Rooney Gives Full Support
Landon Donovan scored three goals in the first 18 minutes and a fourth two minutes into injury time Saturday as Major League Soccer’s sixth All-Star game ended in a 6-6 tie in front of 23,512 at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.
That said, it was Jim Rooney who stole the show.
Rooney, the balding, 32-year-old captain of the Miami Fusion, scored his first all-star goal in the 84th minute to tie the score, 5-5, then stripped off his jersey to reveal a black sports bra.
Let’s put it this way: Brandi Chastain, he’s not.
“Not the most beautiful sight we’ve ever seen, but certainly one of the more humorous,” ventured ABC’s Jack Edwards.
His colleague, Rob Stone, jokingly called it “a disturbing trend,” then collared Rooney after the game to ask what it was all about.
“We saw Brandi at the [MLS] skills challenge and some guys didn’t know her,” Rooney said. “We thought it would be a great idea [to emulate Chastain’s impromptu striptease at the 1999 Women’s World Cup final in the Rose Bowl] if we scored.
“So the boys were trying to feed me. Hey, we’re in her hometown, it’s a fun event, so. . . .
“I’ll tell you what, it’s quite comfortable too. It brought me luck today.”
Cross-dressing comes to MLS.
Later, after he had scored his fourth goal, Donovan tried the same maneuver, but, well, it fell flat. Fans had come to see the Redlands teenager’s skills, not his Chastain impression.
And Donovan, 19, the game’s most valuable player, didn’t disappoint. Goals by the San Jose Earthquake midfielder in the third, seventh and 18th minutes gave him the first hat trick in all-star history.
Dallas Burn forward Ariel Graziani made it 4-0 in favor of Coach Bob Bradley’s West team.
But Coach Ray Hudson’s squad fought back, scoring four unanswered goals: two by the Columbus Crew’s Brian McBride and one apiece by the Fusion’s Alex Pineda Chacon and the Tampa Bay Mutiny’s Mamadou Diallo.
The Chicago Fire’s Dema Kovalenko restored the West’s lead off a pass from the Galaxy’s Cobi Jones before goals by Rooney and the New England Revolution’s Cate put the East back on top.
Donovan had the final say with his 92nd-minute strike.
Despite the 12 goals, the game saw superb goalkeeping by the Earthquakes’ Joe Cannon, the Fire’s Zach Thornton and, especially, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars’ Tim Howard.
The best save of the game came when Howard flung himself to his left to block a penalty kick by the Galaxy’s Luis Hernandez.
