MLS Starters:
Matt Reis
Frankie Hejduk
Jimmy Conrad
Pablo Mastroeni
Shalrie Joseph
David Beckham
Christian Gomez
Juan Carlos Toja
Cuauhtemoc Blanco
Jonathan Bornstein
Kenny Cooper
West Ham United Starters:
Robert Green
Lucas Neill
Calum Davenport
Anton Ferdinand
Julien Faubert
Hayden Mullins
Scott Parker
Matthew Etherington
Carlton Cole
Dean Ashton
The game started out slowly as the two teams felt each other out. Around the 15 to 20th minute, the MLS began to slowly take control of the game. However, in the 26th minute, West Ham played a ball down field to Carlton Cole who flicked a backwards header to Dean Ashton who had split the defenders and beat Matt Reis to the far post to put West Ham up 1-0.
However, the MLS had clearly taken control of play and the goal had been given up against the run of play. So, they came back and directly off the kickoff they played a ball to Blanco who chested it down and off one hop played a back heel into the bath of Gomez how took two touches to the top, far corner of the box before firing a shot to the far post, beating Robert Green to tie the score 1-1.
The MLS continued to dominate the possession for the remainder of the half and in the 44th minute, Blanco played a one-two with Toja on the left of the box and when he received the ball back, he lifted the ball and curled it into the side netting over Green’s head to put the MLS All*Stars up 2-1 at the half.
In the second half, the MLS made some changes, the biggest of which was to remove Blanco and Cooper to bring in Juan Pablo Angel and Landon Donovan. This was the worst move of the game for the MLS side as Juan Pablo Angel never got into the game, except for a cracking goal that he put in as he was being called offside. Landon Donovan never seemed to be interested as he jogged around the field the entire second half and very rarely got involved.
Regardless of the poor substitutions, the MLS keep a large portion of the possession. However, in the 68th minute, Dean Ashton received the ball about 10 yards outside of the box, pushed it a little forward, and blasted the ball. The defense had to see this coming a mile away, but nobody closed him down. So, the ball went past one defender and then solidly off the head of another to zing in at the far post, beating the keeper who had moved to the near post. This tied up the game 2-2.
After this, the game started evening up a bit and Dwayne De Rosario began to push forward for MLS. He got the ball in the box and was taken down by a long two legged slide tackle from a West Ham defender and was awarded a penalty. He then decided to take it himself and blasted one of the hardest PK’s I’ve ever seen, which hit the crossbar, came down past the line, bounced up and hit the crossbar again before finally coming back down in a very ping pong like motion. This put the MLS up for good at 3-2.
At this point, the MLS side began clearing their bench and West Ham finally decided to wake up. For about the last 15-20 minutes. They had most of the possession and looked much more likely to score. However, even though they had a couple of good opportunities, they couldn’t manage to even the score and the MLS kept their streak of not loosing their All-Star games intact.
MLS Substitutions:
Juan Pablo Angel for Kenny Cooper (46)
Landon Donovan for Cuauhtemoc Blanco (45)
Jim Brennan for Juan Carlos Toha (59)
Dwayne De Rosario for Christian Gomez (59)
Pat Onstad for Matt Reis (75)
Edson Buddle for Frankie Hejduk (88)
Steve Ralston for Jonathan Bornstein (88)
West Ham United Substitutions:
Luis Boa Morte for Matthew Etherington (45)
Jack Collison for Hayden Mullins (65)
Junior Stanislas for Julien Faubert (76)
Kyle Reid for Dean Ashton (80)
Tony Stokes for Carlton Cole (90)
My thoughts on the MLS Players:
Matt Reis – Not bad, made some good saves, reflexes a bit slow
Frankie Hejduk – Terrible, by far the worst player on the field
Jimmy Conrad – not bad overall, some mental lapses
Pablo Mastroeni – not bad overall, some mental lapses, worked hard
Shalrie Joseph – worked hard, played decent, but needed to be more aware on passes
David Beckham – seemed to be everywhere, good long passes, but shorter passes were wild and corners never made it to an MLS head
Christian Gomez – good work, quick feet, nice shot, potential
Juan Carlos Toja – good work, best skill on the ball, beat the defender numerous times
Cuauhtemoc Blanco – average work, made some nice passes, amazing assist, really nice goal – rightly named player of the game
Jonathan Bornstein – amazing – probably second best player for MLS, really worked on the left, overlapped often and played good balls into the box
Kenny Cooper – good work rate, but couldn’t make it to many balls, really nice attempted lift turn and shot
Juan Pablo Angel – rarely seen, blasted goal that was called off
Landon Donovan – managed to take a spot without actually being visible, clearly didn’t care or want to waste energy, everything that many people hate him for – just glad he didn’t demand to take the PK
Jim Brennan – One of the most exciting subs to come in as you could often clearly hear the crowd chanting for him to come in, once in didn’t do much to notice, however, it was not long after when West Ham started taking over the game
Dwayne De Rosario – By far the best sub of the game. He just came off playing 90 minutes a couple of days earlier and it was hard to tell. Made a good run before getting tripped in the box for the PK and sent a laser beam free kick when it looked like Beckham would take it that nearly beat the keeper.
Pat Onstad – Didn’t do much, but didn’t allow any goals either
Edson Buddle – Almost no playing time
Steve Ralston – Almost no playing time
My thoughts on a few of the West Ham players:
Robert Green – Had a rough game, didn’t seem like he could have done much more, but seemed a bit surprised by the level of some of the shots
Julien Faubert – Looked pretty bad, good beat quite a bit
Carlton Cole – was mostly stifled by the MLS defenders, seemed to get a bit frustrated
Dean Ashton – probably the best game for West Ham, still not great, but took advantage of what he got
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