SuperLiga Groups Announced... sort a.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the 2008 North American SuperLiga participants have been decided and groups have been drawn.

Group A
- PUMAS
- New England Revolution
- Chivas USA
- Atlante

Group B
- Houston Dynamo
- Chivas de Guadularara
- Pachuca
- DC United

DC United will host all of their matches at RFK Stadium.

It does appear that the actual schedule for this tournament has yet to be determined, as DC United's schedule only has the All Star game listed for July. Now unless MLS has finally realized that a month break in the summer would actually help the quality of play in the league (which I doubt that they would ever do) the lack of schedule matches for July leads me to believe that SuperLiga will take place in July, but they aren't sure as to when exactly. Houston only has one match listed on their schedule, as does New England. Chivas USA have two on their schedule.

All in all, the group looks very tough, so the guys who do take part in the group stage matches should have good matches. I assume that Tom Soehn's priority list for 2008 might look a little like this:

1a. CONCACAF Champions Cup (as it comes first)
1b. MLS Cup
2. Supporters Shield
3. CONCAF Champions League
4. SuperLiga Championship
5. US Open Cup

I haven't heard or seen anything either for or against this, but as the CONCACAF Champions League will be taking place during the same time frame as the CONMEBOL Copa Nissan Sudamericana, I would assume that CONCACAF clubs will not be taking part in that tournament any longer. I will keep an eye out for this one.

I am one of those people who actually likes the SuperLiga. Yes, it is a made up tournament, but most tournaments have to start somewhere. Yes, the matches don't truly test the MLS clubs as they do not have the travel "quirks" of heading to Mexico for group matches. All in all, as I said last year, the tournament is a very good idea and has to begin somewhere.

I would ultimately like to see the group stages involve 6 games, 3 home and 3 away. unfortunately, this type of thing will not be done until MLS rosters get larger and the salary caps get bigger. MLS clubs would pass out if they had the mid week travel matches in Mexico, then the MLS matches, then right afterwards the CONCACAF Champions League matches, which will require more travel matches.

Until MLS increases the roster sizes and the salary caps, the SuperLiga, in its current format, is a good stepping stone to giving more MLS clubs exposure to matches outside of MLS. This is a good start.

Match Recap: DC United 0 - 2 LA Galaxy

What a difference a Brit makes.

David Beckham started the SuperLiga Semi-Final match tonight against DC United. He not only started, but he set the tempo for the entire LA Galaxy side and he showed why he isn't washed up. I have never seen the Galaxy play at that tempo and speed before. It was good to see him banging away at guys, making hard challenges and getting into it with everyone on the field. He damn near took Jamie's legs off with his late tackle that drew a Yellow card, but over all, he performed incredibly.

Beckham was the difference.

Without Beckham, I honestly do not see the Galaxy scoring on his free kick (Amazing goal btw) nor do I see anyone in a Galaxy jersey making that pass to Donovan as he ran passed Gros, who decided to try and stop and watch the ball roll under his feet. When he left the game, the Galaxy became an entirely different beast. They didn't bunker, but the really didn't do what they did the first 60 minutes. Without Beckham, I really don't see the Galaxy winning this game.

Then again, I really have a hard time seeing United winning either. We looked tough, we had great movement at times, but our trapping and finishing just wasn't there tonight. Joe Cannon had an amazing second half. He made some saves that were spectacular. I do question why he is trying to look like Dante Hicks from Clerks, but hey, if he plays like that, let him look like Dante.

I saw several passes go right bye guys tonight, simply because we failed to trap the ball. All of them killed offensive movements at the Galaxy goal. It's always the simple things that get you.

Some notes:

- Props to either the Riot Squad or the Galaxians or whomever was chanting, "Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Hey, Hey, Hey, Good Bye!" We do that at RFK when we win, and I believe we did it last week when we won 1-0, so payback is a bitch.

- Vanney trade. I am not that sold on it now. I guess I have to weight the Erpen SNAFUs against the slow white man in the back. Not sure yet, I would rather see Burch ahead of both.

