Football General Manager
It’s All-Star week for Major League Soccer, as the league is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Top players from MLS host the Liga MX All-Stars on Wednesday night. The match will be the league’s fourth time taking on the LIGA MX All-Stars. MLS is 2-1 in their previous three meetings. Overall, this week will mark the 29th iteration of the MLS ASG (the 2020 game was cancelled due to the pandemic).
Over the years, the format has changed. In previous versions, MLS All-Stars took on reigning European champions, clubs from around the world and even MLS on MLS – the East and West went head-to-head to establish dominance in the ASG. And while that format hasn’t been played since 2004, there remains some interest among All-Stars to revive the conference format.
BALLGM recalls some of the most iconic moments from the ASG since its first version in 1996 – including Landon Donovan’s 2001 heroics, Ricardo Kaka‘s stunner in 2015 and Pep Guardiola’s meltdown in 2014.
It’s All-Star week for Major League Soccer, as the league is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Top players from MLS host the Liga MX All-Stars on Wednesday night. The match will be the league’s fourth time taking on the LIGA MX All-Stars. MLS is 2-1 in their previous three meetings. Overall, this week will mark the 29th iteration of the MLS ASG (the 2020 game was cancelled due to the pandemic).
Over the years, the format has changed. In previous versions, MLS All-Stars took on reigning European champions, clubs from around the world and even MLS on MLS – the East and West went head-to-head to establish dominance in the ASG. And while that format hasn’t been played since 2004, there remains some interest among All-Stars to revive the conference format.
BALLGM recalls some of the most iconic moments from the ASG since its first version in 1996 – including Landon Donovan’s 2001 heroics, Ricardo Kaka’s stunner in 2015 and Pep Guardiola’s meltdown in 2014.
It’s not often a teenager steps up in an All-Star Game to score the winner, in any sport. However, in 2021, it was 18-year-old Pepi for the MLS All-Stars who bagged the game-winning penalty in a shootout after a 1-1 draw with the Liga MX All-Stars.
For MLS fans, the hype around Pepi already existed. People knew he was a star in the making before he even took the pitch that July. But that game served an introduction to the world for the now-established U.S. international.
And it was one hell of a strike to win it. Underside of the bar and in? Yeah, that’ll do.
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In two chances against the MLS All-Stars, English Premier League side Chelsea came up short.
In 2006, the MLS All-Stars hosted the Blues at Toyota Park near Chicago and stunned the London-based club, with a goal from Dwayne De Rosario proving to be the difference as the All-Stars won 1-0.
Six years later, Chelsea returned, roughly two months after winning the UEFA Champions League title, and things played out a tad differently.
MLS opened up the scoring 21 minutes in thanks to Chris Wondolowski, but Chelsea responded in the 32nd minute on a goal by legendary English defender John Terry. After halftime, the Blues doubled their lead, with captain Frank Lampard finding the back of the net.
However, Chris Pontius drew the All-Stars level, and in stoppage time, MLS found a winner from an unexpected source: substitute Eddie Johnson.
In the 91st minute, Johnson found his way up the pitch and he drilled a shot towards the net. It deflected off the leg of David Luiz and over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. It was a complete fluke goal, but the MLS All-Stars downed the reigning European Champions and pulled off their second ASG win over Chelsea.
Safe to say Chelsea are now owned by the MLS All-Stars… right?
Joao Felix, Hector Herrera, and Atletico Madrid were left speechless in the 2019 All-Star Skills Challenge when Luis Nani did, well, Luis Nani things, and won the event for team MLS.
It was the final event of the competition, the famous crossbar challenge. Seconds were winding down on the clock, and Orlando’s Chris Mueller hit an abysmal attempt that barely cleared the 18-yard box. To be fair, the balls were being delivered from quite some distance.
Still, it seemed as if MLS had lost the Challenge, the night before their eventual defeat to the La Liga giants in the actual All-Star Game.
After Mueller’s attempt, though, there were still two seconds on the clock, and Nani managed to get an attempt off. With the swing of his right boot, he delivered a lofted – yet driven – ball into the box. As it fell, the screams of those in attendance grew louder as everyone could tell: it hit the bar.
