Atletico Madrid Routs MLS All-Star Team, 3-0

The MLS All-Star team lost to Atletico Madrid 0-3, in a friendly exhibition played in Orlando, Florida. The Spanish powerhouse was just too much for the MLS side, who didn’t have too much time to create chemistry and click. The scorers for Atletico were Marcos Llorente, Joao Felix, and Diego Costa.

Many might think that the Spaniards routinely played this event, but it was not like that. The performed solidly and even had several opportunities to score, like Wayne Rooney’s strike in the 26th minute. If former Man United player scored then, everything would be much different.

That is what Diego Simeone mentioned at the press conference. The Argentinian coach was very pleased with the quality of the opponent, and according to his words, the MLS league has a nice future.

“In the second half, we saw a dynamic MLS team that could have hurt us,” he said. “The league is growing each day.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j7ahWjyC-s

The match started 45 minutes after the scheduled kick-off, due to bad weather. But that didn’t demotivate the players and the fans. Atletico was playing their usual game, with tough defense in the middle, slowing the tempo down as much as possible.

The Spanish team eventually shocked the hosts one minute before the end of the halftime. Marcos Llorente who recently joined Atletico from their biggest enemy and the city rivals, Real scored. It was the best possible moment for Simeone’s squad, to break the rival’s lock.

MLS All-Star coach, James O’Connor, was changing a lot during the game, and after the break, he swapped the entire lineup. That was immediately felt on the pitch, because of the aggressivity of the American side. However, that didn’t result in a goal.

As time went by, the MLS team became more an more offensive, which exposed their defense. In the closing moments of the match, when they tried to go all or nothing, Atletico packed two more scores, sealing this event in his favor.

The wunderkind, Joao Felix beat MLS’ goalie Rimando five minutes before the end, while Diego Costa continued his preseason hot-streak. The lethal striker netted in the third minute of the injury time, and Atletico once again proved that they punish every mistake made by the rivals in the cruelest way possible.

Still, the hosts are not disappointed.

“I think we played well, created some good chances, some good movement on the pitch that made all the fans very excited,” the Portuguese star Nani said. “I think this is what the All-Star Game is about is for good football with all these fantastic players.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWMwJwuP_I

Following the match, both coaches spoke about the fact that the MLS league moves up the ladder from year to year. Simeone stressed out that many teams don’t buy just players, but also invest in coaches.

The likes of Frank de Boer, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Tata Martino, Veljko Paunovic and many others no doubt increased the overall quality of the competition. But not only that, they change the habit of the US clubs to buy players from outside and produced many talents from their own academies.

That pleased O’Connor, who mentioned that MLS has its own base now from which many talented players are developed.

“There’s a lot of really good young talent in MLS now, and I think it’s very exciting. It’s probably the most exciting time for the league, when you look at the young players that are actually in the league and the quality of the young players.”

The MLS battles continue this Saturday. The round starts in Atlanta, where United awaits the Los Angeles Galaxy.