David Beckham helps MLS All-Stars beat West Ham

Not content with ripping West Ham apart every time he played against them in the Premier League, David Beckham did it again last night as the MLS All-Stars won 3-2 in Toronto.

Dean Ashton scored twice for Alan Curbishley's side with Christian Gomez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Dwayne DeRosario hitting the back of the onion bag (or whatever the US equivalent would be - beef jerky packet, perhaps?) for the Americans.

Beckham played the full 90 minutes but failed to score, despite two free kicks going close. "I'd read about the last five years not losing so I was kind of nervous and hoping that we would win," the LA Galaxy midfielder said. "As soon as we started I knew we were capable of winning it because of the quality we've got in the team." At least he's not lost his touch for a cliche.

West Ham opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Carlton Cole's header sent Ashton in on goal and he fired a low shot past Matt Reis, the New England goalkeeper.

Beckham and Blanco combined to tee up Gomez's equalizer a minute later before Blanco put the All-Stars ahead. Ashton levelled but DeRosario got the winner from the penalty spot after Lucas Neill had brought him down in the area. 

Curbishley tried to play up the skill levels of the Americans, saying: "The MLS is gaining momentum week in and week out. In Europe, we see lots of the games, we keep in touch with it. You're probably going to find more European players attracted to the league." But we know the truth, don't we.

Below are the highlights of the game and if you fancy a bit of Hammers banter and want to see what really happened on the terraces a couple of days ago when West Ham played Columbus Crew, then click here.

Comments

[Liam]

Jeez, the crowd must be numbering way up in the high 80's, perhaps?

[Fred]

So the best the MLS could bring to a game and they only win 3-2 against West Ham....

I can only imagine the Premiership Allstars vs MLS Allstars would yield

[Gregg]

"we know the truth don't we" what, that you clearly have no clue about the MLS or it's quality of football?

Idiotic reporting from people who just decide that the Yanks can't play Football, don't understand football and can't possibly have a good product.

I'd expect far better from a "quality" newspaper.

Euro snob

[Rob]

Ripping them apart? Did you watch the game? He was awful.

[Mark]

It was clear from watching this match that the MLS all-stars dominated West Ham. I am sure this won't win much respect from Europeans, but watch out because America is the sleeping giant when it comes to the sport we call soccer...we do in fact own your two most prestigious clubs.

[Mark]

Despite the repeated references to "Americans," none of the goal-scorers are American. DeRosario is Canadian, Blanco is Mexican, and Gomez is Argentinian. Also, despite the snide reference to the MLS players' skills, the Gomez goal was a beautiful (and unstoppable) shot set up by a cheeky Blanco back-heel, and Blanco made his defender look like a fool before curling a beautiful shot into the top right corner.

[Danny Wright]

Yes -- we do know the truth. A "team" that probably had no more than a handful of practices together defeated an EPL team.

Combine that with England's failure to reach Euro 2008 or advance to the finals of any international tournament (ever) not on home soil tells you that the veil of superiority you guys try to wear so often in the context of US soccer should probably come off.

English soccer / football just isn't that good.