In what has become an annual tradition, a squad of Major League Soccer’s best players bested a top-level foreign opponent in the MLS All-Star Game, defeating England’s West Ham United, 3-2, on a gorgeous evening in front of 20,844 at BMO Field.
“Not just because David Beckham has come into the league, but the MLS is gaining momentum week in and week out in Europe,” said West Ham manager Alan Curbishley. “We see lots of games. We keep in touch with it … The reason for the game is for the MLS to show off, if you like, their riches and their talent, and they’ve done that.”
Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, a native of Toronto suburb Scarborough, delivered the game-winner on a thunderous 69th-minute penalty kick that caromed off the underside of the crossbar twice.
“You always want to play in your hometown, in your home stadium, in a game of this magnitude,” said De Rosario, who claimed to have slept only 90 minutes after enduring a nearly three-hour delay during Houston’s 2-0 win over D.C. United at RFK Stadium on Wednesday. “People don’t realize how important this is for the league.”
It was the fifth consecutive win for the MLS All-Stars, who beat Celtic last year, Fulham in 2006, Chelsea in 2005, and CD Guadalajara in 2003.
The normally raucous fans at BMO were quiet and unmoved by the opening 25 minutes, and it took the visitors from East London to wake them and the game, as Dean Ashton ran onto Carlton Coles header, bursting into the box to beat New England goalkeeper Matt Reis low and left.
The All-Stars responded immediately, as Chicago midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco backheeled a pass from Beckham to onrushing Christian Gomez, who finished in nearly identical fashion to Ashton.
Blanco then put the MLS team in front, 2-1, two minutes before halftime, cutting inside West Ham’s Scott Parker on the left side and then curling a right-footed shot inside the far post.
Ashton tied the game in the 67th minute with a long-distance effort that deflected off Kansas City defender Jimmy Conrad’s head.
