MLS All Star Game Recap to Follow
By: Clint | July 20th, 2007Once I find my camera I’ll post some pix and maybe video from the all-star game. I don’t have a lot of time since family is in town and juggling 8 visitors is worse than juggling 8 soccer balls at the same time (sorry, it’s lame – all my writing will be XL lame for a few days since I’m half asleep during the days this week). Here’s what I can remember from last night:
- Despite overcast clouds and on and off rain all morning where we live (south of Denver), there were only a few minutes of light rain during the game (important when you have little kids/babies in your crowd).
- I talked to a couple guys from Canada who came down to see Celtic play, I believe. They were really into it and good to have as seat neighbors.
- There were more Celtic supporters at the game (judging by the amount of jerseys, scarves, hats, flags, etc.) than there were MLS supporters, Rapids fans, plus all visiting fans (from teams that come to play at The Dick) that had attended games here all season long. I’d say 35-40% of all the nearly 19,000 people in attendance had some piece of Celtic clothing on. I also saw 5 Republic of Ireland flags and my brother was holding up the family heritage by being drunk and fighting with the people in his section.
- Celtic looked like a team that was coming off a long layoff. Pressley, who I expected to be one of the best players out there, was nearly as bad as Beckerman. of Hesselink was invisible in the first half and was subbed out for the second half. Aiden McGeady was, in my opinion, one of the, if not, the best Celtic player on the field. He had a couple Ronaldo-light moves down the flank that were not only tricky but were successful/useful, as well.
- There was a great shirt worn by a couple of folks ahead of us (I tried getting a photo but it came out blurry) – black tshirts with “F#*K CLAVEY” on the front and “IN HONOR OF KYLE” (or, something close to that) on the back. They sat in the front or second row of our section so hopefully they got some TV time. Great execution, but the idea was odd (why protest the trade of a useless player?).
- 2-0 score was about right. Eddie Johnson and Angel were by far the best players on the field in the first half. Joseph and Landycakes were superior for the final 30 or so minutes, with Landon looking like a speed-demon among boys on a couple occasions.
More later or on Monday.
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Comments
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Beckerman was useless? Do you really think Bradley would call him into the USMNT on more than one occasion if he thought Kyle was useless?
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A couple comments from an observer from New England -
1) Shalrie Joseph was brilliant quarterbacking the entire show for MLS. He doesn’t have much longer left with the Revs – only question now is if Celtic was impressed enough to bring him to Scotland.
2) Aside from Toronto’s Ronnie O’Brien, who sent two long backwards crosses out of bounds and generally didn’t appear to know which direction he ought to be facing, I’d say Ricardo Clark from Houston was the most frustrating player on the field for MLS. Toja and Angel were playing team-ball – they spent the first 15 minutes looking for each other, and once they had their timing down it paid off, for each of them and for the league. But Clark took too many bone-headed dribbles and long shots in the early stages. Thankfully the rest of the team could make up for his me-first mistakes.
Or maybe I’m just still bitter about the MLS Cup last year. I cringed a little when Ching came in for Angel.3) I really wish they hadn’t called back Mastroeni’s goal, if only so that the MLS All Stars could’ve had tallies from Juan, Pablo, and Juan Pablo.
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Juan was great – good point! He was taking charge and getting the forwards the ball in the right spots for much of the first half. I didn’t even realize Clark was in the game so thanks for pointing that out.
When Shalrie went down at the end most of the folks in our section didn’t notice but when he wasn’t getting up and the stretcher was rushed on there were some gasps. That looked like a potential disaster until he got up on his own and got the applause he deserved after a great day’s performance.
The Juan, Pablo, Juan Pablo trifecta would have been great! I was actually in the pro shop when Pablo scored and then had it called back – my nephew dragged me around the stadium looking for an all star jersey and he found the last one in the place just as the second half was starting. The good news? Immediately after checking-out with the jersey I was able to stop at the mini-donuts cart and pick up 5 dozen for us!
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As for Beckerman being called up to the USMNT if he was useless… well, yeah. I’m wondering what performance in 2007 people are watching that makes them think he is a better option in central midfield than someone like, well, ME. He’s easy to notice and right in the center of the field each game, so it’s a relatively simple task to count how often he is near the ball and count how many positive vs. negative impacts he has each time. I guess I’m not “passionate” enough and my cold view of evaluating a player by his performance rather than his advertising presence and “cool” hair makes me less of a fan. How about this, the next nationally televised RSL game (which I believe coincides with the next visit from Halley’s Comet) I will tivo the match and keep track of each play he’s involved with and post the stats after the game has finished. It’s not like I have a life, after all ; )
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