<p>The MLS All-Star game looks set to get a little <em>super</em> this season. A new Adidas ball has been posted for sale – the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/mls-tv-schedule/">MLS</a> All-Star Game ball, featuring the Marvel Avengers superhero team. </p>



<h4>MLS All-Star Game Marvel Ball</h4>



<p>The design of the ball carries over the angular pinwheel shapes from the standard 2023 match ball. But here, the color scheme is mostly black, grey and gold.</p>



<p>Most notable is the inclusion of the famous red Marvel logo, and the Avengers themselves. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and (if you look closely) Captain America are visible. This of course is the core Avengers lineup made wildly famous by the eponymous 2012 Marvel Cinematic Universe film. In addition, different colored circles that resemble the Iron Man suit’s chest arc reactor, or perhaps the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Stones" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Infinity Stones</a>, appear at confluences in the ball seams.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><div><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="715" src="https://media.worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/06/16062140/MLSMarvel_Ball-1280x715.webp" alt="MLS All-Star Marvel Ball" class="wp-image-437939" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px"></figure></div></figure>



<p>It’s certainly an interesting cross-promotion. We haven’t seen anything on the field promoting a specific media franchise quite like this since Atletico Madrid’s 2003/04 rotating movie shirt sponsors (one of which was Spider-Man).</p>



<p>And it definitely adds some over-the-top American kitsch to an event that soccer traditionalists already consider to be frivolous. The general soccer world doesn’t take the MLS All-Star Game seriously, so they might as well have some fun with it, right?</p>



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<p>The ball is part of a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230614181656/en/Marvel-Celebrates-Avengers’-60th-Anniversary-With-Beyond-Earth’s-Mightiest-Campaign" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">larger celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Avengers</a> by Marvel. Additional promotions and theme nights will be taking place with the NFL, MLB, WNBA, and MiLB throughout the year.</p>



<p>The MLS All-Star team takes on <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/arsenal-tv-schedule/">Arsenal</a> on July 19th, at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. We’ll just have to wait and see if the MLS squad will need the Avengers to step in and save the day against the English powerhouse. You can <a href="https://vivid-seats.pxf.io/c/330866/952533/12730?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vividseats.com%2Fmls-all-star-game-tickets-audi-field-7-19-2023--sports-soccer%2Fproduction%2F4351375" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">click here</a> to find tickets.</p>



<p>If you can’t make it to the game, the MLS All-Star Game against Arsenal is live worldwide on <a href="https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.7000?itsct=wst_mls&amp;itscg=30200&amp;at=1010l35s4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MLS Season Pass</a> on Wednesday, July 19. </p>



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MLS All-Star Game to feature Marvel Comics designed ball

MLS and Marvel? The match ball for the upcoming MLS All-Star game will feature Marvel superheroes in the design.

MLS All-Star Game to feature Marvel Comics designed ball - World Soccer Talk

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<p class="MsoHeader"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black"><span>Photo Captions: 1st Lt. Paul Wistermayer, from Denville, N.J., takes a header in the opening round of the Combined Forces Football Tournament, a Baghdad-wide tourney featuring teams made up of American and Iraqi players. <span>Jamaica native, Pfc. Mark Skeen, assigned to 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, moves the ball, flanked by defenders.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoHeader"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black"><span><span>Story and Photos by Sgt. Joshua Risner/Multi National Division-Baghdad </span></span></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;line-height: 200%">BAGHDAD – Dust clouds form as American and Iraqi footballers compete under a cloudy sky in the community of Salman Pak, here, May 10. However, this is not a national rivalry grudge-match; both teams are made up of Americans and Iraqis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">The game is a preliminary round of the Combined Forces Football Tournament, according to Maj. Paul Salmon, operations officer assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. “This is the first round,” the Philadelphia native said. “The second round will be played in Baghdad.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">Soldiers from 1st Bn., 505th PIR, teamed with Iraqi Army Soldiers of the 46th Iraqi Army Division, faced off against Soldiers of 1st Bn., 82nd Field Artillery Regiment and the 3rd Brigade, 1st Iraqi National Police Division.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">While it might have been easier to host the game on a Forward Operating Base, the match was held out in sector, allowing the local populace the opportunity to come out and watch, Salmon added. “This is an opportunity to exhibit the security that has been established,” he said. “It’s telling them we’re getting to a point of normalcy with the [Iraqi Security Forces] taking a positive stance of making sure this is a better place.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">An extensive information campaign preceded the event to ensure public awareness, according to Salmon. “We got with our Iraqi partners to establish a vision of how to do it,” he said. “We put up banners, did some soliciting and gave out trinkets and soccer balls to the kids.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">The advertising paid off and the spectators showed up in droves, from American and Iraqi Security Forces to local leaders. “There’s a band, there’s dancing, there’s children and sheiks and no one’s scared,” said 1st Lt. Paul Wistermayer, the assistant intelligence officer for HHC, 1st Bn., 505th PIR. “It says a lot about where we are and where this country’s going.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">Being on an integrated team has produced results with overall partnership, according to Wistermayer. “At first it was hard with the language barrier, but we gelled after a couple of practices,” he said. “It’s helped us become closer to the Iraqis in general, because we have something in common besides training and security now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">The game itself was a very physical match, with both teams competing hard for the win. The crowd cheered for their team and booed when calls from the officials didn’t go their way. A three-piece band pepped up the crowd when the home team scored a goal, sparking a dance-fest with the 46th IA Div., along with local Sons of Iraq.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">In the end, however, the visiting team took away the victory, 3-2.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">“It was a good game and of course, the field artillery won,” quipped Spc. Daniel Brindell, from St. Louis, assigned to 1st Bn., 82nd FA Regt. “I never thought I’d be out here without a weapon, playing soccer with the Iraqis.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;text-indent: 0.3in;line-height: 200%">The football match showed that a sense of normalcy is indeed returning to war-torn Iraq. The Beautiful Game, as it is called, is giving the Coalition force and the ISF another opportunity to strengthen their bond and improve their working relationship.</p>
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Beautiful game fosters partnership among U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers

Beautiful game fosters partnership among U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers - World Soccer Talk

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MLS All-Star Game to feature Marvel Comics designed ball

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Beautiful game fosters partnership among U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers