Everton walked away with a penalty kick victory after a the All Star game ended 1-1.   The game wasn’t as flashy as one would have hoped but it was still an entertaining game to watch. 

Stuart Holden set up Everton’s first goal when he misplaced a pass right to Louis Saha just outside the All Star’s box.  Saha made no mistake and opened up the scoring.  Holden made up for his mistake after he redirected a pass from Casey into the path of Brad Davis to tie up the game.  The game went to PK’s after the final whistle.  Tim Howard stopped Davis, Arnaud, and Ljungberg to give Everton the victory. 

Landon Donovan was able to make a second half appearance for the MLSers and he put on a great show.  Probably the best MLS player out there.  Freddy Ljungberg also had a good night, even though is hard work usually led to nothing.  Wilman Conde was the easily the best defender for the MLS team and Conor Casey did a lot of dirty work up top.  Some players looked disinterested or weren’t clicking with their teammates, but that was bound to happen.  Fredy Montero looked like he was going to put on a show but an injury slowed him down a bit. 

The game is a good opportunity to watch some of our guys in action against a top, although in preseason form, English club.  There were a couple of players on the pitch last night that didn’t look out of place against Everton and it got me thinking about who is most ready to head over seas.  

Guys like Landon Donovan and Wilman Conde look ready for the challenge of playing in Europe, while others such as Fredy Montero and Stuart Holden showed enough potential to spark interest.

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Share your thoughts on last nights All Star game and the players that impressed you?

Arsenal defender Kolo Toure has just signed a 4 year deal with Manchester City.  The agreement with the Sky Blues was for a fee of around £16m.  

The 28 year old Ivorian international has spent the last 7 seasons with Arsenal alternating between defense and midfield.  In January 2009, Toure expressed his desire to leave the London club after an altercation with teammate William Gallas.  Toure agreed to hold off his move until the summer.

Although Toure is not the same calibur as John Terry, he is still an excellent central defender.   Toure was the starting center back for the Arsenal side, nicknamed “the invincibles”, that went 49 games unbeaten betweent 2002 and 2003.  Toure reached his peak in 2005-2006 season when he was regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and labled the “African Fabio Cannavaro” by the Italian press after Arsenal knocked Juventus out of the Champions League. Although he is short for a center back, he makes up for it with incredable pace, timing, and leaping ability. 

Toure is Manchester City’s first big name defensive signing of the summer.  The club has already signed forwards Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Roque Santa Cruz, as well as midfielder Gareth Barry.   The club’s pursuit of John Terry looks dead but they are still bidding for Everton and England defender Joleon Lescott.

What do you think of this signing?  Now that the club’s attention is on defenders do you think they have a shot at winning the title?