Had a chance for a quick chat yesterday with a member of the League's special events staff, the group that does all the planning and preparations for the AT&T MLS All-Star Game. As you might imagine, the game itself requires months upon months of planning, mapping out every possible off-field detail.
The problem with this of course is that sometimes you run into a situation where what goes down (Like, a 4-1 loss to Manchester United) on the field easily overshadows anything that happened off of it in the build up. The last two editions of this match haven't ended all that well for MLS.
No such issues in 2012. What a night that was.
Over 19,000 packed PPL Park on Wednesday, creating an atmosphere that went from festive to electric once it became clear that a certain Englishman would be present in the starting lineup. We're not talking about John Terry. Beckham squared off against Di Matteo many-a-time when RDM played for Chelsea.
1-1 and all to play for as we approached halftime, we caught the ESPN broadcast transfixed on the action transpiring underneath them. Max, Alexi and Kasey know a good game when they see one.
With most of the crowd and surely the lion's share of viewers watching at home preparing themselves for a round penalties, the crew of second half substitutes had other ideas. Zusi, Beckerman, Pontius, Beckerman, Johnson. Goodnight.
As captain of the squad, De Rosario may have been the one to lift the trophy for the All-Stars in front of all the TV cameras, but the night's prized piece of hardware eventually made its way into the hands of the man whose strike delivered it.
Everyone has their own opinion on Eddie Johnson's career path, but there's no arguing he's in as good of a spot now as he's ever been. Here's to continued success.
PPL Park is empty now. Chelsea have departed from their hotel, already on the way to Miami. Tomorrow the players will return to their clubs to prepare for another round of matches this weekend.
The show goes on, but it sure was fun in Philadelphia.
