Sure, the AT&T MLS All-Star Game is an exhibition; it's a fun night out for some of the best players Major League Soccer has to offer; and, oh yeah, it usually features a pretty stellar opponent from the European soccer world. That doesn't mean, though, that guys aren't going out there and trying to ball on the big stage.
Whether you're the All-Star in mid-season form trying to impress the scouts undoubtedly watching around the world, or the 25th man on Sir Alex Ferguson's preseason roster and trying to get minutes once the season starts, you want to bag a goal, and you want it to look good.
There have been several quality goals in recent All-Star Games and we've picked out the best of the lot:
No. 5:Jeff Cunningham - MLS All-Stars 3-1 Fulham FC (Skip to 8:04)
Jeff Cunningham scored a few goals in MLS play — 134, to be exact — and he had finishing of that quality to thank for many of them.
No. 4:Jeff Cunningham - MLS All-Stars 4-1 Fulham FC (Skip to 8:43)
Given the number of goals he scored in his career, it was really no surprise Cunningham netted a five-minute brace when the 2005 exhibition was played in his then-home Crew Stadium. And how about that breakaway speed against a Premier League foe?
No. 3:Darren Gibson - MLS All-Stars 1-3 Manchester United (Skip to 2:54)
Sometimes the superiority of the European powerhouse shows through and that was the case in 2010 when Man United put a lopsided number up against the All-Stars. Gibson's free kick was the goal of the game ... to that point.
No. 2:Cuauhtémoc Blanco - MLS All-Stars 2-1 West Ham United (Skip to 1:40)
Whether you hated (US national team fans) or loved Blanco (Mexican national team and Chicago Fire fans), the dude could ball and he could score goals. This far post curler was pretty nice, even for his typically lofty standards.
No. 1:Tom Cleverley - MLS All-Stars 1-4 Manchester United (Skip to 3:36)
Did I say Gibson's free kick was the goal of the game? What I meant was, it was the goal of the game, until Cleverley called his bet and raised him considerably just three minutes later.
What do you think? Who was wrongfully omitted? Can you think of a great All-Star Game goal from the pre-YouTube era of the Internet?
