For the second straight season, the MLS All-Star game will feature a big-time club as the opponent to the MLS All-Star squad. And for the second straight season it will be none other than EPL giants Manchester United. The game will be played at Red Bull Arena Wednesday, July 27, starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Yeah. I’m not feeling this one. Look don’t get me wrong, having ManU come over here again is a pretty big deal and I’m not downing that for a second. The profile of the game will be nice and should get decent press by the mainstream media here again, especially since it is being played outside of the nation’s largest media market.

But for me, I don’t see the need to have ManU be the other club in this one since they were just here doing that same thing a year ago down in Houston. Getting the same club just shows the league had no one else in mind for this mid-summer friendly. I have to wonder if their options are really that limited for this “showcase” or if they really just didn’t try to find someone else. I would have thought they could have made a decent pitch to Ajax since they are coming over here for a summer tour but I suppose that isn’t sexy enough.

Secondly, the game will likely fall into a weekend that will be around some CONCACAF Champions League qualifiers for a couple MLS clubs, which means a few players will likely have to miss this game. This seems to happen every year now and in a way it’s not as big of a deal as some will make it out to be.

The All-Star game format like this isn’t going away anytime soon. I’ve asked that question several times to folks in the league front office and they typically give the same response. I’ve never been a huge fan of the All-Star game as a whole but I get it. It’s an American thing, so why the hell not? To me, the league has a long way to go to raise their All-Star game format and week surrounding it in general for more folks to really take it serious. I doubt we’ll ever see a return of the East v. West format or even the US v. World format that we once saw in this back in the day.

What do you think of ManU coming back for the All-Star game in 2011? Like it? Hate it? Let’s hear it.