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Inside the MLS All-Star Game: Day Two

By on July 26, 2016

Relive all the sights and sounds from Major League Soccer All-Star Week as the anticipation for Thursday’s big event began to build right in the heart of downtown San Jose.

San Jose Earthquakes Training

The San Jose Earthquakes took to training in the morning on the far side of the training field adjacent to Avaya Stadium. It was the calm before the storm. Coach Dominic Kinnear lead the team through some light warmups and a high-intensity scrimmage before rounding off practice with a shooting competition between the players.

“It’s a long week, we gave them the weekend to recover after Salt Lake,” Kinnear told Football Every Day. “Training is gradually getting more intense as the week goes on and the spirits are good. I just keep it short and sweet and the guys enjoy that.”

MLS All-Star Game Press Conference

Arsene Wenger, Petr Cech, and Jack Wilshere trotted out for Arsenal’s first press conference in the United States at the Fairmont Hotel in the early afternoon and fielded questions from reporters on their pre-season preparations, transfer news and their thoughts on the growth of American Soccer.

Wenger confirmed that new signing Granit Xhaka will appear in the All-Star game, as well as American youngster Gedion Zelalem.

“We know that we have a very short period to prepare,” he said. “Many of our players have been at the European Championship.

“We start in mid-August so we have to make the absolute maximum of each game we play. That’s why it will be a very interesting game for us on Thursday.

“My first impression [of the US] is that there are more and more people here in the States who love football and know our players, which is a bit unusual for us in the States. That’s a good sign that football is taking off in the States.”

He predictably declined to comment on the club’s big to sign Lyon midfielder Alexandre Lacazette after the French club put out a statement saying they had denied a €35 million offer for the midfielder.

“Lyon are responsible for their own statements, we like to keep our own transfer business private,” he said.

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Coach Kinnear, Kaka, and Sacha Kljestan also spoke on behalf of the All-Star team.

MLS All-Star Team Training

Kinnear lead the All-Star team through their first training session together at Avaya at 4pm. The players cycled through a light workout and some stretching while goalkeepers David Bingham and Andre Blake, joined by Quakes rookie Andrew Tarbell, went through their own routine and played a game of volley tennis with Quakes goalkeeper coach Tim Hanley.

 

The team then split up into defenders and attackers for long ball passing and shooting, respectively. For rookie Brandon Vincent, it was the first opportunity of his career to play alongside legends such as Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, and Giovani dos Santos and Sebastian Giovinco. “To see some of these legends walking around…it’s crazy,” he told reports. “I’m just trying to learn from them and do the best I can.”

Notably, Didier Drogba was not present for the training session.

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Celebrity Soccer Tennis

 

The All-Star team then made their way back to downtown San Jose and many of the squad members participated in a celebrity soccer tennis tournament at the fan zone in the Plaza de Cesar Chavez. Retired MLS legends such as Stuart Holden and Brian Ching competed against the All-Star players in front of a large crowd of fans.

Men In Blazers Show

The one and only Men in Blazers then took to the stage at 8:30pm to a large and receptive audience. They first welcomed Jordan Morris onto the stage and then sat down with Arsenal legends Freddi Ljungberg and Liam Brady before sitting down with hometown hero Chris Wondolowski, who received a standing ovation. Jermaine Jones, Kyle Beckerman, and Dominic Kinnear rounded out a star-studded cast of guests in what was a wonderfully optimal night.

 

What to look out for tomorrow:

MLS Works/San Jose Earthquakes All-Star Community Day

The MLS-All Stars will visit Ocala Middle School on Wednesday afternoon from 1:00pm to 5:00pm to collaborate in community service, greet young fans from the area and unveil a new mini-pitch.  Registration for the event is available by emailing mlsworks@mlssoccer.com.

Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game

Landon Donovan will lead the Chipotle MLS Homegrown Team against the Mexican U-20 national team at Avaya Stadium at 6pm in the third annual edition of the Homegrown Game.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.