- Referee Alex Prus called a very, very loose match. I honestly think that the Galaxy should have had a PK as United should have as well, maybe two.

- Oh My Gawd, the field at the Home Depot Center looks worse than the field Olimpia hosted United on in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. WTF??? It almost looked like they were trying to make it look like the floor of the old Boston Garden.

- Captain Beckham? That was quick.

Well, the Galaxy have one shot at glory this season, and if Beckham plays like he did tonight, even with Pachuca having their great form of right now, I think they will get the first SuperLiga trophy. Depends on the ankle.

As for DC United... they are off to Columbus for an Eastern Conference showdown with the Crew. Hopefully, we will see the back line that pitched two straight shutouts along with Gomez and Simms in the midfield. United looked better with Simms in instead of Carroll. We have three straight Eastern Conference matches, away to the Crew, home to RBNY and away to Toronto FC. Let's put the Beckham show behind us now and get back to business of collecting three points a match.

DC United Notes: SuperLiga & Barra Brava

Tonight is the second Semi-Final in the inaugural North American SuperLiga tournament, DC United visiting the LA Galaxy. Pachuca advanced to the final last night by defeating the Houston Dynamo 3-2 on penalties after three red cards were handed out. The winner of tonight's match will host the final on August 29th.

Considering that these two clubs faced each other less than a week ago, with United winning 1-0, I have a good feeling about this match tonight. Yes Burch is suspended due to too many yellow cards and yes I know, HE will be playing, but considering everything else surrounding the Galaxy, they should hardly be in any real shape to play United. They are missing three of their main players, just finished a three match in a week road trip and have barely been in LA for 72 hours when the match kicks off. United hasn't played since the 1-0 victory over FC David Beckham and are in line to get Gomez back into the line up.

All in all, I expect a victory over Lalas's "Crown Jewel of MLS."

While everyone is waiting for the 10pm kick off, go check out the Washington Posts coverage of the match tonight & their expose of Barra Brava.

Match Recap: DC United 0 - 1 Houston Dynamo

That was pretty bad. DC United looked listless out on the field. It almost looked like there were 20 guys out there in Orange and about 7 guys in black. The guys in black looked like they didn't know how to pass with each other. It was a bad match.

It was good to see Jamie return to the field and once he did, United looked like a different team. The injection of Moreno gave United a controlling presence and a creative player that brought a new life into the side. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

Bobby Boswell has now muffed two sitters in two straight games. Bobby, if you aren't going to hit the open shots, don't go forward. Send somebody else.

Now we all have to hope for a draw or an America win to ensure that we advance to the Semi Finals. In all honesty, I hope United doesn't advance. The club has more problems on its plate in the league right now. The club that performed admirably in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and through the month of May and June has disappeared. I really don't know what they are now.

One idea is that they are lacking the one thing that they had differently last year, which was a larger amount of discipline. Peter Nowak had these guys set in a much tighter structure; maybe it wouldn't hurt to start using some of that right now.

Match Recap: DC United 1 - 0 Club America

Ok, time to eat crow.

After the first SuperLiga match, I wasn't too thrilled with DC United, it's players or the coaches. I felt that the players had lost their heart and desire and played a very listless match against what should have been an easy opponent in Morelia. After two matches, I might be in the early stages of changing my attitude.

Unfortunately, due to attending a wedding Saturday night in Iowa, I was unable to get down to RFK for last nights victory over Club America. I did catch the match on the TV. I saw a huge difference in the Wednesday night match and the Sunday night match.

Our players started the match much better Sunday night, making better runs and causing problems for America's goalkeeper Armando Navarrete. Rod Dyachenko's 12 minute strike was a great team performance and is the type of brilliant flashes of light that keep people from saying dump Dyachenko.

Over all, I saw a much stronger DC United than the one on Wednesday night and a more composed and organized side. Our team defense was much better and our substituting helped kill off the match. It was a good result.

Marc Burch, IMHO, has staked his claim to the left back position. Over his last few starts, he has shown that he can hang with the rest of the guys and not get burned. Having him in a back line of Namoff, Boswell, & Vanney might do us well down the stretch in the MLS season.

