The 2003 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the 8th
Major League Soccer All-Star Game
The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a traditional all-star gam ...
, played on August 2, 2003 at The Home Depot Center, now known as
StubHub Center
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignity ...
, in
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, ...
. The All-Star Game celebrated both the opening of the league's second
soccer-specific stadium
Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...
that season, as well as the announcement of the league's expansion with an eleventh team purchased by the owners of Mexico's
Club Deportivo Guadalajara
Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...
. Then-
MetroStars head coach
Bob Bradley
Robert Frank Bradley (born March 3, 1958) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of Toronto FC.
A native of New Jersey and graduate of Princeton University, Bradley coached in the American college game and Maj ...
was tapped to lead the MLS All-Stars against Guadalajara, commonly known as Chivas, and led by their head coach,
Eduardo de la Torre
Eduardo "Yayo" de la Torre Menchaca (born 4 December 1962) is a Mexican former professional footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are ass ...
.
A scoreless first half was marked by a defensive effort for the All-Stars. The
Los Angeles Galaxy
LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began play ...
's
Kevin Hartman
Kevin Eugene Hartman (born May 25, 1974) is an American former soccer player who played 17 seasons in Major League Soccer, being on the field for a record 37,260 minutes. Nicknamed ''El Gato'' (Spanish for "the cat") because of his agility, re ...
made several key saves, while a backline led by
Carlos Bocanegra
Carlos Manuel Bocanegra (born May 25, 1979) is an American sports executive and former professional soccer player. A two-time MLS Defender of the Year, Bocanegra also played professionally in England, Scotland, France, and Spain. He earned over 1 ...
of the
Chicago Fire weathered a persistent Chivas attack. The Fire's
Ante Razov
Ante Razov (born March 2, 1974) is an American soccer coach and former player who is an assistant coach for Los Angeles FC. One of the leading goal scorers in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the all-time leading goal scorer for t ...
scored the first goal in the second half thanks in part to a feed by the
San Jose Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...
'
Landon Donovan
Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player. Donovan is also the co-founder and vice-president of soccer operations for USL Championship side San Diego Loyal SC, and serves as strategic advisor fo ...
past a beaten
Oswaldo Sánchez
Oswaldo Javier Sánchez Ibarra (; born 21 September 1973) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and a sports analyst for Televisa Deportes. He is highly regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Mexican footbal ...
.
Jair Garcia broke away from the defense and beat Hartman to tie the game, but the All-Stars responded shortly thereafter with the eventual-game winner by the Galaxy's
Carlos Ruiz. The Fire's
DaMarcus Beasley
DaMarcus Lamont Beasley (; born May 24, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player. A left-footed player, Beasley played both as a left winger and left wingback throughout his career. He retired from soccer after the 2019 MLS Season. ...
tipped in the All-Stars' third goal, which Chivas contested because of an assistant referee's offside call, which was waved off by
Kevin Terry
Kevin Terry is a retired English-American soccer Striker (association football), forward and referee (association football), referee who played professionally in the MISL I, Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer League (1933-1983), American ...
. A sellout crowd at The Home Depot Center celebrated the win, as well as the awarding of MVP to local favorite Carlos Ruiz.
Details
External links
MLS All-Star 2003 match report
{{C.D. Guadalajara matches
MLS All-Star Game
All-Star Game
An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...
C.D. Guadalajara matches
Sports competitions in Carson, California
2003 in sports in California
Soccer in California
August 2003 sports events in the United States