For the second straight year, Manchester United are scheduled to take on the MLS All-Stars in the 2011 MLS All-Star Game, which will be held on July 27 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. Kickoff is scheduled 8:30 p.m. ET.

"We're delighted to have been invited to play the MLS All-Star Game for the second year running,” Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told Adam Marshall of ManUtd.com. “Last year's game was a special occasion in front of a noisy, passionate crowd.

"Obviously we'll be looking to repeat the performance and the scoreline, but it will be a great spectacle for everyone involved."

As I see it, this is going to be another walk in the park for the Red Devils.

It is obvious that in one way or another, David Beckham is going to be in the roster for the MLS All-Stars. If he isn't, the fans, either of the coaches, the players, the media, or even the commissioner himself, Mr. Don Garber—somebody is going to put Beckham in against his former club.

For Manchester United, the upcoming transfer window means there will be some changes to the current lineup that is storming to the 2011 Premier League crown. As I see it, I think the usual suspects will be available for the Red Devils: Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov, Park Ji-Sung, Edwin Van Der Sar, Chris Smalling, Paul Scholes...

Last year's side didn't even have the likes of Patrice Evra or Wayne Rooney and they still whipped the MLS All-Stars 5-2.

Six of those players that were on the traveling side—Danny Welbeck, Mame Biram Diouf, Ritchie De Laet, Corry Evans, Tom Cleverley and Federico Macheda, who scored a brace against the MLS All-Stars—are currently on loan until June 30, according to the club's web site.

Imagine how the situation would be if they brought their full-strength side. Yeah, the margin would be a bit wider.

I don't expect Man United to play at their full strength for the MLS All-Star Game. I would think their best players are conditioning back in England. That isn't to say that I wouldn't welcome having Man United at full strength when they take the pitch at Red Bell Arena; on the contrary, a full squad means more people coming in.

But Manchester United can bring in their reserve team and they would still defeat the MLS All-Stars. The margin would be a bit more respectable, but a win would still be a win to cap off their preseason tour.

That said, once Beckham is given the nod (as he most likely will), I expect that he will be used in a playmaking capacity. If he needs to convert penalties, he can do it. If he needs to initialize the set pieces, the All-Stars can leave it to him to give it a good swing.

But for the MLS All-Stars this will be a test for the players not named David Beckham.

There are a number of young up-and-comers that could be making the jump overseas if they put on a good performance this season, highlighted by an impressive outing at the All-Star Game.

I hope Juan Agudelo gets voted in. He's young, but if he can equalize as a member of the USA Men's National Team against Argentina, he's virtually punched his ticket to being selected. Now, it's just a mere formality, and this will be a test to see how he matches up.

If I were to make a prediction, I think the MLS All-Stars will make the score respectable. I do expect Manchester United to find themselves in good stead heading into the 2011-12 Premier League season.

Manchester United 3, MLS All-Stars 2

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During my first season covering the New England Revolution, one of my initial observations was that the Kraft family would do well to move the club into a soccer specific facility in the near future.

That was back in 2001. A decade later, and the Revs continue to play in a football stadium. Anyone who has attended a match at Gillette Stadium will readily testify that the sight of 12-14 thousand fans rattling around the cavernous expanse of the Big Razor is slightly absurd, and not likely to inspire the players on the pitch all that much. 

The idea to build the team a new home closer to Boston is not a new one. It has been something that has been in the works for several years now, but the major obstacle has been where exactly to put a new 20-25 thousand seat soccer specific facility in a city where viable tracts of land for such an undertaking are few and far between, and often carry prohibitive price tags.

Team owner Robert Kraft and his Kraft Group have their hearts set on moving closer to the city, as they believe a move into a more urban setting would put the team within easy reach of the teeming multitudes of immigrants, many of whom originated in ultra-passionate soccer nations. The plan would also provide an accessible entertainment option for the area’s large sports-mad college age population, while also being close enough to public transportation to still allow suburban fans easy access to home games.

The question has always been: Where to build?

Back in 2007, the Kraft family began exploring the possibility of constructing the Revs new home on a parcel of land located near Sullivan Square Station on the MBTA’s Orange Line, but squabbling over the land at the state and municipal levels appeared to jettison the idea before it really got off the ground.

