2020 MLS All-Star Game
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The 2021 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the 25th edition of the annual
Major League Soccer All-Star Game The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially adopted a traditional all ...
, an exhibition
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
match in the United States. The game, featuring the MLS All-Stars taking on the
Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...
All-Stars, was played at Banc of California Stadium in
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, California. The game was originally scheduled to take place on July 29, 2020, during the 2020 season, but was postponed on May 19, 2021, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The game was televised domestically on Fox Sports 1 and
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
in the United States, and on TSN and TVA Sports in Canada. The MLS All-Stars won the match 3–2 on penalties after the 90 minute-match ended in a 1–1 tie.


Match planning

The
Major League Soccer All-Star Game The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially adopted a traditional all ...
originally fielded two all-star teams from the Western and Eastern conferences. Other competition formats pitted an all-star team against various opponents, including the
United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...
and clubs from Mexico and Europe. An exhibition between the MLS All-Stars and an all-star team from
Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...
, the top flight of Mexican soccer, was proposed in the mid-2010s as part of a closer relationship between the leagues. Officials from MLS and Liga MX announced a new partnership in March 2018, including new club competitions like the
Campeones Cup The Campeones Cup is an annual North American association football match contested between the winners of the previous MLS Cup from Major League Soccer and the winners of the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX. The competition was established by ...
and Leagues Cup, and a commitment for a shared all-star game. Liga MX president Enrique Bonilla attended the 2018 MLS All-Star Game in
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with MLS commissioner Don Garber, where they continued discussions for the match, including a potential venue in the Los Angeles area. On November 20, 2019, MLS officially announced that the 2020 All-Star Game would be played against the Liga MX All-Stars at Banc of California Stadium, the home of
Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...
. It is the first to be played against an all-star team from another league. LAFC head coach Bob Bradley was selected as the manager of the MLS All-Star team. It is the first MLS All-Star Game to be played in the Los Angeles area since
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, which was hosted by the
LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...
at the Home Depot Center, now known as
Dignity Health Sports Park Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...
. On May 19, 2020, MLS announced that the All-Star Game would be canceled alongside the 2020 Leagues Cup and 2020 Campeones Cup due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The league later announced that the All-Star Game would be rescheduled for the 2021 season in Los Angeles, with the MLS All-Stars against the Liga MX All-Stars. The league announced on June 9, 2021, that the All-Star Game against Liga MX would be played on August 25 at Banc of California Stadium.


Squads


MLS All-Stars

The MLS All-Star squad was announced on August 4, 2021.
Carlos Vela Carlos Alberto Vela Garrido (; born 1 March 1989) is a Mexican former association football, footballer. A versatile offensive player, Vela could be deployed as a forward (association football), forward, winger (association football), winger, an ...
and Javier Hernández withdrew due to injury. New England players Carles Gil and Tajon Buchanan withdrew as well as Minnesota United midfielder Emanuel Reynoso. Rodolfo Pizarro, George Bello, and Sebastian Lletget were added as replacements. Six members of the starting XI were selected from
Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...
, tying the record set by D.C. United in
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
. Brothers Cristian Roldan and Alex Roldan also became the first brothers to play for the All-Star team. * Manager: Bob Bradley ''(
Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...
)''


Liga MX All-Stars

The Liga MX All-Star squad was announced on July 19, 2021. Nahuel Guzmán and Jorge Sánchez were called up as replacements for José de Jesús Corona and Fernando Navarro who withdrew due to injury. On August 23, the final squad was announced with 10 new players added. * Manager: Juan Reynoso ''( Cruz Azul)''


Skills Challenge

The MLS All-Star Skills Challenge was played on August 24 at Banc of California Park between eight players from each team in five events. The Liga MX All-Stars defeated the MLS All-Stars in the competition by a score of 26–25, with the tiebreaker scored by Cruz Azul forward Jonathan Rodríguez in the Crossbar Challenge.


Broadcasting

The All-Star Game and Skills Challenge were both broadcast in the United States on Fox Sports 1 in English and
TUDN TUDN (pronounced tu-de-ene; formerly called Univision Deportes Network) is a Mexican Spanish language sports channel. Owned by TelevisaUnivision, it is an extension of the company's sports division of the same name, with TUDN the acronym of Tel ...
in Spanish, as well as TSN and TVA Sports in Canada. Fox Sports broadcast the match in 4K HDR and also deployed several special slow-motion cameras for the match, as well as a skycam. The Fox Sports broadcast averaged 175,000 viewers, setting a record low for the event's English broadcasts, while the TUDN broadcast averaged 1.4 million and peaked at 1.6 million—the second-most for a Spanish broadcast of the match.


Match


Match rules

*Unlimited substitutions *
Penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
if tied at full time; no extra time


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mls All-Star 2021
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...
August 2021 sports events in the United States 2021 in sports in Los Angeles 2021–22 Liga MX season 2021–22 in Mexican football