First half goals from Juan Pablo Angel and Juan Carlos Toja saw the MLS All-Stars book a 2-0 win over Celtic at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Thursday night. It was the fourth straight time the American assemblage has defeated a foreign invitee.

"We've come a long way in 11 years," hailed All-Star coach Steve Nicol. "We've really reached a point where we're maybe on the threshold of really taking the extra step."

The composite MLSers upstaged their Champions League opponents, taking a dominant stride from early on. Passing was surprisingly fluid for a grab-bag of players that find themselves at all corners of the continent and usually consider themselves rivals, although stray balls were still reminiscent of All-Star games past.

Houston Dynamo Ricardo Clark and Columbian attacker Juan Carlos Toja troubled the Scottish goal in the opening minutes, but Bhoys keeper Artur Boruc was formidable and aware.

In the 17th minute, Matt Reis was forced into pacifying some danger at the other end after Celtic's Mark Wilson crossed in from a quick counter.

Just four minutes later, Wizard's star Eddie Johnson showed some dazzling wizardry with his feet to set up a strong chance that would just elude him before the end product.

Former Hearts captain Steven Pressley found himself as the first to go into the referee's books after chopping down Houston star Dwayne De Rosario in the 27th minute. From the resulting free kick, Red Bull sensation Angel dragged his attempt wide.

Pressley would concede a corner minutes later after making a last-ditch block to halt another Johnson run after the Wizard turned the visiting defense inside and out with a series of backheel touches and peels.

From the ensuing corner, Johnson would carve out yet more danger, taking down Toja's in-swinging left-footed delivery before being taken down himself for a penalty. However, it would be Boruc that came up the stronger after the star striker stepped up to slot home, with the Polish keeper parrying his shot out to safety.

In the 36th minute, the home side would strike first blood through eventual Man of the Match Angel. The Columbian hot shot took a delicate De Rosario ball in stride to swerve his effort past Boruc for the 1-0.

Just before the halftime whistle, fellow Columbian Toja would double the lead for the domestic stars after pouncing on a sloppy clearance from the Bhoys' backline to find the net.

The teams went into the break with MLS enjoying a 2-0 lead, with all attention turning to the festivities and everyone's focal point, David Beckham, who entertained the crowd with an interview and some photo sessions.

When the action resumed, only one change was made, with former LA Galaxy keeper Kevin Hartman taking over the post for Reis.

Little would change in dynamic, with the MLS boys maintaining an effective if not intuitive form of possession play over their opponents.

With Celtic's Gordon Strachan yelling on, the Bhoys would finally trouble the All-Star defense after former Chelsea midfielder Jiri Jarosik powered a long range effort at Hartman, but the veteran keeper sloppily lost control for Celtic striker Scott McDonald to slot home his strike; the visiting attacker would, however, face disappointment from the linesman's flag.

Brian Ching and Landon Donovan came of for Johnson and Angel in the 65th minute, looking to rekindle their San Jose partnership and pile on more hurt for the Champions Leaguers. With fresh legs on the field, and the ball squarely in the court of the American side, little would change in the run of play as the clock wound down.

The All-Stars would see one more chance through Ronnie O'Brien after the Irish-heritage MLS star put Donovan's creation to good use, only for Boruc to come up big yet again.

Scoring
MLS - Juan Pablo Angel (Dwayne De Rosario ) 36'
MLS - Juan Toja 44'

CFC - Artur Boruc; Mark Wilson, Stephen McManus, Steven Pressley (Bobo Balde 73'), Lee Naylor, Paul Hartley, Massimo Donati (Thomas Gravesen 68'), Scott Brown, Jiri Jarosik (Aiden McGeady 53'), Scott McDonald (Maciej Zurawski 66'), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Kenny Miller 53')

MLS - Matt Reis (Kevin Hartman 46'); Jimmy Conrad, Michael Parkhurst (Eddie Pope 83'), Jonathan Bornstein, Ronnie O'Brien (Cobi Jones 80'), Ricardo Clark (Pablo Mastroeni 60), Dwayne De Rosario (Christian Gomez 65'), Shalrie Joseph, Juan Toja, Juan Pablo Angel (Brian Ching 65'), Eddie Johnson (Landon Donovan 65')