In an industrial corner of East Somerville, tucked in behind railroad tracks, the elevated portion of Interstate 93 and a massive MBTA maintenance facility, lies the area known as The Inner Belt. Home to little more than warehouses at present, the state and the city have been arguing over this land for almost two years now, as they try and decide where to build an 11 acre, 24 hour maintenance facility needed to service trains that will run on the expanded Green Line, which is slated to begin serving Somerville and West Medford in 2015—a $1 billion expansion project.

The uncertainty over the project put plans for an Inner Belt stadium on hold.

The area, originally created in the 1950s to serve an interstate highway that never came to fruition, the purely hypothetical interstate 695, presents an opportunity for the city of Somerville to add housing, offices and retail space to a city where space is at a premium. 

In May of 2010, events conspired to bring the Inner Belt area back into the fold for the Kraft Group, and may ultimately lead to the construction of a new stadium after all. A compromise between city and state officials to place the T facility on the eastern edge of the Inner Belt, as opposed to smack dab in the middle, has allowed Kraft and company to revisit the site as potential new home.

A brand new 20 thousand seat stadium, in an intimate urban setting, would also double as a concert venue.

The Case for Brickbottom

The Inner Belt area is adjacent to another barren neighborhood know as Brickbottom. With little to offer other than the odd artists’ loft and a plethora of warehouses and other industrial structures, the combined Inner Belt-Brickbottom area, all 200 acres, presents a tremendous potential for redevelopment. With the Green Line expansion project coming soon, it’s almost like a perfect storm of circumstances.

Financing, as anyone who recalls the on-time and under budget construction of Gillette Stadium just a few years ago, will not be an issue, according the statements made by Kraft. 

Consider the appearance of more and more soccer-specific stadia in recent years. Red Bull Arena and PPL Park, home of Red Bull New York and the the Philadelphia Union respectively, each seat around 20 thousand fans and cost in excess of $100 million to construct. Each are located in proximity to rail links in urban settings. Both of those teams are among the league’s top draws, while the Revs languish squarely near the bottom of the list.

The Inner Belt area presents a golden opportunity for the team to cash in on teeming population full of passionate soccer fans, while not alienating suburban supporters in the process. The game of soccer, from a fan standpoint, is all about atmosphere. It’s tough to cultivate a proper atmosphere when you’re a mile away from the field and surrounded by the solid blue swathes of empty seats that inevitably dot the Gillette Stadium landscape on game day. That being said, Revs’ games are not without a certain ambience already, thanks largely to the vocal denizens of “The Fort,” as the sections where supporters’ groups are generally seated is known and the prospect of such a vocal and energetic bunch occupying prime seats in a brand new intimate stadium is infinitely palatable.

Boston isn’t a baseball town. Boston isn’t a basketball town. Boston is a sports town. If there is one thing I will state with unequivocal certainty, it’s this: Professional soccer will find a permanent place in the sports pantheon of the United States, and Boston will embrace the Revolution (wait, that sounds vaguely familiar...).

It’s not going to happen because MLS suddenly evolves into a top-tier league from an international standpoint, and there are enough NASL alums still involved with the league that, even if the Cosmos end up with an expansion franchise, nobody is going to allow the DP rule to drag MLS down the same ruinous path to crippling disparity. When America finally takes the beautiful game into its heart, it will be largely because the league has been able to recreate the European atmosphere on match day to some extent. Intimate stadiums, built to house a pitch, not the gridiron, are the way to move towards this goal.

At least that’s the way I see it.

The Somerville proposal is not the only site under consideration, but it’s clearly the front-runner, and presumably for many of the reasons outlined above. It benefits the team, it benefits the city of Somerville and it benefits the fans. It’s a classic win-win.

MLS commissioner Don Garber has been quoted in the Boston media lately as being heavily in favor of the Revs new stadium plan, naturally. He spoke about the potential of Greater Boston, and the opportunity the Inner Belt area would provide. Kraft had invested some $1 million already in analyzing the site by 2010, according to New England Revolution Chief Financial Officer Brian Bilello, making it clear that he also recognizes the possibilities there.

Honestly, that should be all you need to hear.

I know the fashionable thing to do among many Boston fans is to bash Kraft at times, but look at the facts: All he’s done since taking over the NFL’s Patriots in 1994 is build a state-of-the-art stadium and revitalize what was an infinitely stagnant franchise. With very few exceptions, every step he has taken with the Pats has been an erudite one. He  has proven himself to be one of the shrewdest owners in the business. That’s why my belief is that the stadium project in Somerville will happen. It’s just a matter of when.