The Portuguese legend nailed the target and, with it, won the event. It was an iconic moment from one of the truly fun aspects of the annual All-Star festivities.
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In 1998, MLS decided to introduce a new format for the All-Star Game. They took the league’s top American-born players and pitted them against the league’s best foreign players, dubbing it the MLS USA All-Stars vs the MLS World All-Stars.
In 1998, the league was still in the early stages of development and much of the world still didn’t know about MLS – and the majority of players were from the U.S. To script, then, the USA All-Stars defeated the MLS World All-Stars, 6-1, in front of 34,416 fans at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
USA scored four goals in the first half and put the game to bed before the final 45 minutes even began. Tab Ramos, Alexi Lalas, and Brian McBride scored for Team USA, with goals from Preki, Roy Lassiter, and Cobi Jones to follow. Mauricio Ramos scored an 89th-minute strike for the World team as a late consolation goal.
It was a format that, if MLS opted to revisit in 2025, would likely look incredibly different. With much of the league now comprised of foreign stars, you’d have to expect the World All-Stars to claim victory. For perspective, the 2025 ASG squad has just seven Americans.
A food for thought, for sure.
The year was 2001, the No. 1 hit on the radio was “U remind me” by Usher, and a young American forward named Landon Donovan was breaking out in the American soccer scene. Donovan, 19 at the time, was all the rage for club and country. He was a star in the making for the LA Galaxy and was being touted to have a bright international future.
In the ’01 MLS All-Star game, he was named MVP after scoring four goals as the West drew the East 6-6 in a 12-goal thriller. There were a lot of storylines during the match, but none more so than Donovan – and his hair.
With the hype at 19 came a change in lifestyle – and hairstyle – for the teenager. It was the early 2000s, and frosted tips and highlights were all the rage. But this was more than that. It was bright, piercing blonde, a bold decision that – looking back at it – he probably regrets.
In the 24 years since, the jokes haven’t slowed down. Each year, it gets brought up, and of late, Donovan’s hair color has been compared to that of a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z, the iconic TV show from the 1990s.
Was it inspiration? There’s a dang good chance Donovan channeled his inner-Goku during that game.
In 2015, the MLS All-Stars took on a Tottenham side that finished fifth in the Premier League the season prior, led by star striker Harry Kane and budding England talent Dele Alli.
Many expected Spurs to prevail, especially considering how lethal Kane was in front of net. The Englishman was coming off a campaign in which he scored 21 goals in 34 Premier League appearances – by all accounts, a stupendous season.
And to give him credit, he did score for Spurs in the All-Star game. However, Tottenham forgot to account for one thing – MLS had Clint Dempsey, David Villa and Ricardo Kaka on the pitch. The Brazilian, a former Ballon d’Or winner, was ultimately the difference-maker in a match MLS won, 2-1.
The Orlando City talisman opened the scoring from the penalty spot 20 minutes in, and three minutes later, set up Villa for the eventual winner. Kane earned one back in the 37th minute, but it wasn’t enough as the MLS All-Stars prevailed.
It was 2014, and the MLS All-Stars stunned Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich 2-1, with goals from Bradley Wright-Phillips and Landon Donovan securing the win. Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring just eight minutes in, but it was Caleb Porter’s men who secured victory at Providence Park in Portland.
However, none of that was the real storyline. No, the lasting image was Pep Guardiola’s snub of Porter for a post-match handshake.
In the 89th minute, MLS’s Will Johnson committed a rather rough tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger and only saw yellow for it, a call which visibly irritated Guardiola and caused him to leave his technical box.
Four minutes later, after the final whistle, the ESPN broadcast showed Guardiola raise and shake a finger towards the MLS coaching staff. When Porter walked out onto the pitch to shake hands, Bayern staff refused to acknowledge him, and Guardiola walked right past.
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“I didn’t see him,” Guardiola said after the match. “We tried to respect the rules of the game. I appreciate the effort of my players.”
It was a heated moment, and more unforgettable than anything else that happened in the match.
