Two of Atletico Madrid's marquee summer signings will join the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by Target, MLS announced Thursday.
Mexico international Hector Herrera and club-record signing Joao Felix will join Koke in repping Atleti at the inaugural Skills Challenge at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando on July 30, as part of 2019 MLS All-Star festivities. They'll compete will a trio of MLS All-Stars (Wayne Rooney, Carlos Vela, Jonathan dos Santos) and Orlando City players (Nani, Chris Mueller, Sebastian Mendez).
A veteran of two World Cups for El Tri, Herrera arrived at Atletico Madrid this summer after six seasons as a regular for FC Porto. In Portugal, Herrera helped his squad to the 2017-18 Portuguese league title and appeared in 41 UEFA Champions League matches.
Joao Felix, 19, transferred from Benfica after Atletico paid a reported €126 million transfer fee for the Portuguese sensation, who scored 15 goals in his first pro season.
The Skills Challenge, which will be hosted by F2 Freestylers Jeremy Lynch and Billy Wingrove, will see three participating squads compete in three different categories: shooting, touch and volley, and passing.
Fans at All-Star who wish to attend can purchase a ticket that grants entry for both the Skills Challenge, which starts at 8 pm ET, and the preceding MLS Homegrown Game presented by Energizer, which kicks off at 5 pm ET. Fans who cannot be in attendance can experience the event through live streams on MLSsoccer.com, the MLS mobile app, ESPN, FOX and Univision in the US, TSN and TVAS in Canada, or via streams on Twitch and Twitter.
