The MLS All-Star Game used to have a traditional East-vs. This game will be something the city would embrace as a host, but which ASG format would be best for the league and the business? If not a move across London, the 27-year-old was asked if he could envision himself joining an MLS club.
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Winners of the last five Serie A titles, the Italian giants would make for yet another massive name to face the MLS All Stars. The format, which now pits MLS All-Stars against a major club in Europe, has started to lose its luster, leaving many to wonder if this setup should be tweaked.
The idea was novel at first, with MLS trying to show its players are as good as those overseas, but the level of opponents varied widely from year to year.
“The players who won’t make it are the players who went very far in the European Championship”, Wenger said.
The teams are always at varying stages of preseason fitness and the MLS players themselves aren’t about to risk injury in an exhibition.
Arsenal, which finished in second place in the English Premier League table last season, is in the midst of its preparations of the upcoming campaign, which kicks off August 14 at home against Liverpool.
The All-Star Game is a major way to sell the brand and players of American soccer.
This year Arsenal brings a squad to San Jose, California, bereft of its biggest names. Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud have joined Koscielny in not making the trip due to their Euro 2016 commitments.
Whether or not the Gunners win Thursday is meaningless.
With so many foreign teams touring the United States this time of the year, the game just about gets lost in the shuffle. Should we really be freaking out if the best of the MLS beat Arsenal’s reserves? Fast forward 15 years and the All-Star Game is back in the Bay Area, but the MLS is in a much different place. Not only does it fill up the stadium when there are two high quality teams on the pitch, and boost merchandise sales, but the awareness of the league is spread tremendously. “The game’s growing, it’s getting bigger and that’s exactly what we want”.
He made more tackles and interceptions combined (29) than any other player at the tournament as Colombia finished third behind winners Chile and runners-up Argentina. Many will be familiar to Arsenal fans and supporters from around the world, including Kaka, Sebastian Giovinco, Andrea Pirlo, Giovani dos Santos and the man who so often tormented Arsenal while in a Chelsea shirt: Didier Drogba.
It’s time for MLS to stop pandering to Euro-centric American soccer fans or trying to convince the world that the league is just as good as those in Europe.
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The answer is that MLS is a business and needs to sell its brand.