Kraft and the Revs are under no deadline to get anything done, and the owner has made it clear that he is going to wait for the right deal. My sense is that Inner Belt is the site, has always been the site, that is option number one. Now it’s just a matter of greasing enough hack palm to get the corroded wheels of Bay State government in motion. Simply put: Kraft will hold out for the most incentives he can from Somerville and Massachusetts to build on that site. In the end, I think it will happen. However, it may be a noisy process.

Remember back in 1999? Everyone thought the Pats were packed and ready to move to Hartford. There arose such a hue and cry from Patriots’ nation that you would have thought the sky was falling. Turns out Kraft was just negotiating; it was through this process that he was able to secure a deal he liked for a new stadium in Foxborough.

That’s what I think is about to happen in Somerville. My feeling is that a new stadium will happen, and most likely begin operations around the same time as the Green Line expansion, if not sooner.

It just makes too much sense not to happen, and Kraft is too shrewd a businessman to pass up the opportunity.

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Just like old times...

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham remembered scoring against current Philadelphia Union goalkeeper and Colombian international Faryd Mondragon.

The year was 1998. The event: the FIFA World Cup in France. As a member of England's national team, Beckham scored on a set piece to beat Mondragon. England went on to win that match 2-0 in what was Becks's first start.

“I wasn’t actually that nervous,” Beckham recalled after practice on Tuesday, according to Larry Morgan of LAGalaxy.com. “I was ready to play in the World Cup. I had prepared myself and I was ready to go. I was excited more than nervous.

“It meant a lot to me that game, scoring my first goal for England, playing in my first World Cup and it was my mum’s birthday. It was kind of special in many ways. It was a good day.”

Mondragon, now the team captain for the Union, remembered the day so well.

“I remember it was the third game of the group, and we needed a draw or a win to advance and England needed to win,” Mondragon recalled. “And, well, we were down 1-0 and around the 30-minute mark there was a free kick from about 27 or 30 meters and, well, Beckham kicked the ball, it went over the wall and went in just inside the post to my right."

“I still see it going over the wall and knowing I hit it that well,” Beckham said of the goal. “I just remember him diving for it and it going in. I remember the celebration with Sol Campbell coming from behind, jumping on my back and almost breaking my back. It was a good one.”

Seven years later, in a friendly between England and Colombia at Giants Stadium on May 31, 2005, Beckham and the Three Lions bested Mondragon and Company again to the tune of 3-2.

“I’ll have great memories from seeing him,” Beckham said of Mondragon. “It’s nice to be going up against him and hopefully I can do it again."

When asked of the opportunity to hit on a set piece from a similar spot, Beckham kept mum on the details.

“I’m not going to tell you the spot I’ll go, and I’m not going to tell him the spot I’m going to go,” Beckham said. “I’ll try and score. It would be nice.”


The unflappable Todd Dunivant

Defender Todd Dunivant has been bouncing back from a sports hernia issue last season and is flourishing in the left back position.

“[The injury] affected me for about two-thirds of the season last year and I just kind of played through it,” said Dunivantto Luis Bueno of MLSSoccer.com. “There were some good weeks, some bad.

“I took an MRI at the end of the year and the initial results weren’t very conclusive, so we didn’t want to do surgery if we weren’t sure. We gave it three weeks to kind of settle down and rest. I went out and tested it a little bit and it was worse. At that point we knew we had to do something.”

No need to have it fixed in Europe when there are local options, Dunivant says.

“Why outsource it when you can do it here?” Dunivant said. “I’d rather do it in Santa Monica if I can.”

After getting surgery near the start of the 2011, Dunivant missed three training sessions before reaching match fitness earlier this month.

“I’ve had preseasons before where I’ve been in national team camp and sometimes you can burn out that way as well,” Dunivant said. “I don’t mind peaking right before the season than in late January.”


Optimism for Arena

Bruce Arena is hopeful that the Galaxy will bother to bring their A-game on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union.

“Believe me, it’s not going to linger,” Arena told MLSSoccer.com's Luis Bueno. “It’s over with now. Now we’re getting on the business of getting the team a little bit better, hopefully getting some guys back.

“We just did not play well. None of our guys had a good game. That’s pretty obvious.”

"You view whatever mistakes you made and put it in the file cabinet," said central defender A.J. DeLaGarza. "My old college coach [University of Maryland Terrapins head coach Sasho Cirovski] used to say that. You’ve got to learn from it and do better the next time. Thankfully we have a game on Saturday here in front of our fans and hopefully we can come out better than we have.