DC United overall played much better. Their finishing remains something to work on, as I counted 4 separate sitters that somebody muffed on. Coach Soehn finally decided to use the subs (more likely a result of guys getting healthy rather than just deciding to sub guys out) which helped kill off the match. Rojas' red card, on TV, really didn't look that bad, not any worse than several of the other challenges in the match. I guess because he took the flying attack and had both feet ready to strike was the reason that Referee Carlos Batres gave him a straight red.

So now United sit on 4 points and are tied with Houston for the top spot in group B. As these two play each other Wednesday night, who advances out of group B could be interesting. If America drops Morelia, than both Houston and United advance with their current points. If Morelia defeats America and either Houston or United win on Wednesday night, Morelia and the winner Wednesday night advance. If United and the Dynamo draw & Morelia wins, then we probably need to call Stephen Hawking to have him figure out the tie breakers and such.

Good match last night, lets see more of that rather than most of what we have seen over the last few weeks.

SuperLiga Match Recap: DC United 1 - 1 Morelia

God damn am I disappointed.

I really want to know what happened. At what point did the entire club lose their heart and desire and their want to win? Was it after they pasted RBNY for four goals? Was it after they knocked four goals in against the Colorado Rapids? Did they ever have these qualities at all?

I saw a lazy club out there tonight. I saw Fred barely jog to balls that were kicked at his direction. I saw him stop and stand in place when he should have been running to try and create space for Gomez or anyone and give them a target to pass to. I saw Fred stop his runs, to stand and see what would happen next.

I saw Rod (Splinters in my Ass) Dyachenko fail to remain up in the forwards position during the first half and force Emillio to remain alone surrounded by four Morelia defenders. Once Rod was removed, I saw a poor man’s Jamil Walker come onto the field and basically look horrible (Nick Adderly).

Brian Carroll, please do us all a favor and quit your day job. I saw that Giant was hiring, I am sure you could find at least one job there you can’t screw up. Carroll’s passes were too soft, they were more like give away’s. He doesn't understand the concept of continuing a run to help the guy who you just tried to pass to. People wonder why a guy like Veron would make a world of difference in the United line up, it’s because Brian Carroll wouldn’t make the field with Veron starting in front of him.

DC United let their fans down tonight. Two simple tap in’s should have yielded a 3-1 score line and a victory. Instead, the simple art of just tapping the ball failed to make its way into the minds of two Brazilians and they decided to destroy the ball ala “HULK SMASH!!!” style. Instead a simple 1-0 match is given away to a wonderfully taken goal.

In the 30th minute I said to myself that the match would end up 1-1.

A quick way to try and assist the entire club on how to play soccer is to watch the game film, and see how Morelia moved. They were always running off of the ball and creating dangerous runs into the box. Even though half of their passes were snuffed out, they still had the mindset to make those runs and give the players a target to pass to, instead of standing still watching the ball get picked from their teammate.

So now we let 2 points go away and we now have to face the two tougher clubs in the group. I do not see United getting anything more than 1 point against America and I have a feeling that the Dynamo drop United like a rock. United will not make it out of the group phase.

Jesus, the two assholes who ran onto the field had more heart and desire than United did tonight. That is sad.

Soccer News & Notes: 7/25/2007

LA Galaxy win first SuperLiga Match; FC Dallas Draw
God I love Landon Donovan! This guy has a nack for making people eat the same stuff that they throw at him. After the Beckham circus match Saturday night, pretty much everyone dropped Donovan on his head for missing the open header late in the match and basically being invisible through out the entire match. I even said that the Galaxy would finish dead last in their SuperLiga group.

Well, he proved me wrong and showed the rest of the media that he can still step up in matches. Donovan scored the match winner as the Galaxy, minus Golden Balls, defeated Pachuca 2-1 last night. As FC Dallas drew with Chivas de Guadalajara 1-1, the Galaxy currently sit at the top of the Group A standings.

