Led by Designated Players David Beckham and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the MLS All-Stars triumphed over West Ham United on Thursday evening in front of a raucous sell-out crowd at Toronto’s BMO Field. Blanco’s first-half goal and assist earned him MVP honors, while Beckham was not to be outdone by notching an assist of his own.
Former MLS MVP Christian Gomez also scored in the first half-for the All-Stars, offsetting a pair of goals in the game by West Ham’s Dean Ashton.
Perhaps the loudest cheers of the night were reserved for the three Canadian players selected for the game: Dwayne de Rosario, Pat Onstad and Jim Brennan. De Rosario played a critical role in the match, earning a second-half penalty kick that would be converted in heart-stopping fashion for the game’s decisive goal.
The MLS All-Stars earned the first chance of the game in the eleventh minute when Kenny Cooper found some space on the left side. Cutting into the middle of the field all alone, the FC Dallas striker ripped a shot toward Robert Green’s net, but the effort skipped just wide of the near post.
Cooper continued to lead the assault on West Ham’s net in the 18th minute. Gathering in a ball that had been cheekily flicked over a defender by former MLS MVP Christian Gomez, Cooper endured some heavy jostling by defender Joe Widdowson before turning and firing wide from the edge of the six-yard box. Though many of the fans in attendance appealed for a penalty kick, no such call would come from referee Mauricio Navarro.
Against the run of play, The Hammers would draw first blood twenty-six minutes into the match as Dean Ashton ran onto a ball that had been headed into space by Carlton Cole. In alone on goal, Ashton fired hard and low past an onrushing Matt Reis, finding the side of the net to open the game’s scoring.
Sixty-five seconds after surrendering a goal, the All-Stars showed some flair in leveling the score. Galaxy superstar David Beckham started the game-tying sequence by finding Blanco in the middle of the field. Using a trademark no-look backheel pass, ‘Temoc slotted the ball into the path of a streaking Gomez, who did not disappoint the crowd, scoring with a wicked blast from close range.
With the game moving past the half-hour mark, the all-MLS side continued to sizzle. A 33rd minute cross from Blanco was met in the box by the head of Cooper, but the league’s fourth-leading scorer was out of position to shoot, nodding his attempt well wide of the far post.
Fans in Toronto were treated to their first Beckham free kick eight minutes before intermission, set up when Blanco was taken down at the top of the box. From 30 yards out, the English midfielder opted to cut the ball inside the wall, targeting the far post, but his shot was headed away by Calum Davenport.
Showing why his salary is second only to Beckham, Blanco propelled MLS into the lead just before the halftime whistle. Using exquisite touch, the Chicago Fire playmaker curled his shot around the opposing goalkeeper and into the net.
Head coach Steve Nicol opted to save two of the league’s brightest offensive talents for later in the match, inserting Landon Donovan and Juan Pablo Angel into the lineup at the start of the second half.
Both sides failed to get off to a quick start in the second half, with the first solid opportunity coming in the 59th minute for West Ham. A Faubert cross from the right side was one-timed by Ashton in the middle of the box, forcing a tremendous save from New England Revolution keeper Matt Reis. It wouldn’t have counted anyway, as the linesman’s flag had gone up before the shot, but the save allowed Reis a chance to showcase his skills once again.
Coming back the other way, Chivas USA left-back Jonathan Bornstein ventured forward and slipped past his defender with the ball before cutting it to Beckham at the top of the box. With nobody around him, Becks laced the ball back across the face of goal, only missing the far corner by inches.
Alan Curbishley’s side would draw level in the 67th minute, again via Ashton. Despite having numbers back in defense, the MLS All-Stars could not stop the striker from unleashing a solid shot that deflected off Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad. As Reis had committed to the side where the shot was struck, there was little he could do to reverse course, watching helplessly as Ashton secured his brace and knotted the game at 2-2.
Bouncing back once more, the MLS All-Stars were awarded a penalty kick in the 70th minute when Canadian native Dwayne de Rosario was chopped down in the box by Australian defender Lucas Neill. Stepping up to the spot to reclaim the lead, de Rosario hit his attempt off the crossbar, sending the ball into the ground and kissing the bar once more before finally coming to rest in the West Ham goal.
"It's definitely a dream come true, scoring in a game of this magnitude," said de Rosario. "This game is huge. People don't realize how big this is because this is an opportunity to showcase our talent throughout the world and show them how good this league is."
Aiming for a game-sealing goal seconds later, Juan Pablo Angel appeared to have tallied a fourth goal for MLS, blasting his shot over the diving goalkeeper, only to be denied by an offsides call.
The visiting team would have one final chance to snatch a result in the dying stages of the game. Taking on three defenders, Scott Parker slipped the ball through to Luis Boa Morte, whose left-footed stab from a bad angle came dangerously close to finding the back post before rolling out of play.
The final whistle sounded shortly thereafter, giving the MLS All-Stars their fifth win in five attempts against foreign competition. Tallying a goal and an assist in the first 45 minutes, MVP honors were bestowed upon the Chicago Fire’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
"We said we were going to take it seriously and we wanted to win the game, and we did that," said Beckham after the game. "We played together as a team and we won as a team."
Scoring:
WHU – Dean Ashton (Carlton Cole) 26’
MLS – Christian Gomez (Cuauhtemoc Blanco, David Beckham) 27’
MLS – Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Juan Toja) 43’
WHU – Dean Ashton (Luis Boa Morte) 67’
MLS – Dwayne de Rosario (penalty kick) 69’
Discipline:
WHU – Scott Parker (caution; Delaying a Restart) 46’+
MLS – Jonathan Bornstein (caution; Pushing, Holding) 52’
MLS – Frankie Hejduk (caution; Reckless Foul) 56’
MLS – Jimmy Conrad (caution; Reckless Foul) 82’
Line-ups:
MLS – Matt Reis (Pat Onstad 70’), Frankie Hejduk (Steve Ralston 88’), Christian Gomez (Dwayne de Rosario 59’), Juan Toja (Jim Brennan 59’), Jimmy Conrad, Jonathan Bornstein (Edson Buddle 88’), Shalrie Joseph, David Beckham, Pablo Mastroeni, Kenny Cooper (Juan Pablo Angel 46’), Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Landon Donovan 46’)
WHU – Robert Green, Lucas Neill, Anton Ferdinand, Scott Parker, Dean Ashton (Kyel Reid 80’), Matthew Etherington (Luis Boa Morte 46’), Carlton Cole (Tony Stokes 91’+), Hayden Mullins (Jack Collison 65’), Julien Faubert (Junior Stanislas 75’), Calum Davenport, Joe Widdowson
Referee: Mauricio Navarro
Referee’s Assistants: Hector Vergara; Greg Barkley
4th Official: Mark Geiger
Weather: Partly Cloudy –and- 72 degrees
Attendance: 20,844
Things took a turn for the worse in the final minutes of the match, with the Mexican side getting chippy as the game got away from them. In all, four Atlante players saw red cards by the time the final whistle blew. Revolution defender Jay Heaps was also sent off for his role in one of the skirmishes, meaning he will miss Tuesday's final.
Putting a dagger in the game in the 87th minute, Houston's Brian Mullen took on a pair of defenders at the edge of the box, beating both before serving the ball across the box. Standing unmarked at the far post was Corey Ashe, who smoothly headed the ball past Miguel Calero, giving the Dynamo a two-goal win and sending them to the Superliga final.
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