MLS All-Stars Taking On Manchester United For Second Straight Year

The MLS All-Star team will take on Manchester United tonight before a "sold-out Red Bull Arena" in Harrison, N.J., with ESPN2 and Galavision offering coverage of the match at 8:30pm ET. MLS uses the All-Star Game as "an annual litmus test and a way to showcase both its imported stars and American talent" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/27). ManU defeated the MLS All-Stars 5-2 in last year's game, the "sixth consecutive year that the All-Stars played a British team" (USATODAY.com, 7/26).

The MLS All-Star team will be "missing some of their best and most-famous players due to injury," including Red Bulls MF Rafa Marquez and Galaxy F Landon Donovan, G Donovan Ricketts and D Omar Gonzalez. Futher undermining the match is that "actual competitive games – in this case CONCACAF Champions League matches – are forcing the likes" of Sounders FC G Kasey Keller and FC Dallas D Brek Shea to miss the event (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 7/26).

SPORTING NEWS' Brian Straus writes of the advantages of watching the MLS All-Star Game over other sports like the NBA, NFL and MLB: "America's fifth major professional sports league will show its big brothers how to stage an all-star game. The MLS version is a highlight of the season and, unlike the others, actually can brand itself as a legitimate athletic contest" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 7/26).