking at the inside of Obertan's left knee before moving down to his ankle. He left the sideline directly for the dressing room, but didn't seem to be limping too badly if at all which is good for Man U.
25 - Closest thing to a chance we've seen for MLS. Schelotto brought the ball forward, then sent it wide for a charging Pearce. Pearce's corner was cleared before Angel got to it. Corner was played to Marshall, but a shot deflected wide. Second corner was cleared well by Man U, springing Nani for a counter attack. Alston slowed Nani enough and the ball ended out going out for a Man U throw.
28 - Pappa with a shot for MLS. Some good passes and hold up play around the box gave Pappa an opening in the box to the right of VDS, who made the save and sent the ball well out for a throw. MLS is starting to make some chances for themselves, but are just missing the understanding to make it work for them. One thing to note here is that Arena wasn't around the past few days to practice with this team as the Galaxy were in LA preparing to get spanked by the Puerto Rico Islanders. Typically, I think the team that MLS play in this match are in their first or second match of their preseason, but Man U have played three or four matches in the US already and look much more together than other sides that have come in. Man U also aren't working in any new signings like other teams typically are and are playing much more together. 30 - Nani gets tangled with Heath Pearce and comes up a bit limp. He goes off for treatment and gets a scolding from SAF for staying on the ball too long. 33 - Joseph sends a long pass over the top for Angel, but Fabio clears it out for a corner. Corner is cleared easily by Man United.
And to go back to my previous point about Man U, I realize they're playing a lot of young guys who weren't first teamers last season. They're still Man U players who know the system and know their roles. 37 - Giggs cuts through Morales and Schelotto as though they were a middle school dodge ball target and his grandmother then sends a through ball long for Macheda. Marshall looked horrendously confused as though he had never seen a soccer ball before, leaving Macheda free. The play was blown dead for off-side however. And Ricketts made the save.
41 - Man U have been controlling possession of late after a strong spell from MLS. Nothing too threatening...until I started typing. Fletcher plays a 1-2 with someone and gets open in the 18. He slammed the ball off the cross bar. LeToux caught ball watching again. 42 - Cleverly tries a 1-2 as well. Pearce pops up with the intervention and the ball goes out for a goal kick. 43 - Pace is picking up as the half comes to a close. Schelotto sends a cross in from the left, but its cut out for a corner before Angel can get a boot to it. Corner finds Marshall as he beats VDS to the ball, but his header goes harmlessly wide.
45 - And there's a shot of the MLS bench with Landon Donovan, Dewayne DeRosario, and Brian Ching sitting together. Should be an interesting second half when those guys and Buddle get in. 45 - First half comes to a close with about four seconds of stoppage time. Macheda hurt the US early. On that first goal, the camera panned to Arena after who looked like he was reading something and missed what happened.
At the half - there's a discussion of the DP rules, which is interesting to see going with the discussion in the live chat that ESPN Soccernet is fumbling through. Its always interesting to see the fans in that setting getting together as you have the MLS fans who know the league, its purpose, and what it means to US Soccer, followed by the people complaining about Eurosnobs, and then the Eurosnobs coming in saying that MLS needs to have relegation and should start spending to compete with European sides. And coverage of the coin flip between Portland and Vancouver. Vancouver wins and will get to pick if they go first in the amateur draft or the dispersal draft. Second half subs for MLS - Brian Ching, Omar Gonzalez, Dwayne DeRosario, Bobby Convey, and two others. Both Jule Foudy and Alexi Lalas say that the crowd will go nuts for the Dynamo's Ching, but I'd bet that most of the fans there are Mexicans who don't like Ching or Man U fans who don't know who Ching is.
