COLUMBUS, Ohio – FC Dallas duo Maarten Paes and Petar Musa competed in the 2024 MLS All-Star that saw the Liga MX All-Stars triumph 4-1 at the Columbus Crew’s Lower.com Field Wednesday night.
“It was an amazing experience,” Paes said after the game. “All the days, the training, and the game too. I really enjoyed it. And that was for me was the key of the week was to enjoy it. As an athlete and a competitor you want to win. But overall, I'm really, really proud of what I achieved. It was a huge honor.”
“It is really nice to be here, it is a privilege to share the field with such great players,” said Musa, who was a late addition to the team. “It was fun for me. I’m really happy and grateful to represent FC Dallas here.”
Germán Berterame opened the scoring for Liga MX in the 16th minute with a pinpoint header but Columbus’ own Cucho Hernandez equalized a minute later for the MLS All-Stars. His goal drew deafening roars from the home supporters within the Crew’s Lower.com Field. The stars from south of the border took the lead again four minutes from halftime when Oussama Idrissi beat Roman Bürki with a curling effort from outside the box.
Both Paes and Musa entered the fray in the 66th minute with the MLS All-Stars still trailing 2-1. The change coincided with more pressure from the Liga MX All-Stars and they capitalized by scoring two goals within five minutes from 1v1 situations.
"I hope the fans at home are proud of us," Paes said. "Petar almost scored too, I was hoping that he would hit one. It's a huge honor to do it with him. We were warming up at the same time and we both thought 'wow, this is a cool moment for us'...I thank everyone. Thank you voting, thank you for watching. Thank you for always supporting me and I will keep on working every day to be the best person and best goalkeeper."
Musa went close to scoring MLS’s second goal when his first-time took a deflection toward the far post but goalkeeper Fernando Tapia saved it with his fingertips. Paes had his first involvement soon after when Memo Martínez went through on goal but Dallas’ ‘keeper made a foot-save to parry the shot.
“It is an honor for us to be here and play together with such great players, especially my teammate Maarten (Paes)," Musa said. "I’m very happy for him because he deserved to be here...I’m super happy that we had the opportunity to bring in my family. This is also the first game for my son so I am just really, really happy that they were there in the stadium to watch me.”
