MLS All-Stars defeat West Ham United 3-2 in front of a BMO Field record crowd of 20,844 in the 2008 Pepsi MLS All-Star game on Thursday night in Toronto. MLS All-Stars Chicago Fire forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco scored a goal and added an assist en route to being named the game's most valuable player.
West Ham got on the board first with a Dean Ashton goal in the 26th minute scoring on a low drive past MLS goalkeeper Matt Reis (New England). The MLS All-Stars answered immediately on a goal from Christian Gomez (Colorado Rapids). The play started in the center of the field with David Beckham feeding the ball ahead to Blanco, who flicked the ball back to Gomez with the back of his heel. Gomez touched the ball forward and fired the ball to the left corner of the goal past West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green.
The MLS All-Stars took the lead before the end of the first half on a spectacular effort by Blanco. The Mexican forward received a pass from Juan Toja (FC Dallas) in the top left corner of the penalty area, dribbled by a West Ham defender and curled the ball from a sharp angle around Green and into the top right corner of goal in the 43rd minute.
With the MLS All-Stars up 2-1 in the second half, Ashton struck again for West Ham drawing the game level at 2-2 in the 67th minute. Ashton fired a long-range shot that deflected off an MLS defender and with Reis going the opposite way, the ball snuck by the left post.
The match was tied for only minutes as the MLS All-Stars went ahead for good on a penalty kick goal in the 69th minute. Houston Dynamo midfielder and Canadian international Dwayne De Rosario was fouled in the penalty area by defender Lucas Neill, which set up the spot kick. De Rosario stepped to the spot and blasted a shot high and down the left center. The ball crashed into the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and up into the goal. The goal was De Rosario's second game-winning goal in an All-Star game. He scored the lone goal in a 1-0 defeat of Chelsea FC in the 2006 All-Star game.
The MLS All-Stars are 5-0 in the format of MLS versus top-flight clubs from across the globe and have outscored opponents 13-5 in the five matches.
Scoring:
WHU -- Dean Ashton 1 (Carlton Cole 1) 26
MLS -- Christian Gomez 1 (Cuauhtémoc Blanco 1, David Beckham 1) 27
MLS -- Cuauhtémoc Blanco 1 (Juan Toja ) 43
WHU -- Dean Ashton 2 (Luis Boa Morte ) 67
MLS -- Dwayne De Rosario 1 (penalty kick) 69
Discipline:
WHU -- Scott Parker (caution; Delaying a Restart) 46+
MLS -- Jonathan Bornstein (caution; Pushing, Holding) 52
MLS -- Frankie Hejduk (caution; Reckless Foul) 56
MLS -- Jimmy Conrad (caution; Reckless Foul) 82
Referee: Mauricio Navarro
Referee's Assistants: Hector Vergara; Greg Barkey
4th Official: Mark Geiger
Time of Game: 90:00
Weather: Partly Cloudy -and- 72 degrees
Attendance: 20,844
