The month of July was a busy one for most of the players in Major League Soccer, and even with the 2006 Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game mere days away the schedule didn't let up, as the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup took place Tuesday and Wednesday.
Of the 18 players who will face off against two-time defending English Premier League champions Chelsea FC on Saturday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., 12 saw action in Open Cup games at midweek. Five D.C. United players went 120 minutes against the Columbus Crew Tuesday night, including defender Bobby Boswell.
Boswell said however tired he and the rest of this week's Open Cup combatants may be, it won't show on Saturday.
"I think the fact that it's the All-Star Game and we're playing Chelsea, guys are going to be ready to play this game," he said. "Even though they may be a little fatigued, I think the more you play the more rhythm you get in. Hopefully the guys will be ready to ping the ball around and put on a good performance for the fans."
Houston Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson scored his team's final goal in a 4-2 win against the Carolina Dynamo of the PDL at Houston's Robertson Stadium on Wednesday night. At training on Thursday at the University of Illinois-Chicago, he showed no ill effects of the previous day's match or travel.
He said both he and teammate Ricardo Clark, another MLS All-Star who played 85 minutes Wednesday night, felt "surprisingly good" after the match. Dynamo have played on Wednesday and Saturday in each of the last two weeks; Robinson said all of that time on the field has he and his Orange teammates extremely fit.
He went so far as to say the game might have helped the MLS players stay in tune.
"It's just a little extra sharpness," Robinson said. "The team we're playing, they're going to capitalize on mistakes if we make them. Mistakes against teams like that are inches, not feet. If that little bit of sharpness that we maintained on Wednesday night helps us on Saturday, that's going to be huge."
Said MLS All-Star head coach Peter Nowak: "Personally, I think playing against Chelsea is going to keep them sharp ... I don't need to motivate them. That's for sure."
Déjà vu?: A third of the MLS All-Star roster has faced Chelsea before, as United fell 2-1 to the Blues at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., on July 28, 2005. Six of the eight United players who will suit up for the All-Stars Saturday saw time on the field against Chelsea a year ago.
Boswell scored the Black-and-Red's opener in the 31st minute. The visitors got goals from Damien Duff in the 35th minute and Hernan Crespo in the 56th to claim victory despite United's advantage in possession.
"I thought we did a pretty good job of limiting their chances, but they still got two goals from pretty much nothing," Boswell said. "It's good to have played them, but with that said, they've got great players, players that can hurt you on any given play, on any given day. We just have to be ready for 90 minutes."
Nowak said the experience of playing Chelsea does little for him and his MLS side heading into Saturday's match, aside from letting him know Chelsea are a smart group who will be well-prepared.
"You could see when we started the game they were ready for us," he said. "They know how we play and they know everything we did, and we have to be very smart to play this game."
Nowak implied that if the MLS All-Stars get on top of Chelsea, they'll need to keep the pressure up in order to stay in control.
"[Last year] we score one goal and then we feel very good about ourselves, and then two quick strikes put us away," Nowak said. "After the game we felt very good with how we played, but we still lost the game. I hope not to make the same mistake twice."
Familiar faces: With eight MLS All-Stars, Nowak and United are close to being able to field a team entirely composed of Black-and-Red. The D.C. contingent's eighth member, Facundo Erpen, officially joined the MLS squad Thursday as Real Salt Lake defender Eddie Pope was ruled out due to a persistent foot injury.
Pope's injury prevents him from tying the record for most All-Star Game appearances, which is held jointly by Kansas City Wizards/Miami Fusion legend Preki and retired defender Jeff Agoos with eight. Pope has been selected for the midsummer showcase a record 10 times, but injuries in 2001 and 2005 prevented him from playing.
The switch also boosts United's representation to stunning proportions, as their eight players shatters the record for most players from one team in an All-Star Game using the current format where an all-MLS side takes on another club or national team.
The previous record is six, set by the San Jose Earthquakes in 2002 when MLS took on the U.S. national team. Four Quakes players - Wade Barrett, Joe Cannon, Ariel Graziani and Richard Mulrooney - suited up for MLS, while Jeff Agoos and Landon Donovan played for the U.S.
FC Dallas had six representatives chosen last year when the MLS All-Stars played Fulham FC, but forward Eddie Johnson was scratched due to a foot injury, leaving the Hoops and New England Revolution level with five players each. The Los Angeles Galaxy and Chicago Fire also contibuted five apiece when MLS took on Chivas of Guadalajara in 2003.
Jason Halpin is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
