2024 MLS All-Star XI Could Feature Four FIFA World Cup Winners
Major League Soccer confirmed this week that the 2024 All-Star Game will take place on July 24 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio.
It will once again be a contest between the MLS and Mexico's LIGA MX, just as it was in 2021 and 2022.
Last year's All-Star Game saw the team representing the MLS lose 5-0 to Arsenal. But the MLS All-Stars won the two previous editions against their Liga MX counterparts.
Javier Hernandez - who played on the MLS side in 2022 while on the books of LA Galaxy - is expected to feature for the Liga MX XI this year following his recent return to hometown club Guadalajara.
Meanwhile, the MLS All-Star team could feature as many as four FIFA World Cup winners.
Event organizers will be desperate for Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi to be involved.
Messi - who led Argentina to glory at Qatar 2022 - has a busy summer schedule. He is set to skipper his country at the Copa America, which will conclude with the final at Florida's Hard Rock Stadium on July 14.
Like Messi, Atlanta United winger Thiago Almada was a member of Argentina's world-conquering class of 2022, although he only got six minutes of game time in Qatar.
Messi's current Miami teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets are also likely candidates to get the call up for the 2024 All-Star Game. Busquets was part of the Spain team that won the World Cup in 2010.
At present, former France captain Hugo Lloris appears to be the obvious choice to start in goal for the MLS All-Stars.
Lloris - who recently signed for Los Angeles FC from Tottenham Hotspur - skippered Les Bleus to victory at the 2018 World Cup and was also part of the team beaten by Messi's Argentina in the 2022 final.
The 37-year-old LAFC stopper has since retired from international football but he has still made more senior appearances for France, 145, than any other male player.
Possible MLS XI for the 2024 All-Star Game
Hugo Lloris (LAFC), DeAndre Yedlin (FC Cincinnati), Matt Miazga (FC Cincinnati), Kamal Miller (Portland Timbers), Jordi Alba (Inter Miami), Sergio Busquets (Inter Miami), Hector Herrera (Houston Dynamo), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Thiago Almada (Atlanta United), Lorenzo Insigne (Toronto FC) and Luis Suarez (Inter Miami).