MLS All-Stars’ pre-match trash talk backfires with 3-1 loss to Roma

The MLS All-Star game has developed into a nice midseason spectacle that perhaps reached a new level when the All-Stars beat then reigning champions of Europe Chelsea 3-2 last year at the gorgeous PPL Park. The league hyped that match with T-shirts and banners that read "Let's kick them in the crown jewels." It was a clever/needlessly antagonistic/silly way to try and manufacture a fierce competitive edge for an ultimately meaningless game between a slapped together team of MLS players in midseason form and a familiar European club easing out of the Ibiza party scene. And it turned out rather nice. So for this year's match against Roma, MLS tried to keep the momentum going with another over the top slogan in the same vein.

They also took it a step further and put out a video before the match in which several of the MLS players (including Montreal's former Italian international Marco Di Vaio) learned to say phrases in Italian. Like "Welcome to the Blue Hell," "You know the ref is American..." and "Yellow and red don't go well together." Then there was the tongue firmly in cheek Funny or Die rap video entitled "We're better than the best."

The poster in particular apparently did not sit well with Roma captain Francesco Totti.

You have to think MLS was actively trying to rile up their guests by putting that in Roma's dressing room in a bid to pique their interest and get a better show. But they might've done it a little too well because Roma went out and owned the game from the start, scoring in the fourth minute (with a little help from a challenge by MLS All-Star defender Aurelien Collin — video above), 47th minute and 68th minute at Kansas City's Sporting Park before Omar Gonzalez finally scored a consolation goal in the first minute of injury time for a final score of 3-1.

Again, the result didn't matter and it was all just a bit of fun...but in the end, Totti got the last laugh.