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How the MLS All-Star Game works

Matt Turner celebrates during the 2021 MLS All-Star Game
Matt Turner celebrates during the 2021 MLS All-Star Game

We’ll take part in the MLS All-Star Game for the second time when we visit the United States ahead of the 2023/24 season kicking off.

We won the fixture 2-1 in San Jose in 2016 - more information on it is here - beating a team made up of the likes of Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Kaka and Didier Drogba.

But how is the MLS All-Star roster selected? Well, our hosts’ squad will be chosen by a combination of fan votes, nominations from the coach of the opposition and picks from the league commissioner.

Matt Turner was selected in 2021, while with New England Revolution - and he took home the MVP trophy after excelling in a penalty shoot-out against Liga MX All-Stars, saving two spot-kicks.

The All-Star Game was first played in July 1996, between MLS East and MLS West. After another edition of the same fixture, the 1998 match saw MLS USA beat MLS World 6-1.

The East v West format returned between 1999 and 2001 - and again in 2004 - while MLS All-Stars beat United States (3-2) and Guadalajara (3-1) in 2002 and 2003.

Between 2005 and 2019, MLS All-Stars faced teams from Europe and, after the game was cancelled in 2020, they played against Liga MX All-Stars twice - the first match seeing Turner excel, the second resulting in a 2-1 win last year.

The list of All-Star Game MVPs - featuring Turner and Chuba Akpom - is as follows:

1996: Carlos Valderrama (Tampa Bay Mutiny)
1997: Carlos Valderrama (Tampa Bay Mutiny)
1998: Brian McBride (Columbus Crew)
1999: Preki (Kansas City Wizards)
2000: Mamadou Diallo (Tampa Bay Mutiny)
2001: Landon Donovan (San Jose Earthquakes)
2002: Marco Etcheverry (D.C. United)
2003: Carlos Ruiz (LA Galaxy)
2004: Amado Guevara (NY/NJ Metrostars)
2005: Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)
2006: Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)
2007: Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls)
2008: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire)
2009: Tim Howard (Everton)
2010: Federico Macheda (Manchester United)
2011: Park Ji-sung (Manchester United)
2012: Chris Pontius (D.C. United)
2013: Alessandro Florenzi (Roma)
2014: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
2015: Kaka (Orlando City)
2016: Chuba Akpom (Arsenal)
2017: Borja Mayoral (Real Madrid)
2018: Josef Martinez (Atlanta United)
2019: Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid)
2021: Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
2022: Dwayne St. Clair (Minnesota United)

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