MLS All-Stars suffer 4-1 defeat to Liga MX’s strongest team

Doug McIntyre

Football journalist

For the first time in three tries, Liga MX The best players beat their opponents from Major League Soccer at the MLS All-Star game, with the selection of Mexico The top tournament won 4-1 in the 2024 event on Wednesday at Lower dot com Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

Monterrey Striker Germán Berterame opened the scoring after 15 minutes, a strike cancelled out minutes later by a hometown hero Cucho HernandezColombian star of Columbus Crew. Pachuca outstanding Oussama Idrissi put Liga MX top when he scored the winner just before half-time. The visitors extended their lead with two more goals just over 20 minutes apart before the end.

Wednesday’s contest marks the third time since 2021 that the All-Star Game has featured neighboring leagues in MLS’s midsummer classic. MLS’s best team beat Liga MX 2-1 in 2022 and won on penalties after a 1-1 draw last year. The Power of the Premier League arsenal defeated the MLS All-Stars team 5-0 last year.

Here are some quick facts from the 29th MLS All-Star Game.

How to play the game

Cucho’s goal was well taken and well timed. The former Barcelona and Spain international mainstay Sergio Busquets showed off his family tree with a feed for Diego Rossi on the wing, its weight allowing the Uruguayan to make the first pass to his sprinting Crew teammate. With LIGA MX goalkeeper Luis Malagón in hand, Hernandez calmly slotted the ball into the net — much to the delight of the home fans in yellow:

Redirection point

Both coaches made big changes as the game wore on. MLS boss Wilfried Nancy almost equalised again at 2-1, but LA Galaxy’s shot Riqui Puig Can’t beat the far post:

Key Statistics

MLS now has a record of 11 wins and 10 losses since the All-Stars-versus-away-team format first debuted in 2002. In addition to its two recent wins over Liga MX, MLS has also defeated European powerhouses Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur And Chelsea (twice).

What’s next for Liga MX?

For the second consecutive season, Mexico will shut down its top domestic league and send its teams to the United States and Canada for the Leagues Cup, a 47-team tournament that includes every Liga MX and MLS club. In the all-American final at last year’s inaugural event, Lionel Messi led Inter Miami in the past Nashville, South Carolina to lift the trophy.

Some of the off-field logistics have been improved for Liga MX’s representatives this summer, and Mexican teams should certainly expect better results on the field. Because when the playing field is even—as it was in the Concacaf Champions Cup home-and-away series earlier this year—Liga MX has proven that it’s still the flagbearer of North America, at least for now.

What’s next for MLS?

The 2023 Leagues Cup has been an instant hit for MLS, and not just because of Messi & Co.’s fairytale run to the trophy. With matches taking place virtually every night during the group stage of the month-long World Cup-style tournament—many of them exciting intra-squad matches—the still-new tournament has added a welcome bit of mid-summer spice to the long, sweltering days of the regular season. With stadiums packed with potential new fans and teams in peak form, MLS has another immediate opportunity to prove it can consistently beat Mexico’s best.

Doug McIntyre is a football writer for FOX Sports who covers USA men’s and women’s national teams at the FIFA World Cup on five continents. Follow him at @ByDougMcIntyre.

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