MLS stronger, still showing it belongs

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber cheerfully asked the Crew Stadium ticket lady if she planned to attend the All-Star game.

"No," she said. Instead, she planned to go to the "drum and bugle corps" event two days later.

And so it goes for MLS, heading into its 10th All-Star game still viable but struggling for respect.

MLS will pit its best against Fulham FC of the English Premier League on Saturday in a game that caps a month of stateside matches between European clubs and MLS teams.

The league bills this as a competitive match rather than the soft, 13-goal All-Star game in Columbus five years ago that featured a traditional Eastern Conference-Western Conference matchup.

The All-Star game will be played in the first soccer-specific stadium, which paved the way for the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., and Pizza Hut Park, set to open next week in Dallas. The Chicago Fire should have a soccer stadium next season and the Colorado Rapids hope to play in one by 2007.

League officials traveled to Toronto on Thursday to discuss a possible franchise there in two years. The same day, the league announced the sale of operating rights to D.C. United for what Garber said was upward of $25 million, the highest price yet for a MLS club.

MLS folded two teams in 2003 and opened play this season with two new franchises, Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA. Garber and others were giddy over the advantage that Chivas brings in terms of marketing toward Latinos in the Los Angeles area, which already has the L.A. Galaxy.

But Chivas has struggled with its roster of second-tier players from its parent club in Mexico.

Fulham starts Premier League play in two weeks. Saturday's match is a preseason game for the club, like its 2-1 loss to the Crew on Wednesday.

At the annual MLS luncheon Friday, with Fulham managers in the crowd, Garber and U.S. players touted the All-Star game as another shot at validation.

"I think we'll show the people around the country and around the world that we have some good players in this league and we can compete at any level," said Greg Vanney, an All-Star and U.S. national team defender.