MLS Week 16 Review: Love Those All Stars

In a week of unprecedented MLS attention, the All Stars put on an impressive display to beat Celtic 2-0 in Colorado. The two Colombian Juans: Toja and Angel did the business in front of goal, and the All Stars could have had a few more if not for Artur Boruc’s goalkeeping and Eddie Johnson’s below average penalty kick.

So now we know that a squad of in-form MLS players can comfortably beat international opposition who are in pre-season training. But that’s not the All Stars fault, and they played some pretty slick, perfectly watchable football on Thursday night with Ricardo Clark and Dwayne De Rosario suggesting they could comfortably play in the Scottish Premier League.

There were also some other international friendlies and a handful of – gasp! – actual MLS league games played this week, so on with the Offside MLS Awards…

Best Performance By a DP Making His Debut Against a British Team: Cuauhtemoc Blanco
Fascinating as the ESPNorama surrounding David Beckham’s 12 minute Galaxy cameo was, Blanco’s debut for Chicago Fire was much more impressive. He showed off a few tricks, including a nice little back heel and even scored the Fire’s only goal in a 1-1 draw with Celtic.

Worst Performance In The All-Star Game: The O’Briens
Ronnie O’Brien looked out of place in the All Star game. Maybe it’s because the Irishman was so desperate to play against Celtic that he couldn’t relax, or maybe he’s just not very good, but his passing and crossing suggested he was wearing a blindfold. Dave O’Brien was equally bad in the commentary box. He doesn’t make as many factual errors as he used to, but his determination to ramble on about any old thing and more or less ignore anything that wasn’t a goal continues to infuriate. The ineptness of both O’Briens was highlighted in the 65th minute. Celtic’s Aiden McGeady pulled out a Cruyff turn and a burst of pace that left O’Brien, R for dead, then nutmegged another defender with a low cross for Scott McDonald who hit the post. A great bit of skill and a genuine bit of excitement, but O’Brien, D was busy talking about something else altogether.

Next Year’s All Star: Jozy Altidore
The youngster returned from scoring four goals at the U-20 World Cup and went straight into the NYRB line-up. He had an apparently convincing penalty appeal turned down before providing the assist for John Wolyniec to score the only goal as NYRB beat DC United 1-0. Will be interesting to see what happens when Angel returns from suspension.

Unofficial Designated Player: Guillermo Barros Schelotto
The Argentine winger was expected to join Columbus Crew as a DP, but didn’t. He’s done well on the pitch though, contributing a bag of assists so far, but this week he scored both Crew goals as they beat Toronto 2-0.

There’s More to MLS Than Beckham Award: New England 3-3 Houston Dynamo
People may turn up to see Beckham, but it won’t matter how good he is if the Galaxy continue to play like manure. The future of MLS depends on teams entertaining us with hard-fought games and beautiful golazos, both of which were on display in the Revs and Dynamos 3-3 draw. Highlights included a beautiful lob over Houston keeper Onstad, a long range curling shot into the Revs upper 90 from Dwayne De Rosario and a Shalrie Joseph penalty that was initially saved but had to be taken again. Dramatic stuff, all of which can all be seen by ever so gently clicking here.

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Category: MLS