“Our starting 11 is really guys who have been here. There are no excuses for what happened, and we’ve got to take it upon ourselves to do better.”

Arena is hoping that goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts will be in shape for Saturday's contest, although it's possible Josh Saunders could be earning his fourth start this year in as many games.

“He’s close,” Arena said of Ricketts. “He’s training now. He’ll be back in the near future. When? I can’t exactly promise you at this point but he’ll be back.”

On Wednesday, the whole team discussed the performance on Saturday and, to say the least, were still fuming about their lack of effort that they put upon themselves.

“It’s been too many times this season… and to the end of last season, that we’re conceding (a goal) in the first 10 minutes. It’s crazy, really,” midfielder Chris Birchall said. “We have to sort it out.”

“The last two games we’ve had a brain fart right at the start. We have to get that right and take it from there,” said forward Bryan Jordan.

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When the New England Revolution host the expansion Portland Timbers on April 1 at Gillette Stadium, while it will be the first ever meeting between the two teams, they will not be on completely unfamiliar terms.

Making his Foxborough return will be old friend Adin Brown, who manned the space between the sticks from 2002-2004, including the 2002 MLS Cup Final run, before leaving for Danish side Aalesund FK. After signing with Portland last season, Brown will be making the third start of his return to Major League Soccer on a pitch he knows quite well.

Brown backstopped 48 games for the Revs in his three years with the team, and compiled a tidy goals against average of 1.73 during that span.

Indeed, his steady presence played a vital role in the club’s success during the early years of the previous decade, and Brown was unquestionably one of the league’s top stoppers.

Posting four shutouts in seven games during the 2002 MLS Cup playoffs, Brown sealed his place as a fan favorite in Foxborough and is sure to be received warmly at the start of Saturday’s proceedings.

In current Revs net minder Matt Reis, Brown squares of against the man who took over for him in the Gillette goal. History does not favor a hospitable welcome home for the 32-year-old keeper.

Reis has become a rock-solid MLS goalie since 2004, when injuries forced Brown to miss all but seven games during his final season in New England. Joining MLS in 1998 as a backup with LA Galaxy, Reis finally got his chance to start on a regular basis when Brown went down and proceeded to make this position his own.

Since becoming New England’s number one goalie, Reis has surpassed the bar set by Brown, and compiled a stellar 1.26 GAA over 183 regular season games from 2004 through 2010.

Unfortunately for Brown and the Timbers, Reis is at his stingiest against expansion teams, and historically, is at his best early in the season. The Revs’ goalie is 8-2-4 against expansion teams over his New England career, posting six shutouts and a minuscule 0.65 GAA. Reis is also a combined 17-5-7 in the months of March and April with a GAA well under 1.00. As a team, the Revs haven’t lost the first go-round with an expansion franchise since 2000, going 5-0-2 over the span. 

Head coach Steve Nicol has favored a 4-5-1 formation so far this season, and that seems unlikely to change as the results have been encouraging so far. New England has yet to lose a match, and the offense—one of MLS’ most anemic a year ago—has returned three goals in the first two game of 2011. 

Zack Schilawski, a second-year forward, has been playing as the lone man up front for Nicol so far, and broke a 10-month scoreless streak with his early strike against DC United last time out. Barring some unforeseen event, he will be reprising his role as lone striker against Portland. 

The man who makes it all go for the Revs is without question midfielder Shalrie Joseph.

After a troubling run-up to the current campaign that saw the Jamaican international sent home from camp, along with full back Kevin Alston, for disciplinary reasons following an incident at the team’s hotel in Florida, the Revs’ engine has been off to a blistering start in 2011. Joseph was arrested for trespassing after refusing to comply with the orders of law enforcement officers to vacate the premises following a loud party.

Scoring two goals in two games, Joseph has provided the impetus for much of New England’s offense so far, and will need to continue in this manner, at least until the team can properly integrate all its new additions, if the Revs are to enjoy a prolonged absence from the loss column.

Zak Boggs (whose injury last week wasn’t enough to keep him off the pitch this week), Pat Phelan, Stephen McCarthy and Kenny Mansally will likely join Joseph in the middle of the pitch, while Alston and frenchman Didier Domi should start at full back.

In the middle it will probably be AJ Soares and Ryan Cochrane who get the nod. Cochrane will start over Argentine rookie Franco Coria, who injured his hamstring last time out and will not go against Portland.

