COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Juan Brunetta and Maximiliano Meza scored a minute apart in the second half, and Mexico’s Liga MX All-Stars beat the Major League Soccer All-Stars 4-1 in the MLS All-Star Game on Wednesday night.
Brunetta (Tigres) scored in transition in the 68th minute to make it 3-1 and set up Meza (Monterrey) soon after before a record crowd of 20,931 at Lower.com Field.
It was the first MLS All-Star Game victory for Liga MX in three tries. The MLS All-Stars won in 2022 and won on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw a year earlier.
There were plenty of big names on the field, but the absence of the brightest and biggest one took some lustre out of the event. The league announced Monday that Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi was unable to play because of ligament damage in his right ankle.
The 2022 World Cup champion was injured while playing for Argentina in its victory over Colombia in the Copa America final on July 14.
Fans cheered when Columbus forwards combined to tie the match 1-all in the 17th minute, about a minute after Germán Berterame (Monterrey) scored for Mexico on a header.
From the left flank, Diego Rossi found Crew teammate Cucho Hernandez racing unmarked down the middle of the box for the equalizer.
Oussama Idrissi (Pachuca) made it 2-1 in the 41st with a strike from the top of the penalty area.
MLS had two chances to tie it in the 63rd when Riqui Puig (Los Angeles Galaxy) hit the crossbar and on the follow, Luca Orellano (Cincinnati) was denied on a goal line clearance by Unai Bilbao (Tijuana).
Minutes later, Liga MX put the game out of reach.
The Crew’s Wilfried Nancy coached the MLS All-Stars. He had five players from his squad, which won the 2023 MLS Cup. Hernandez and Rossi were joined by midfielder Darlington Nagbe and defenders Rudy Camacho and Steven Moreira.
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