At the 2015 AT&T MLS All-Star Game, the league’s finest players put on a show in an impressive performance against Tottenham Hotspur of the Barclays Premier League. Sounders FC forward Clint Dempsey and defender Chad Marshall were among those who guided the MLS All-Stars to a triumphant night.
Dempsey was involved in both of the team’s goals as MLS earned a 2-1 victory on Wednesday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, the home of the Colorado Rapids. He and Marshall each played 45 minutes in the match, Dempsey starting at striker alongside NYCFC’s David Villa and Marshall playing centerback for the scoreless second half after the entire starting XI was replaced at halftime.
Marshall went up against a former Seattle teammate for part of the second half, as DeAndre Yedlin came on at right wing for Spurs with 26 minutes remaining.
The MLS All-Stars struck first in the 20th minute, when Dempsey won the ball near the end line and kicked it off his defender to earn a corner kick. Tottenham’s Nacer Chadli was called for a handball when the cross was played in, and Orlando City SC midfielder Kaká buried the ensuing penalty kick.
Dempsey, who scored 12 goals for Tottenham in his only season with the club in 2012-13, was credited with an assist on the second goal for the MLS All-Stars. Just three minutes after the opening goal, Dempsey received a cross from LA Galaxy winger Gyasi Zardes and laid it off to Kaká, who played a ball towards Villa on his first touch. Villa found the far corner with a left-footed shot inside the box.
After 25 minutes, it was 2-0 to the MLS All-Stars despite Spurs owning 65 percent of possession.
Harry Kane scored for Tottenham eight minutes before halftime, slotting a shot into the upper corner when he was one-on-one with LA Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez. Kane had been denied from close range by Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando a couple of times earlier in the first half.
In the second half, Marshall showed just why he was named MLS Defender of the Year in 2014. The Sounders FC centerback cleared out a number of Spurs attacks, including two sequences in which Kane had the ball in a dangerous spot inside the box.
Wednesday’s result was the second straight victory for MLS in the All-Star Game. Last year, Dempsey and company earned a 2-1 win over German champions Bayern Munich.
