Columbus' first 2 MLS All-Star Games were old-school, memorable occasions | Arace
Columbus hosted the MLS All-Star Game for the first time in 2000, a year after Crew Stadium opened as the first soccer-specific stadium in the country. That’s how Lamar Hunt’s erector set was billed – “America’s first soccer-specific stadium.” As decades dim the memory, history is veiled.
Bethlehem Steel Field (built in 1913) in Pennsylvania, Lusitano Stadium (1918) in Massachusetts and Mark’s Stadium (1922) in Rhode Island were significant buildings that housed professional teams when the American Soccer League thrived 100 years ago. Then came the Depression.
Columbus is hosting the MLS All-Star Game for the third time, this time at the new Crew Stadium on the banks of the mighty Olentangy. The old place at the Fairgrounds, now known as “Historic Crew Stadium,” is bolted onto the team’s new training facility and still well-used. But it’s no longer home − not for the fans, anyway − and memories made there are already sepia toned in the minds’ eye.
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“We used to joke that they’ll look back on the MLS of the ‘90s and it’d be tantamount to watching NFL Films, the ones where the guys are wearing leather helmets with no masks,” said Mike Clark, a Crew defender from 1996-2003.
Clark was an MLS All-Star in 2000, when 23,495 flocked to old Crew Stadium to watch East vs. West. At the time, the stadium was a beacon for a 12-team league that was teetering toward bankruptcy. Twenty-four years later, the league has 22 soccer-specific stadiums, including Portland’s Providence Park, a venerable baseball stadium built in 1926 and retrofitted for the Timbers in 2011.
Next year, San Diego will become the league’s 30th member. The owners of the franchise paid an expansion fee of $500 million, which is $495 million more than the going rate for a club in 1996. The current television contract with Apple TV pays $250 million per year through 2032. All of this is a testament to the growth of the game, which casts a lengthening shadow on its past.
“We were making hardly any money,” Clark said. “We were going for Subway after training. Now, they have team chefs. We couldn’t imagine a stadium, then came Columbus Crew Stadium, and it was an awesome moment for American soccer, for Columbus, for the league. We thought it was a palace. When you compare it to the new Crew stadium, that’s hilarious.”
Lothar Matthaus was one of the top five central midfielders who ever lived. He won the Ballon d’Or after leading West Germany to World Cup victory in 1990. He was 39 years old when he represented the New York-New Jersey Metrostars in the 2000 All-Star Game.
Midfielder Carlos Vaderrama is not only among the most revered Columbian players of all time, he was one of the best midfielders in the history of the South American continent. He was months away from his 39th birthday when he represented the Tampa Bay Mutiny in the 2000 All-Star Game.
Striker Brian McBride was the first player selected in the inaugural draft of 1996 and the first man to be enshrined in the Crew’s Circle of Honor in 2011. In between, he starred for Fulham and became one of the most prolific scorers in U.S. Men’s National Team history. Like McBride, defender Marcelo Balboa played in three World Cups for the USMNT.
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McBride repped the Crew and Balboa the Colorado Rapids at the 2000 All-Star Game. They would accrue a combined 350 international caps by the end of their careers. There were 38 players on the All-Star rosters in 2000, including 30 Americans, who totaled 1,417 international caps.
“You’ll never see that again,” said Dante Washington, a Crew striker who came off the bench, with McBride, in the second half of the 2000 All-Star Game.
There were nine players who would be elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame. And there was a bulwark of the next generation of American coaches – including Greg Vanney, Chris Armas, Peter Vermes, Jason Kreis, John Harkes, Mike Petke and Pablo Mastroeni.
“There are so many new people to the sport and to the league, a lot of them have zero idea of some of the players who helped build this thing,” said Dante Washington, a Crew striker who played in the 2000 All-Star Game.
“If you were not a part of it,” he said, “you assume it didn’t happen.”
There was a skills competition. Washington and Mamadou Diallo, who scored 26 goals for the Mutiny that season, won one of the events.
“I don’t remember exactly what the event was,” Washington said. “I know I have the trophy somewhere. I’ve got to find that thing.”
As for the game itself, Crew historian Steve Sirk described it this way:
“It was among the last of the All-Star games that were silly and fun before East vs. West was scrapped for more serious and competitive games against foreign opponents. Even though the score was 9-4, it wasn’t as lame a modern-day NBA All-Star Game. I remember Mike Clark being proud of the fact that the East had a clean sheet in the second half, so the defenses at least tried to some degree. Dante and McBride scored the eighth and ninth goals for the East, then Clarkie had a glorious chance to make it 10 …”
Oh, Clarkie remembers it well.
“There wasn’t a lot of defense played – but I always played D,” Clark said. “At some point, I said, ‘Screw it, I’m going to get forward and enjoy it.’ McBride ripped a ball down the goal line and all I had to do was stick out my foot. I mishit it. Side net, I think. It was embarrassing.”
Washington will never forget his goal, but not because of the fine technique he used to pull the down a ball in the box, swivel and get off a quick, sharp shot.
“After I scored, I said, ‘OK, let’s get back to midfield,’ ” Washington said. “The ref stopped me and said, ‘You know, you can go and celebrate with the fans.' People forget, but there was a North End before there was a Nordecke, and it was animated. I hopped the boards and went and celebrated with the North Enders. It was an unbelievable experience, celebrating with the home fans. You couldn’t have scripted it any better. It’s my best memory.”
Said Sirk: “I remember Rob Stone interviewing (goalkeeper) Tony Meola on one end of the field while the action was on the other then. I remember Meola subbing back into the game with 10 minutes to go play forward for the West. So, again, it wasn’t necessarily serious, but it was a fun 13-goal game. With the exception of the goalkeepers, I think everyone on the field and in the stands had a good time.”
The old Crew Stadium also played host to the 2005 All-Star Game, which pitted the MLS stars against Fulham and McBride. The MLS stars won 4-1. Taylor Twellman was the MVP.
McBride’s homecoming was sweet. Fulham lent EPL cachet. But there wasn’t the childlike fun of the 2000 game. Goaltenders weren’t doing interviews next to the right post, and they weren’t checking in as strikers. Nobody was rich. They were forced to enjoy themselves.
“We were in it for the fans, and we had a lot of fun,” Washington said. “It’s funny going down this memory lane. I played in two All-Star games, one in New York in ’97 then here in front of the home fans. I remember finding the jersey that was signed by all the guys. We were all doing it. Everyone was signing T-shirts, jerseys, whatever, because that’s a snapshot of your career at that time. What a great experience it was.”
At the 2024 MLS All-Star Game, you can go into the team store at the new Crew stadium and buy an authentic Cucho jersey for around $200.
Dante isn’t selling.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus' first 2 MLS All-Star Games were old-school, memorable occasions
