Nicol Shines in All-Star Game

Revs' Report Card for League's All-Star Contest

July 26, 2008

By Mark Goodman

For almost the first half-hour, Thursday night’s MLS All-Star game was about what you would expect from a team with one practice together against a side still in preseason training.

Steve Nicol

Steve Nicol earned great marks from SNE's Mark Goodman. (CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Disjointed, dull and boring are three words that come to mind.

But when the Hammers’ Dean Ashton and MLS’s Christian Gomez traded goals in the 26th and 27th minutes, respectively, things got better. The last hour saw decent, open soccer, and a 3-2 win for MLS.

For MLS, the night couldn’t have gone much better: a fairly entertaining game on prime-time television, played in front of a good crowd in Toronto. The Golden Boy, David Beckham, played the full 90, and MLS again came out on top.

Perhaps most importantly for the league, the players looked like they expected to win. There was no foolish revelry, a la 2006 after the win over Chelsea. The all-stars just went out and played, and beat a respectable European side.

Revs’ Report Card:

Shalrie Joseph: (B) Playing all 90 minutes in the holding midfield role, Joseph was typically pinpoint with his ball distribution. His cutting pass to Juan Toja helped lead to Cuauhtemoc Blanco’s goal in the 43rd minute to put MLS ahead, 2-1.

The Grenadan was harried off the ball a few times in the first half, and was left in the dust on a run up the middle of the pitch that led to Luis Boa Morte’s near equalizer in the 90th minute. Overall, however, a solid performance.

Matt Reis: (B) The league’s keeper of the year to date certainly can’t be blamed for either of West Ham’s goals. Ashton found himself in yards of space and only Reis to beat for his first goal, and the Englishman’s second took a wicked deflection off defender Jimmy Conrad.

Reis was hardly asked to do anything in the first 25 minutes, but aside from the goals, capably handled what did come his way before being subbed in the 70th minute.

Steve Ralston: (Incomplete) Came on as an 88th minute replacement for Frankie Hejduk.

Steve Nicol: (A) It’s hard to give a coach credit in an all-star game, but Nicol managed his personnel well, bringing on Dwayne De Rosario (who had just played a full game the night before) at just the right time, giving the Toronto fans what they wanted by bringing on TFC’s Jim Brennan in the 59th and, best of all from a Revolution standpoint, essentially giving Ralston the night off.

Return from Nicol Shines in All-Star Game to New England Revolution

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