FC Dallas draw with Chivas.
The other SuperLiga match of the night had FC Dallas draw with Chivas de Guadalajara 1-1, despite an apparent hand ball that lead to the Chivas goal that tied the score at 1-1. FC Dallas played a man short for the end of the match as Drew Moor was sent off for shoving Chivas captain Hector Reynoso.

I watched the first half of this match and I was shocked at how hard these guys were hitting each other. The hitting was fierce and the passing was horrible. FC Dallas had terrible passes through out the entire first half, and it made me wonder if it was only time until Chivas snuck in with a goal. Chivas themselves weren't that much better, but they did have faster build ups in the offense, which I thought would be the difference. I figured teh score would be 1-0 for Chivas.

Freddy off to Benfica?
The AP is reporting that MLS and Benfica have agreed to a $2 million dollar transfer for Freddy Adu, but Freddy and Benfica have yet to agree to personal terms of the contract. Freddy was back in the Real Salt Lake line up as they hosted Boca Juniors in an international friendly last night, which finished 1-1. Negotiations appear to be on going.

I really, really like this move, assuming that Freddy can agree to personal terms with Benfica. Moving to Portugal provides Freddy with the chance to face an entirely different environment and get alot more playing pressure on him, rather than marketing pressure. At Benfica, Freddy will have to fight for playing time in training, something that Peter Nowak was trying to get him to understand and what he said he figured out with his two week training session last year with Manchester United. He won't be the media darling of the entire league, like he head been over here. His game should improve greatly, assuming that he moves. I am just happy that he wants the greater challenge, unlike some other guys.

Eddie Johnson turns Derby down.
Speaking of Americans getting chances to move overseas, Eddie Johnson has reportedly turned down Derby's offer to joining the EPL side this season. Derby has just been promoted to the EPL and were looking to bring EJ in to bolster its offense. In 2005, Benfica offered MLS a reported $6 million for EJ's contract, but the league turned them down.

As I said before, I think that EJ should move, especially with his stock so "high." The guy has been lighting up MLS, 12 goals in 11 games, but his game needs to go higher, especially if he wants to truly be an international goal scoring threat for the USMNT. Playing in the EPL would have forced him to become quicker, not only on his feet, but in his head.

Poor decision EJ, poor decision.

SuperDuperLiga

Check out the website...just pay no attention to the group stats, as they seem to not even know where clubs are in their own tournament.

As this is a SUM event...why doesn't this surprise me?

Copa Panamerica, so where was MLS?

I was pretty shocked to be reading reports of a soccer tournament being held in Glendale, Arizona at the University of Phoenix Stadium (UPS). According to the website for the tournament, it was a pre-season tournament that had the following participants:

- Club America
- Boca Juniors
- Cruz Azul
- Alianza Lima
- Caracas
- Deportivo Cali

The tournament had two groups of three with the winner of each group playing each other in the final. Cruz Azul knocked off Boca Juniors 3-1 and claimed the trophy and the $250,000 championship purse. All of the matches took place at the UPS.

As I was under the impression that all international soccer matches that occur in the US were under the guidance of SUM, I am trying to figure out why there wasn’t one or two MLS clubs taking part in this tournament? It’s not like it is a foreign concept to have MLS clubs take part in international tournaments during the regular season, the Galaxy just finished one and four other clubs are gearing up to start the SuperLiga tonight and tomorrow night. So why didn’t SUM/MLS get any of the MLS clubs in on the action?

I honestly think that this would have been a very good opportunity for MLS to get its clubs more international experience, much better than the All Star Game provides. They could have sent the Chicago Fire and Red Bull New York. The Fire could have used this tournament as the introduction of Blanco as well as the Sunday home match against Celtic. Blanco could have played his first match in a Fire jersey against his former club; that would have packed in the fans at the UPS.

Having this type of tournament in the US is the exact type thing that MLS/SUM should be working to avoid. If these two groups are trying to use the SuperLiga to try and convince the US Latin American community that the MLS clubs are worth watching, why have a tournament that showcases six non-MLS clubs on US soil? Why showcase the very clubs that the US Latin American community points to as the clubs they support?

