FRISCO — Matt Hedges will return to his second-career All-Star game this Wednesday when Major League Soccer's best will face off against Italian side, Juventus, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hedges was nominated to the MLS All-Star team through the Coach's Pick, hand selected by Atlanta United FC coach Tata Martino, to represent FC Dallas on the national stage.
"Yeah, it’s always fun to be involved in that kind of thing," Hedges said following FCD's 3-2 win over Sporting KC. "All the players players from the [inaudible] and are playing a great team like Juventus, so it’s always a fun experience with everything going on.”
Hedges said he looks forward to taking some time off during a busy MLS season. Dallas is ranked first in the Western Conference and is six points clear of the rest of the competition. With the All-Star Game in the middle of the week and sandwiched between games, it's a time for Hedges to sit back and enjoy the experience.
"It’s a fun thing to go do in the middle of the season to take your mind off of what’s going on with your team," Hedges said. "But at the end of the day, I’m going to go there, have fun, but still be focused on our game on Saturday.”
Even though the All-Star game precedes FCD's next match against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, Hedges said his focus is still mainly on this weekend's game. He said although it is a little break in the middle of the season, he hasn't forgotten his main priority and wants to try and get as much rest as possible before Dallas' next match.
"Yeah, you know, try to get a lot of rest," Hedges said. "It’s some extra couple of trips of traveling. Atlanta and back and an extra game. Just trying to rest up, and that’s basically it.”
