SOCCER: ALL-STAR GAME COUNTS AS A MEASURING STICK.Byline: Staff and Wire Services A decade of fiddling with its All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, although this is not the case for some all-star games format has led Major League Soccer to a unique manner of giving what is an exhibition of greater meaning: Make it a real game, or at least a reasonable facsimile. A sellout crowd is expected to fill Toyota Park Toyota Park can refer to two different stadiums.
D.C. coach Peter Nowak has eight of his own players on the 20-man All-Star squad and has faced accusations of favoritism. ``This is not a game to have a couple of days off and have a good time together,'' Nowak said. ``It's special playing a team (that won) the last championship in the English league. You want to prove (MLS) is getting better.'' However, the MLS squad will be without several top players. U.S. internationals Landon Donovan Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982 in Ontario, California), is an American professional soccer player on the Los Angeles Galaxy, who is the joint all-time leading scorer for the U.S. National Team (along with Eric Wynalda). (Galaxy), Eddie Pope (Salt Lake) and Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado) are injured. Chivas USA's Ante Razov, who leads the MLS with 12 goals, and New England midfielder Clint Dempsey aren't available because their teams are playing a league match Sunday, half of a doubleheader at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The other game Sunday is the first match of a three-game U.S.tour by Spanish and European Champions League winner FC Barcelona, which will play Mexican club CD Guadalajara. |
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