MLS All Stars 2 Celtic 0

Match report by D of DCentres fame...

When the Hoops come to America, they bring the rains of Glasgow with them. One year ago I was in Washington, D.C.'s RFK stadium as the rain poured, and there I watched D.C. United dismantle Celtic 4-nil. Tonight I am on my couch, dry and warm, but the Bhoys are in Denver, Colorado and there the rain is coming down. In a way, it pleases me to see the rain. Somehow, this is the right weather for a match with Celtic.

ESPN is bringing us tonight's match between the MLS all-stars and the Celtic Football Club on the television. However, since this is the all-star game, there is an extended amount of pregame filler, and all of it is about David Beckham. Number of distinct moments Beckham is mentioned in the pregame festivities? 23. Mentions of Celtic? 5. Something is amiss.

However, at 9:21 PM Eastern Time, Celtic takes the field, and they're in the hoops. This is good, one of the things I missed in their previous visit to our shores. We want to see Celtic in that kit, we want the hoops. Not that the international kits weren't stylish, but they weren't the team we longed to see. When you only see a team once every few years, these things matter. We want the entire experience, and tonight they oblige. Your starting line up is

...McDonald - Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden... (I'm sure that's been said before, but hey...) Jarosik - Donati - Brown - Hartley Naylor - McManus - Pressley - Wilson and Boruc

The game starts slowly, but MLS earned the first chance of the night when Ricardo Clark broke between Naylor and McManus before sending the shot right at Boruc. Wilson seemed to have difficulty with the speed he was seeing from Juan Pablo Angel, and Celtic does not seem to congealing while MLS is starting to find their rhythm. In the 12th minute Celtic could have sparked a nice counter but Hartley couldn't settle a difficult switch.

Pressley starts establishing the tone of his night as he clears out a Ronnie O'Brien cross in the 12th minute. For this, he is excellent, as MLS found no favor in attacking from the flank. As for things up the middle... well, not so much. Still, Naylor shows good pace joining the attack in the 15th minute, but again Celtic gets bogged down with some physical defending. This will also set the tone of the night. Celtic's touch and passing were generally fine, but they showed the most rust in how they handled physical play. For almost an hour no one on Celtic seemed to know how to fight through a tackle or handle the pressing marking being applied by Jimmy Conrad and Shalrie Joseph.

Celtic earned the first corner of the night in the 19th minute. It sailed on Hartley, the thin air of Denver exaggerating a ball that was probably only slightly over hit at lower altitude.

In the 21st minute, Eddie Johnson makes some nifty moved and sends a cross over to Juan Toja, who's beaten Wilson and is alone with Boruc. Boruc makes himself huge and earns his second big save of the night. Still, MLS is starting to establish their advantage now. In the 27th minute Pressley shows the weakness of his game, fouling Dwayne De Rosario about 5 yards out of the box and picking up a caution.

Pressley all night couldn't figure out how to make a clean tackle on a player running at him, but as I said before he was excellent in the air. Regardless, the free kick starts a sequence that ends with an MLS corner kick. The corner from Ronnie O'Brien finds Eddie Johnson, who is fouled (and he sells the foul, but is fouled none-the-less) by Scott Brown. The referee awards the penalty, and Eddie Johnson steps up to take it against Boruc.

Boruc has come up huge twice early, and now he does so again, diving to his right and deflecting Johnson's shot out for another corner. Surely this would change the momentum of the match? For a moment, perhaps, as Donati starts to get into the game with some nice touches, McDonald earns a foul for a free kick, but Hartly's crosses in the run of play are ultimately a shade off, and MLS keeper Matt Reis cuts them out easily. I also note that by the 35th minute, Brown is largely invisible, and JVo'H has also found little room to maneuver.

In the 36th minute, Shalrie Joseph finds Dwayne De Rosario from midfield, and DeRo sends a nicely weighted through ball into Juan Pablo Angel. Angel splits McManus and Pressley to get in on Boruc, and then dribbles poor Artur who sprawls on his right side. Angel easily finds the net.

Goal, MLS 1 : 0 Celtic F.C.

McDonald gets the first shot off the night for Celtic in the 41st minute, a scorching low beast from about 25 yards. It beats Matt Reis but clatters off the far post, and it would be the closest Celtic would be to scoring in the first half.

In the 44th minute, Pressley again fouls DeRo and sets up a free kick opportunity for MLS. The kick is poorly taken, and pings off the wall.

However, Celtic seems unable to clear, and either Brown or McDonald end up touching the ball directly to Juan Toja, who take one touch and fires the shot from eight yards past Boruc.

Goal, MLS 2: 0 Celtic FC. And a minute and change later, the half ends.