My guess is that Nicol will be encouraging his charges to test Brown early and often, as they did Pat Onstad last weekend. With the chances of the club bringing in a Designated Player signing to help with the attack before the summer transfer windows in Europe dwindling by the day, New England will need to build on the successes of the first two games and build up some confidence bringing the ball forward if Nicol and company hope to avoid a repeat of last season’s paltry scoring totals. 

Defensively, the squad looked pretty good against a potent DC United squad, only finally conceding in stoppage time, and with Domi being a seasoned European veteran, the team looks pretty well squared at full back.

The real question in the back is in the middle.

While Soares now has a year under his belt, Cochrane made his New England debut against United, and the man he came on for, Coria, is just 22 years old with limited first team experience in Argentina.

That being said, you’ve got to be pleased with the early indicators of how this defense may fare in 2011. Holding the Galaxy, what with Beckham, Angel and Donovan, to one goal is no mean feat, and it took over an hour and a half for Charlie Davies and DC to score on the Revs last week.

All in all, the Revs should have little trouble felling the fledgling Timbers.

Prediction: 3-1 New England. Joseph, Boggs and Schilawski pot goals for Nicol’s side, while old pro Eddie Johnson gets a late consolation for Portland.

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Jonathan Bornstein must have some embarrassing photos of coach Bob Bradley, because there is no explanation for him ever suiting up for the United States men's soccer team again.

Since the 2010 World Cup, most US Soccer fans have been clamoring for a change at the left back position and for good reason: Bornstein just doesn't have it.

During the loss to Paraguay, Bornstein was the worst player on the field and it wasn't even close. With numerous faulty touches in our final third and the propensity to get beat both within the box and outside of it, Bornstein simply isn't a fit for this team or any team for that matter.

Praised hollowly by the announcers for his ability to push the ball forward, Bornstein's movement going forward was robotic. He effectively stalled many great opportunities for the US with both poor service, and erratic touches.

One play that comes to mind was his ball that missed a wide open Altidore, who certainly would have had at least a chance to put the ball on target.

When he does move forward, he is often beat, leaving the rest of the left side stretched out and exposed. Bradley did a great job moping up many of his mistakes, and plugging many of the holes left by the Swiss cheese that is Jonathan Bornstein.

Making matters worse, across the field from Bornstein was Timothy Chandler, who had arguably the best game for the US. He was able to stretch the field too, but when he took off, he beat his man.

He placed several balls inside and displayed the quality that one would come to expect from a backer within the 4-4-2 formation.

Moving forward, there are options outside of Bornstein. Eric Lichaj presents an attractive option. Not only is he younger, but he is far more skilled and can contain himself within the formation. He can push the ball forward too, but with a distinct touch that Bornstein lacks.

Along with this, his defensive abilities are far more crisp, and he is much less likely to give the ball up in our half. Further adding to his resume is his ability to throw-in the long ball. An attribute that nearly helped the US net the game equalizer late against Paraguay.

Jonathan Spector is another option. While the position of Left Back might not be completely ideal, it's still a better fit. He has plenty of experience at the Premier League level, and has performed very well for the US in the past.

Though he is right-footed, he is still an upgrade over the no-footed Bornstein.

Bocanegra is yet another upgrade: The left-footed defender may not be an offensive powerhouse, but he is capable of playing more than sufficient defense at this stage in his career.

Bob, enough's enough. Bornstein should not be included on another US Roster unless the entire defensive goes down ahead of him.

The roster mistakes from Bradley that continue to crop up from the World Cup must be addressed if this team is going to advance on the international stage.

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In an NFL off-season that has been dominated by grim headlines concerning the labor situation and the current lockout, Cincinnati Bengals' wide receiver Chad Ochocinco's attempt to play [barely] professional soccer for MLS franchise Sporting Kansas City has provided some needed comic relief. But that's all it should have been. Just a innocent, funny story about the NFL's preeminent touchdown-dancer, tweeter, and entertainer trying out an old childhood sport during his current work stoppage. Cute.

But it doesn't end there. On Tuesday, after 4 days of practice with the team and a scrimmage, Ocho was offered a spot on the reserve squad. Pulease.

All the initial reaction by mainstream media focused on how its a great deal for both sides. Ochocinco can stay in shape by participating in the bi-weekly soccer practices in lieu of all the Bengals' mini-camps that the NFL lockout will almost definitely cancel.

