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WASHINGTON – Well, they got the halftime show in. 

After a lightning storm caused a nearly one-hour delay, Major League Soccer eliminated the final 15 minutes of the first half of its All-Star game on Saturday for a concert by pop singer Paulina Rubio. 

“They could have nixed Paulina to play 10 more minutes of soccer,” Dallas forward Jason Kreis said. 

Just weeks after baseball couldn’t produce a winner in its All-Star game because it ran out of players after 11 innings, soccer produced an unusually abbreviated game, with the MLS All-Stars beating the U.S. national team 3-2. 

The game’s title sponsor was conspicuous during the halftime show – its logo was pasted across two inflatable bottles, the stage in the middle of the field and the headbands of dancers. 

“We felt it was the right decision to make on what we were trying to deliver to our television audience and what we were trying to deliver to our audience in the stands,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said. 

It used to be that all baseball games had a winner or loser unless stopped by rain or darkness, and that all soccer games went at least 90 minutes. 

But that is no longer the case. 

Garber said the decision to cut one-sixth of the game was his, and that ABC didn’t make the call. After broadcasting the halftime show, ABC dropped coverage of the game at 6 p.m. EDT, with the score 1-1 in the 26th minute of the second half, to return to local programming. 

Coverage switched to the cable network ESPN, which like ABC is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., and one minute later game MVP Marco Etcheverry scored for the MLS All-Stars. 

During regular-season play, the Bolivian has scored just one league goal in the past 1 1/2 years. 

“I think that’s the first one he’s scored since 1960 – when he was 20 years old,” joked U.S. coach Bruce Arena, Etcheverry’s former coach at DC United. 

In a year when soccer fans worried about the rainy season in Japan and South Korea during the World Cup, the biggest weather story happened at RFK Stadium in the U.S. capital. 

Rain began to fall in the 12th minute and the game was halted because of lightning eight minutes later by Brian Hall – the American referee who worked at the World Cup. The 20 minutes were the longest scoreless stretch in the seven All-Star games staged by the young league. 

During the delay, visibility was down to about 100 yards. Despite warnings to take cover, about a dozen fans ran out on the field, and one was led off in handcuffs after he mooned the crowd. 

About 100 members of Sam’s Army, the U.S. fan group, stayed by their seats, singing and dancing despite announcements to take cover in the stadium concourse. 

When the game resumed, the turf was so soggy that passes along the ground quickly rolled to a stop. Still, it produced five goals and far more entertaining soccer than during the first half, when the turf so was slick that players had trouble controlling the ball. 

“You don’t want to do anything to disappoint the fans who went out and spent their hard-earned money,” said Landon Donovan, who scored twice for the U.S. team during the World Cup. 

Nine of the 11 U.S. starters were on the World Cup roster, but the Americans were missing 12 of the Europe-based players, who are preparing for the start of their club seasons. Also missing was injured forward Clint Mathis. 

Donovan, who scored four goals during last year’s All-Star game and at 20 was the youngest scorer at the World Cup, put the Americans ahead 12 minutes into the second half, but Kreis tied it a minute later. 

After the goal by Etcheverry, the United States tied it 2-all when Cobi Jones scored in the 31st minute of the second half. Steve Ralston scored the game-winner five minutes later off a backheel pass from Kreis. 

The strangest moment came with one minute left, when the MLS’s Dema Kovalenko upended the Americans’ DaMarcus Beasley, his Chicago teammate, with a cleats-up tackle. 

“Come Monday in practice, I’m going to put on the studs and get him back,” Beasley said.