I think that an even bigger question is why have the Copa Panamerica held in the US so close to the SuperLiga? If the Copa Panamerica is not going to have any MLS clubs participate, hold it in Mexico. Better yet, have the two tournaments merge and have the SuperLiga clubs and the Copa Panamerica clubs all fight it out for the $1 million dollar purse, giving the runner up the $250,000 for second place.

I like the idea of the Copa Panamerica and if I still lived in Phoenix, I would have been attending all of the matches. I don’t like that it was held in the US without any of the MLS clubs participating nor do I like that it was held so close to the SuperLiga. Having the tournament in the US is fine, just have one or more of the clubs from the first division in the US participate, namely MLS.

Here it comes…SuperLiga!

Ok, so how long has it been since the inaugural SuperLiga tournament was announced along with the participants and the bitching? After all of the complaining, arguing and debates, we are finally set to see inform MLS clubs go against pre-season Mexican clubs with 1 Million dollars up for the winner.

So what should we expect? Should we see the MLS clubs wipe the field with their Mexican opponents? The Mexican clubs are in preseason form after all, so they should be rusty and ripe for the picking.

I doubt that we will see anything other than some interesting matches. Clubs on both sides of the Rio Grande should do well, but I think we will see something of a Houston vs. Pachuca final. Houston is playing very well right now and Pachuca seem to have everything falling into place for them.

I am worried about two of the MLS clubs, the LA Galaxy and DC United. The Galaxy will be entering their second straight international tournament in pretty much as many weeks. They lost 3-0 to Tigres and 1-0 to Chelsea this last week. Considering that they have already faced a pre-season Mexican club and fared poorly, how are they going to do against two of the better Mexican sides? The Galaxy are still trying to figure out who is playing which position and what formation works the best. Pavon picked up a knock in the Chelsea match and that other guy from England doesn’t seem to be ready to really play until maybe Saturday against Chivas. I was impressed with their defensive form against Chelsea. Xavier played out of his mind in central defense and Cannon saved their bacon 4 or 5 times. That said, I expect the Galaxy to finish last in their group, using the three matches essentially as a pre-season run at the new players and see which formation works the best and to get them back in form for the MLS regular season.

DC United on the other hand really haven’t had that much of a run of good form lately. In their last four matches, they are 0-3-1, having been shut out in the three losses and having blown a 3-0 lead at home n the draw. So now the injury depleted Black & Red have to face two of Mexico’s best then travel to Houston and face the MLS leading Dynamo, one of the clubs that shut them out in those three losses. Considering that Tom Soehn should have both Ben Olsen and Fred available (Olsen had to sit out the RBNY match and Fred gets an MLS sponsored vacation when United face the Revolution on August 5th) I expect them both to be in the lineup for Wednesday nights match against Morelia. If United can get three points against Morelia, a draw against America then hopefully they will not have to worry about their match against Houston. If not, I think based on their current form, United might miss out on playing passed the group phase in this tournament.

Overall, my opinion of this tournament hasn’t really changed. I think that it is a great idea and one that will hopefully grow with each season that we see it. Based on Commissioner Garber’s statements on MLSnet.com, I think that it will:

“Matt from Chapel Hill, N.C.: What are your expectations of SuperLiga this year? Will it ever go to a Home and Away format? Will it expand? Will it be on TV in English?

Don Garber: We're launching SuperLiga in a reduced format this year and still have some work to do to determine the future structure of the tournament. I certainly hope we can achieve a home and away competition with expanded teams but this year have to determine the tournament's success before we move forward.” - MLSnet.com

The biggest thing that will determine its future is if the first run is a success. In order for the tournament to be a success, the current fans need to get behind it. It seems that a lot of MLS fans are shunning this tournament because the teams were selected instead of teams that won some type of qualification to get in.

I think that once the matches get started, there will be plenty of fans in the seats and we will see this tournament become a success. As MLS/SUM/MPD begin planning the next SuperLiga, hopefully they will take any mistakes from this one and eliminate them and expand the tournament to include more clubs. I would ultimately like to see MLS/SUM/MPD begin to invite the top two clubs from Costa Rica as well.