If you have not already heard, there was a scuffle between some West Ham supporters and some Crew supporters in Columbus yesterday.    Let's just hope this is not a pre-cursor to anything that happens at the All-Star game because there will be European attention and the league needs to be on top of things.

By the by, if you a plan on making an appearnace at the All Star game in Toronto next week there is an official party at local megaclub Muzik. They giving away a few tickets to the event but if you're unlucky you'll have to drop $150 for the chance to pop bottles with a bunch of MLS players & suits, West Ham players, and Toronto's local club celebrities.

The biggest discussion this week without a doubt has been on MLS expansion, and even further MLS expansion in Canada. I think had the All-Star game not been in Toronto this year we wouldn't be discussing this as much in length but here we are, the possibilities seem to be there for more Canadian teams [.

In the spirit of covering our North American brethren, I had been working on a few articles on Canadian soccer including one on ace Julian De Guzman who is making quite a name for himself at Deportivo La Coruna. That was until I saw the incredible display of poor sportsmanship shown by Canadian fans before the MLS All Star Game last night.

If your a Chicago fire fan then Cuauhtémoc Blanco must be a joy to watch week in and week out. His sublime back heal that freed Gomez for the tying goal was brilliant. Blanco is a football genius.The man with no neck makes up for it with two brains. The joy he must have created at America where he played his professional ball in Mexico gives me the impression everything we are seeing now is nothing by comparison to his younger days.

More details about what was discussed by the MLS Board of governors at the All Star Game, continue to emerge. In a sign of the continued growth and viability of the league,
MLS bosses considered raising expansion fees to $50 Million. A 400 percent increase from when Toronto FC joined the league for a mere $10 Million.

The Olympics only comes around once every 4 years - so I figured I could take some time to think about the Olympics for a little bit. I had a hard time finding a full Olympic schedule - so here ya go: 2008 Beijing Olympics Soccer Schedule.

So a camping trip this weekend kept me away from everything happening, but I was able to watch the All-Star game on Thursday night before leaving for the camping trip.

If you believe this article in The Sun, West Ham boss Alan Curbishley is ticked off over his squad being made to fly economy class like the rest of us and forced to change planes rather than have a non stop flight.
What do you think? Would MLS treat Chelsea or Real Madrid like this?

Very simply, and I'm looking through the precise blog-writer's phraseology book right now to express my emotions on this point...
Uh, OH, here it is.
Yes.
No, wait a minute:
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
OK, that's right.
Fallas' story here.

Just when you thought the speculation had died down about Kenny Cooper moving abroad, in comes news that not only is Rosenborg still very interested in Cooper, they are making the long trek from Norway to Toronto to watch the MLS All Star game.  Cooper is set to start in Thursday's match against West Ham [.

Some news on the eve of the All-Star game in Toronto. Pretty much just a follow up to last night's topic on the possible sale of FC Dallas midfielder Juan Toja. It appears that a deal is now done. According to Buzz Carrick at 3rdDegree.net, league sources say that Toja has been sold to Steaua Bucharest.

from soccernet.espn.go.com

Most of the flashbulbs and publicity heading into Thursday night's MLS All-Star match centered around David Beckham, but another high-profile player stole the show on a night when the league's star power was stronger than it has ever been.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

When the MLS All-Star reserves were named on Tuesday there were some very glaring absences from a list that included Juan Pablo Angel, Pat Onstad, Dwayne DeRosario, Jim Brennan, Pablo Mastroeni, Edson Buddle and Christian Gomez.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

As you may or may not know, the 18-man MLS All-Star team isn't the only list of players selected with relation to the All-Star game. There is also a group of players known as "inactive" all-stars, who are considered the players who would also be all-stars if the MLS All-Star Game still had the same MLS-only format.

America loves All-Stars. For whatever reason, we are infatuated with this idea of a group of best of the best. I've suggested in the past that America needs to just drop the "All-Star" game for soccer altogether. Why? Because it's a holdover from the other main stream sports, is basically a strange concoction of players, and besides all that, we already have an All-Star team – it's called the US National Team.

For today's Flashback Friday we take a look back at the All Star Game from 2000-2007
2007 All Star Game vs Celtic:
2006 All Star Game vs Chelsea:
2005 All Star Game vs Fulham:
2004 All Star Game - East vs West (who liked this format?

As we close out the soccer week in America, I've got to reflect on the MLS All Star game and events that led up to it. I've always been a critic of the MLS all star game – more the format really than the match itself. In fact, if America insists on a All Star game, I suggested in an earlier post that we look to Australia's State of Origin rugby league match up and emulate their format for our match.

Here we go, with the game to decide the second finalist of the SuperLiga. The telenovela is ending, and Paloma's heart has been broken because she has just returned (from a kidnapping?) to find the love of her life has married. Or maybe it's a lie, but too late, the game is starting.
The announcers focus on the midfield, saying Shalrie Joseph is key for the Revs.

The News-Leader has chosen Waynesville's Katie Pritchard as their female athlete of the year.

Led by its own No. 10 with a ponytail Stiles' jersey number and trademark at MSU success didn't come easy for Waynesville or Pritchard. But Pritchard's facial expression rarely changed, regardless of the circumstances.

So in case you are still wondering, and I doubt many still are, I'll tell you what's up with the DESIGNATED PLAYERS. Obviously it has nothing to with any high profile MLS signings as some have suggested in various message boards and chat rooms; as novel as it would be I doubt the league would ever announce a major acquisition through a viral campaign, especially through one this minimal.