And soccer can benefit as a whole, according to coach Peter Vermes, "because I think there’s a lot of people out there who question how hard it is to play this game and it’s very, very difficult.”

Okay, that's all very nice, but I don't know if you and I were watching the same footage of Ochocinco on the pitch, but what I saw was a lot of pussyfooting, turnovers, and errant kicks from #85. It's very well-documented that he hasn't played soccer since the 10th grade, and that he's still shaking off the rust, but does Sporting KC actually think that he has a chance to crack the roster at any point in the season? I dont think so.

Rather, the courtship of Ochocinco by Sporting KC can only be classified as one thing; a big, fat plea for attention.

We all know the attitude towards soccer in America, general apathy for the better part of a four year cycle, followed by a crescendo in soccer fanship just in time for the World Cup, followed by another dramatic decline in concern for the "beautiful game" in America. You can almost hear a pin drop at most MLS venues. Thus, Sporting KC's interest in Ochocinco can only be seen, at least from the perspective of the apathetic American soccer fan, as a desperate call for media coverage.

Still though, it does seem to be working. At Ochocinco's first team practice last week, there were about 40 people from the media present, reportedly around ten times the usual amount. So kudos to Sporting KC, smallest market in one of the least popular major sports in America, for landing one of the the biggest media magnets in all of American sports. I bet they're laughing with each KC #85 jersey sold, all the way to the bank.

But, here's hoping that we see Ochocinco in a more familiar uniform sooner, rather than later. Until then, enjoy an athlete that makes his living with his great hands, clunk about in a sport that doesn't allow the use of them.

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Over the last few months many football fans were trying to feverishly delay the inevitable horror of an NFL lockout. There is no life without the world’s greatest sport, and surely they couldn’t resort to the unthinkable consolation of watching hockey.

What many fail to realize is that the lockout is hurting not only the fans and those in love with game, but the players as well.

The NFL is notorious for having athletes with a serious work ethic and who never want to press the stop button. Chad Ochocinco is no exception.

Now, before you begin to ridicule him or say he puts more effort into mid-game tweeting than his post routes, just think of him as the guy who puts 110% into everything (especially pissing off the suits in the NFL offices).

Ochocinco recently tried out for MLS club Sporting Kansas City and had some reasonable success. He has officially made the reserve squad (or at least to the point where they’re playing him today) and seemed to have had a positive affect on the KC footballers.

While MLS is pretty huge in North America right now, it isn’t the most exclusive soccer league in the world. With such big names as David Beckham and Thierry Henry donning MLS jerseys this year, the league will gladly accept any superstar that comes their way, even if they haven’t played soccer since they were four.

As ridiculous as #85 can be on Twitter or in the endzone after TD's, I think this move is more legit than his last name.

He’s an athlete and the golden rule about athletes is that they don’t embrace the off-season with open arms.

Imagine if you had your dream job and because you lost a game you couldn’t do that job for six months. You’d go out of your mind right? You’d probably even turn to soccer!

Ochocinco is an eccentric dude but if he has what it takes to make SKC, then I’m behind him 1000 percent.

He definitely has the speed and tenacity, and the skills will come naturally to a genuine athlete like him. I think Ochocinco would be great for MLS by bringing it a BIG name from a big league and a star who doesn’t shy away from the limelight.

And MLS could use some ridiculousness too.

I mean, come on, don’t you want to see what he’s planning for after he scores a goal?

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It has been confirmed that Manchester United will face the MLS All-Star team for the second successive season in 2011 and that the matchup will take place at Red Bull Arena, home of the New York Red Bulls.

While the Red Bulls are the MLS team of the Metropolitan New York City area, the stadium is based in the town of Harrison, New Jersey, around 10 miles outside of Manhattan.

With many Manchester United fans looking forward to making the trip to see their team in action against the best that MLS has to offer, they will also be looking for other things to do while they are in town.

Here we take a look at 10 things for United fans to do in New Jersey.

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It has been rumored and in negotiations for several weeks, but Monday it was officially announced: Manchester United will return to play the MLS All-Stars for the second successive season.

After playing the game in front of 70,000 fans at Reliant Stadium in Houston last season, the two teams will have their 2011 matchup at the 25,000 capacity Red Bull Arena, the beautiful $200m soccer-specific stadium that opened in March 2010.

While the voting process for the MLS All-Stars has not yet begun, it's never too early to begin the excitement of speculating over the key matchups to look out for in this game.

And there will be plenty of those to look forward to!

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