Celtic in the first half were not dreadful, but not especially frightening either. The main problem was them consistently surrendering posession to only moderate physical contact. While MLS defenses tend to be physical, they don't hack that much more than your average Scottish League team, and this seemed to be the area where Celtic most needed to find their form. They were unable to either elude or fight through tackles, and multiple promising attacks on the wing would die out due ot this. Brown seemed mostly ineffective, Taylor showed well, and Jarosik showed great pace and ability to track back on the ball. Donati and JVoH (I fear the carpal tunnel syndrome that awaits the poor hoops bloggers who type this name out) were largely ineffective, with Donati being a particular disappointment in his inability to manufacture anything in a forward direction.

The rest of the game went mostly quietly (by which I mean my handwritten notes are becoming more illegible at this time.) After 34 distinct mentions, David Beckham is interviewed during the interval. Apparently his ankle hurts, and he may not play against Chelsea. I should not take any amusement in this.

No changes after the half for Celtic. Hartman subs for Reis as the MLS Keeper.The opening moments of the second half see Celtic looking better than they did the previous 45. Did GS really lay into them? Brown starts to be more active, and earns a foul of Shalrie Joseph by fighting through the contact. First moment of hope for Celtic. Second moment of hope comes in the 51st minute, when McDonald easily puts a rebound off of Hartman into the net. However, it is called back for offside, and the replay confirms that at the time of the initial shot, he is indeed well and truly over that line.

52nd minute. Miller in for JVoH, and he provides some nice speed. McGeady in for Jarosik, and he provides some spark as well. Both do well in their roles as subs, with Miller settling a ball nicely in the box in the 85th minute (before he surrenders it with no help around him) and McGeady making some really nice moves in the 62nd, turning his marker around with an excellent change of direction and sending a smoking cross into McDonald who just puts it wide. Balde comes in for Pressley, Gravesen for Donati, and Magic for McDonald round out Celtic's subs, but none of them make a real impression with the time remaining.

MLS starts to make its subs in the 65th minute, as Landon Donovan replaces Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching comes in for Juan Pable Angel, and my boy (and DC United's own) Christian Gomez subs for DeRo. Donovan has some nice runs (and a beautiful 40 yard outlet pass for Brian Ching) and Gomez has a goal of his own called back for the offside infraction (barely, but correctly called). From the 65th to the 85th minutes, the MLS side is clearly in control, though Celtic would find occasional moments. Boruc pulls out one more classy save when he stoned Ronnie O'Brien in the 79th. More substitutions for in the 80th minute, with MLS giving Eddie Pope and Cobi Jones a chance to take a farewell bow as they near their retirement. Classy move by Steve Nicol, running them separately to earn their ovations.

Celtic's last chances came after the 85th minute, as Miller nearly gets sent in. After Naylor has a dodgy moment with his knee while he tried to settle a ball, he and McGeady combine to force some pressure on the MLS backs. A corner in the 87th sees some nice pressure from Celtic, but then it breaks and the three minutes of stoppage are a tired, easygoing affair.

Full time.MLS 2 : 0 Celtic FC.

Boruc was excellent, despite giving up two goals (one was impossible for him to do, and the other was clearly a case of Juan Pable Angel outpacing him). I was also pleased by Taylor, McGeady, McDonald, and Miller. Pressley and McManus weren't in sympatico, and I'm not sure who is more to blame. Brown and Donati were disappointing and ineffective.

For MLS, Toja and Angel did what the should have done, with Toja really making a strong case for MLS Player of the Year at this point. Eddie Johnson was more creative than I recall him being. Shalrie Joseph and Dwayne DeRosario combined well, and the back line seemed fairly poised. Each of the subs made before the 80th minute got a chance to show something, and it was nice. Ronnie O'Brien was disappointing, as his crosses lacked their famed precision and just regular passes started to desert him at the end. All in all?

What we expected. Celtic has some things to work on and correct before competition begins in earnest, although it isn't what I expected. MLS looked fine for a hastily assembled team of the best talent in the league, and did what they should do in this situation. Not the greatest night of soccer I've seen as a neutral, but if you can't smile when you first see those emerald hoops take to the pitch then I fear for your soul. It does the heart good to see that.

The DCenters: http://dcunitedblog.blogspot.com

Because really, the internet is one giant bar argument about US Soccer.

Think we will all like to give D, a big YNWA and much kudo's for that match report, which he kindly agreed to do for us since the 2am start and limited availability of coverage on the net. A lot to discuss but it just seems the hoops reverted to the same old friendly fire, lets not tackle or be tackled mindset.

Forza