Is it already the 14th week of MLS action? Time is sure flying by. June is coming to an end, which will bring us to July, and then the All-Star game! Yesssss (sarcasm). As you can tell, I am no fan of said meaningless exhibition. But there's another time and place for that. This week, [...]

Courtesy of an MLSR reader who keeps us abreast of all things Portland.

So, I want to preface this website with the feeling that this is probably NOT true, but here is a website that some supporters ran across regarding portland's mls bid. I LOVE the slideshow, and it has some great pics of PGE and of the history in PDX.

Looks like Jimmy Conrad has been named to the MLS "First XI" for the All Star game coming up against West Ham United in Toronto. This will be Conrad's fifth consecutive all star appearance.
While Conrad is on the "First XI", that doesn't mean he will be starting the game at BMO Field. He's just been selected to the team.

This?
Or This?
That might be the question one might ask after reading this:

"... The MLS commissioner will hold a press conference Wednesday afternoon on the Exhibition grounds, and judging from the smiles seen from the league dignitaries on Tuesday, expect some positive news over adding a second Canadian franchise at some point.

I don't mind the MLS All-Star game. I realize that may not sound like a ringing endorsement of the event and it's not. I write this not to defend the league, because to me, liking the game a matter of preference, like peanut butter. If one travels around the world at all, one realizes that outside of the U.

That time of year again, the Team Camp just ended Friday and the Residential Camp begins today. I caught this shot of the save by Bryan Byars of Putnam City North (OK), home of Lance Pickens (Chivas USA/MSU Bears) and Chad Thompson (MSU defender) during the All-Star game. The save is against his HS teammate, Tyler Groh, with Tim Wallace of Washington (MO) in defense.

The Galaxy (6-6-5) and winless in their last five games could nevertheless move into first place in the Western Conference this afternoon with a win over (4-6-7) Dallas.

As the Galaxy moves into the second half of their season, Coach Ruud Gullit was still fuming about Thursday's MLS All-Star Game, while Dallas striker Kenny Cooper may well be preoccupied by his impending transfer to Cardiff City.

One quick update. Some fans up in Portland have put together a website for their effort to bring a MLS club to the city. Also, it sounds like they have something coming soon. Like July 24th soon. Last time I checked that is around the All-Star game. I don't know if who ever is running this [...]

He may be tied for the league lead in goals, but Edson Buddle didn't seem to be letting that puff him up too much.
He still doesn't like turf, though he'd like to play in the All-Star Game. He's especially self-deprecating when talking about his national team chances.

All interested parties are most likely already at Buck Shaw (or at least in transit), but I fight on to bring you a mini-preview before today's match. Preview: We will win. Now that that's over, let me rant a little bit (because what else are blogs for?) about Comcast. With the All-Star game 12 [.

According to this article on Goal the NY Times Goal blog....
"I've been a fan of the team since I was six," Nash said of the Whitecaps. "I haven't invested money yet, more like human capital. It's a spectacular city. We're really optimistic and we're hoping to have some good news at the M.

Why am I not surprised this happened in Columbus?
Question: What would be the fallout if something like this happened in the all star game?

Tonight the MLS All-Star game will be played in Toronto, at the home of Toronto FC. The game will feature a lineup of All-Stars taking on West Ham United, from the English Premier League.

Game time - 6:00 pm. I'll be at Coester's, enjoying a good meal and some entertaining soccer I expect.

Photo credit: MLS/Paul Giamou
David Beckham, Jim Brennan and Jorge Flores visit a young fan in the hospital.
Welcome to the All-Star Game - where rivalries (Chivas USA and Galaxy and TFC) are put aside as players take on the world (West Ham).
Predictions, people. I know you've already voted in our Sideline Views poll, but now you need to guess who is going to score.

Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad, is now all star winning captain, Jimmy Conrad. Conrad played all 90 minutes, captaining the MLS all stars tonight against West Ham United at BMO Field in Toronto. United put up a good effort against the MLS all stars. They grabbed the lead through Dean Ashton in the 26th minute.

Steve Nicol coached the MLS All-Stars to victory in a back and forth affair with some great goals and the league's stars putting on what was at times an impressive display. In other words, it was exactly what you would hope for from an All-Star game.

Canadian International Dwayne De Rosario scored the game winner on a penalty kick in the 69th minute in front of a sold out crowd at BMO Field in Toronto.

Technically, Monday's RSL-Toronto match was in Week 19 of the MLS schedule, but that doesn't really make sense. Playing a Monday night match doesn't make sense either but that's what went down in Utah last night.
Anyway, that caused a minor ripple effect out here as we waited for the fifth of five matches in a two-day span to be played out before handing out or weekly kudos.

I thought Guillermo Barros Schelotto was horribly overlooked for the All-Star Game.
Still, it seemed that GBS was going to get a nice consolation prize from many writers - the league MVP title. But Landon Donovan is making a play for consideration.
It's not coincidental, either.

Rating: 5 (Very good)
See The Offisde for more on this.
Personally we feel this is the nadir of the whole "MLS All Star Game" concept.
Worst.Idea.Ever
In what other league in the world would clubs be expected to:
1) Release players due to fan votes to possibly be injured without compensation?

I hope you will join us on Thursday for our 4th annual game. This has been a 10 month process, culminating in the final high school game for the Class of 2008. Jeremy, Zack and I have spent a significant amount of time over the past month in final preparations. Your support for the players and the event is an important part of growing the soccer community in the region.