CHARLOTTE — Major League Soccer hopes American soccer fans shift their attention from the FIFA World Cup to the league’s annual All-Star Game on Wednesday night.
For the fifth time in six years, the MLS All-Stars take on the Liga MX All-Stars, blending a pair of competitive leagues that have grown familiar with one another. Liga MX is Mexico’s highest-level professional league, but the MLS has won three of the first four meetings.
The match will cap several days of festivities that have put a spotlight on the MLS, which is hoping to benefit from the afterglow of the World Cup. MLS is taking a brief pause just a week after resuming its season following the World Cup.
Not all the marquee players will be on hand, but expect spirited play once the match begins.
“There’s going to be a friendly element to it,” said Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith, who’s coaching the MLS All-Stars. “But they’re competitive players. They’re all top players with their clubs, but they want to win. I think when you put competitive players against each other, they always want to win and I’m no different as a coach as well.”
LAFC forward Son Heung-min seems to be enjoying his growing notoriety while in Charlotte.
“Being called up for the All-Star, I think everybody wants to participate in these events,” Son said. “It’s a great experience to be here with great players, great names, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Smith said it will be interesting to see Hany Mukhtar of MLS-best Nashville SC from a different perspective rather than coaching against him.
“You work with the cream of the MLS league,” Smith said. “Some of them (we) played against a lot … and so nice to get really close eyes on them.”
Some top stars, such as Argentine star Lionel Messi, have opted out of the game. It’s the third consecutive MLS All-Star event that Messi has withdrawn from since joining Inter Miami — this time based on World Cup fatigue and the need for recovery.
“Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Association agreed that upon a player’s exit from the World Cup competition, clubs would have individual conversations with each player to determine the appropriate rest and return to training and competition timeline,” an MLS statement said. “Consistent with that agreement, Rodrigo De Paul and Lionel Messi will be excused from participating in the 2026 MLS All-Star Game.”
Neither player has appeared in a match for Inter Miami since the World Cup.
Toluca FC coach Antonio Mohamed, who’s coaching the Liga MX All-Stars, is dealing with a changing roster as well with some players not released to participate.
“We have a great squad,” Mohamed said. “But, of course, we would’ve loved to have everyone here.”
Liga MX will be headlined by Omar Campos, who was a member of 2024 U.S. Open Cup champion LAFC, and Cruz Azul captain and Mexican national team member Erik Lira.
It could be a matter of which side meshes best.
“There’s not going to be loads of tactical training for the players,” Smith said. “We’ll put them into a system, a shape, but there will be some freedom within it.”
That match will be played in Bank of America Stadium, the home of Charlotte FC and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. The spotlight keeps growing on Charlotte FC since their first season in 2022.
Smith said Charlotte has embraced professional soccer and this provides another chance to put that on display. The timing might be right.
“We want to get more people watching the MLS,” Smith said. “Because the World Cup is so fresh, I think it’s a good opportunity to go do that. … We do put a show on (in this venue). It’s part of the package.”
USMNT midfielder Sebastian Berhalter was among those named to the MLS team, but on Tuesday the Vancouver Whitecaps announced they were transferring Berhalter to English club Middlesbrough FC. Other World Cup participants named to the game include team captain Tim Ream (Charlotte), midfielder Max Arfsten (Columbus) and goalkeeper Matt Freese (New York City FC).
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
