MLS All Stars Defeat West Ham

The game may have been David Beckham’s long-awaited debut in Toronto, but it was the city’s own Dwayne De Rosario that wound up the hero of the 2008 Major League Soccer all-star game.

The Canadian’s penalty kick in the 69th minute gave the MLS All-Stars a 3-2 victory over English Premiership squad West Ham United Thursday at BMO Field, in the annual soccer spectacle’s first foray into Canada.

The MLS is now a perfect 5-0 since the all-star format was changed to bring in an international opponent.

While De Rosario secured the win, Beckham certainly didn’t disappoint the record crowd of 20,844 fans at BMO Field that had waited nearly a year to see the former England captain take the pitch. Beckham was just weeks into his stint in the MLS and still nursing an old ankle injury when the Galaxy visited here Aug. 5 last summer. Becks sat on the bench in a suit and tie. He then missed L.A.’s game in Toronto earlier this season to play for England.

It was Becks-Mania at its best Thursday as the stands were dotted with No. 23 Beckham jerseys of all sorts — England, Manchester United, Real Madrid and the Galaxy. Fans crowded along the front rail snapping pictures as Beckham launched cross after cross during the warmup. Each time the 33-year-old set up to take a free kick or corner kick, the stands were awash in a sea of flashing bulbs.

West Ham got on the scoreboard first in the 26th minute, when Dean Ashton ran onto a through ball from Carlton Cole and slipped it past New England Revolution ‘keeper Matt Reis.

The All-Stars responded in the 27th minute Christian Gomez of the Colorado Rapids took a back-heeled pass from Chicago’s Guauhtemoc Blanco and launched the ball past Hammers ‘keeper Robert Green.

Blanco made it 2-1 for the All-Stars in the 43rd minute, when he took a pass from Dallas midfielder Juan Toja, switched the ball from his left to right foot to deke around a defender, and fired the ball to the right corner past Green.

Ashton tied it up for the London visitors in the 67th minute, firing a shot that glanced off All-Star defender Jimmy Conrad’s head and into the net.

But De Rosario gave the All-Stars back the lead when he was taken down in the box by West Ham’s Lucas Neill. The national team veteran coolly connected on a penalty shot that bounced up inside the crossbar before hitting the back of the net.

None of the three Canadians, meanwhile, were in the starting lineup, but De Rosario and Onstad had only landed in Toronto hours before the game. The pair were in Washington, D.C., the previous night for a makeup league game against D.C. United. The Toronto crowd grew impatient waiting for Brennan, breaking into chants of “We want Brennan!” Brennan and De Rosario — both Toronto natives — were finally subbed into the game to a standing ovation in the 59th minute, while Onstad, a Vancouver native, went in in the 70th.

The game got off to a sluggish start as the MLS All-Stars, coming from points across the league, figured out how to play together.

The first real scoring chance came in the 18th minute when Christian Gomez chipped the ball to Kenny Cooper, who spun launching a volley that went just over the crossbar.

Two minutes later, Beckham took a corner kick, but Green got his hands on it.

Beckham took a free kick in the 40th minute that looked on a direct path to the net, before a West Ham defender headed it off the goal line.

While Beckham barely played last season, he’s done well this year, scoring five goals and notching a league-leading seven assists, and he certainly showed Thursday night why he is a big part of the L.A. Galaxy’s hunt for the top spot in the Western Conference. He had several other good scoring chances in the second half, including a shot in the 60th minute that flew just wide of the left corner. Becks ran back up the field shaking his head in disbelief.

The MLS remains undefeated in all-star games against pro teams. They beat Guadalajara 3-1, Fulham 4-1, and blanked Chelsea 1-0. Beckham had just arrived in the U.S. when the MLS defeated Celtic 2-0 in last summer’s all-star game, handing out a trophy at halftime.

The night got off to an ugly start, when fans erupted into O Canada during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. The fans booed when the flags of England and the U.S. were marched out onto the field, and not the Maple Leaf, and the England and American anthems were performed.

But it was perhaps just a bit of bad planning. The Maple Leaf was then marched onto the field by RCMP officers, and the Canadian anthem performed.

A good portion of fans in the end zone came clad in black T-shirts as a protest the possible expansion of the field to accommodate the Toronto Argonauts.

MLS commissioner Don Garber said Wednesday he agreed with the fans, saying the league’s goal was to have every team in a soccer-specific stadium, but added he hoped they wouldn’t turn out wearing black.

West Ham was using the game as part of early-season training, and were coming off a 3-1 win over the Crew at Columbus on Sunday, a game marred by a halftime scuffle between West Ham and Crew fans. The police presence was significant at BMO Field Sunday, but organizers had said earlier in the week they didn’t change their security measures after the Columbus game.

Photo Credit: Dave Sandford, Getty Images