COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- For the first time in 19 years, the best of Major League Soccer will be in Columbus, and the first event at Lower.com Field is Tuesday night.
After many weeks of anticipation and community events, MLS All-Star week has finally arrived in central Ohio with the Skills Challenge taking place at 7:30 p.m. Ten players from the MLS all-stars team and the Liga MX all-stars will go head-to-head in five challenges.
Here is what you need to know about Tuesday's MLS All-Star Skills Challenge at Lower.com Field.
Six challenges will take place Tuesday night that test a variety of soccer skills: shooting, touch, cross and volley, passing, crossbar, and goalie wars. Five of these challenges will count toward the overall score between the sides.
The shooting challenge will have three players from each team shoot at 12 targets in the goal in 60 seconds. In the touch challenge, each team will have a passer sending crosses toward another player, who will be kicking at a skeeball apparatus to earn high scores. Behind the apparatus will be a ball launcher that will send five orange balls toward the player as well.
In the cross and volley challenge, passers will send in crosses toward a teammate, who will try to score against a goalie. The player trying to score the goals will earn extra points for style, with higher totals earned for bicycle kicks, one-timers, half-volleys and more.
The passing challenge will have three head-to-head matchups as players pass to knock out four targets, plus a fifth target, to win the round. The final challenge in the MLS-Liga MX overall battle is the crossbar challenge, as seven players from each team compete. The winner of the crossbar challenge will win the overall challenge. Players will try to hit the crossbar from two specific areas on the field.
Goalie wars will return and feature MLS NEXT Pro goalkeepers. In a round, two goalies will compete head-to-head with each trying to score against each other while defending his net.
In addition to 10 players from each All-Star team, both MLS and Liga MX will be joined by a former legend and a player from each country's respective women's leagues (NWSL and Liga MX Femenil).
Two Crew players will participate on Tuesday: striker Cucho Hernandez in the shooting, touch, and cross and volley challenges, and Crew 2 goalkeeper Stas Lapkes in goalie wars.
MLS Skills team
Liga MX Skills team
Goalie Wars
MLS had an earlier version of a skills night during the first All-Star games that included goalie wars and soccer tennis but retired it in 2001.
Some form of a skills challenge has been contested since 201,9 with the current iteration beginning in 2021. After losing the first skills challenge to Liga MX in Los Angeles in 2021, MLS won the 2022 edition in St. Paul, Minnesota. Last year's contest was won by Arsenal 4-1 in Washington, D.C.
