After twice losing to the Dynamo in the MLS Cup the Revolution finally got one last night in the SuperLiga final. Another close game saw the Revolution twice come back from one goal deficits to tie the game. Once they did it in regulation and once again in the extra time. The game could not even be decided by the normal 5 penatly shots. Not six, not seven, but it took eight penatly shots to settle the game and give the New England Revolution another trophy for their case.
VS 
Houston Dynamo – New England Revolution
Gillette Stadium
7PM CST (8PM local time)
Telefutura
The Dynamo and Revolution are no strangers to each other when trophies are at stake. The two teams have played for the MLS Cup both of the past 2 years, both of which the Dynamo have won despite never having beat the Revolution in the regular season. This will be their first meeting for a SuperLiga trophy in only the 2nd year of the tournament. Last season Pachuca beat the LA Galaxy in a shootout in the final.
Road to the finals
Houston Dynamo:
The Dynamo won group A by beating Atlante and D.C. United but losing to Chivas de Guadalajara. They topped the group by goal difference. Then they Dynamo had to face Pachuca in the semi-finals. Last season Pachuca beat the Dynamo in the same stage of the tournament – this year the Dynamo advanced to the final.
New England Revolution:
The Revolution beat Pachuca and Santos and finished in a draw with MLS’s Chivas USA to win group B. They went on to beat Atlante in the semi-finals to advance to play the Dynamo for another trophy. The Revolution remain the only unbeaten team in the tournemant so far.
So what is going to happen tonight? The Dynamo have the upper hand in games where trophies are at stake but they Revolution have dominated the Dynamo when it has not been the MLS Cup. The game is at the home of the Revolution which could help them. Both teams are in very good form right now in MLS regular season play.
Both of the final games of group B finished with 1-1 draws which was good enough to send the New England Revolution through to the semi-finals with the top spot from group B. Defending champions Pachuca advance with 4 points and second place in the group.
PTS – W – L – T (GF-GA) Team
7 – 2 – 0 – 1 (3-1) New England Revolution
4 – 1 – 1 – 1 (3-3) Pachuca CF
4 – 1 – 1 – 1 (3-3) Chivas USA
1 – 0 – 2 – 1 (1-3) Santos Languna
Tuesday the semi-finals get underway with Houston Dynamo playing Pachuca CF. Then Wednesday’s semi-final will see New England Revolution play Atlante.
After a bad for for MLS at SuperLiga on Tuesday group B came alive for MLS as the New England Revolution and Chivas USA both came up with important 1-0 wins today over Pachuca and Santos Languna respectively. The Revolution are in good position to advance to the semi-finals, but have not been guaranteed anything yet. The next games will see MLS vs MLS and Mexico vs Mexico. This is the current standings:
PTS – W – L – T (GF-GA) Team
6 – 2 – 0 – 0 (2-0) New England Revolution
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 (2-2) Pachuca CF
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 (2-2) Chivas USA
0 – 0 – 2 – 0 (0-2) Santos Languna
Group A played the 2nd round of games yesterday and neither of our MLS teams fared very well. Chivas scored the only goal of the game to beat Houston 1-0. This put Chivas into the semifinals. Atlante secured a 3-2 victory over DC United which ensures that DC United has no chance at the semi-finals. So this is what the table looks like now.
Group A
pts – w – l – t – (gf – ga) team
6 – 2 – 0 – 0 – (3-1) CD Guadalajara
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 – (4-1) Houston Dynamo
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 – (3-6) Atlante
0 – 0 – 2 – 0 – (3-5) D.C. United
The remaining games are Houston Dynamo vs DC United and Chivas vs Atlante.
What if Houston and Atlante both win?
Chivas, Houston and Atlante all end with 6 points. Only the top 2 teams advance to the semi-finals.
In that case goal difference would be the first tie-breaker. Houston is already +3 and would improve that with a victory. Chivas is +2 but would go lower with a loss. This would make sure Houston is ranked higher than Chivas. Atlante is -3 currently meaning they would need to beat Chivas by at least 7 goals to match Houston’s total – and that is if Houston only gets a victory by 1 goal difference. In this situation Houston would likely win the group.
What if Chivas and DC United win?
In this case Chivas win the group with a perfect 9 points. Houston, Atlante and DC United all have 3 points. Houston is +3, DC United is -2 and Atlante is -3 on goal difference. Houston and Atlante’s GD goes down and DC’s goes up. If DC were able to beat Houston by 3 goals they would have the best GD of these three teams, sending them onto the semi-finals.
To simplify it a little bit: Chivas will probably advance and DC United is probably done. Houston is in better position to take 2nd place in the group, but Atlante has a shot at it.
The 2008 Superliga will get on with the 2nd round of games today. This is what the groups look like right now:
Group A
pts – w – l – t – (gf – ga) team
3 – 1 – 0 – 0 – (4-0) Houston Dynamo
3 – 1 – 0 – 0 – (2-1) CD Guadalajara
0 – 0 – 1 – 0 (1-2) D.C. United
0 – 0 – 1 – 0 (0-4) Atlante
Group B
pts – w – l – t – (gf – ga) team
3 – 1 – 0 – 0 – (2-1) Pachuca CF
3 – 1 – 0 – 0 – (1-0) New England Revolution
0 – 0 – 1 – 0 (1-2) Chivas USA
0 – 0 – 1 – 0 (0-1) Santos Laguna
Today the next round of games for group A take place. Catch these games with Spanish commentary if you have Telefutura.
D.C. United (0pts) vs Atlante (0pts)
RFK Stadium – 7:00 p.m. CST
Telefutura
Houston Dynamo (3pts) vs CD Guadalajara (3pts)
Robertson Stadium – 9:00 p.m. CST
Telefutura
First of all in case you didn’t see the SuperLiga final last nite this is how it went:
LA gave away and own goal in the first half and Beckham went off with what I hear now is a sprained knee (I watched on TeleFutura but I don’t speak spanish). The Galaxy dominated parts of the 2nd half and both teams were unlucky to not score several times. Chris Klien scored in the 92nd or so minute on an awesome bicycle kick on a poorly cleared ball. Both teams were unlucky again to not score in extra time. In the penalties it came down to the 10th shooter with the penalties all tied up.
If Donovan can make one PK the SuperLiga belongs to the Galaxy. He gets up and does his usual weird finger kissing thing but this time I think the keeper knew what to watch for. He kissed fingers on his left hand more times than fingers on his right hand, which meant he was going to his left (keeper’s right).
That shot didn’t lose the game, but it could have won the game, so it was on to one at a time. Pachuca scored the next one before Abel Xavier sent one wide to give the first SuperLiga to Pachuca.
The Galaxy (along with David Beckham this time) actually beat another MLS team. It was not regular season MLS game so it shouldn’t be too surprising. The Galaxy are off to the SuperLiga final after one Beckham goal and one Beckham assist led to a 2-0 Galaxy victory over DC United.
A lot of people have made a big deal out of Beckham not playing yet this year. It is really amazing to see. As I was watching the MLS match tracker online ABC news had a story about Beckham not playing yet this year with the Galaxy. People (Americans) would understand if LeBron James wasn’t playing due to injury.
I’m glad it finally happened, and I hope the goals keep coming for Golden Balls. I would only hope that makes the average ignorant American football fan forget about MLS, cause I don’t wanna hear about it from them anymore! I’m talking about those people who could only name 1 player in MLS, but they know he gets too much money for not even playing.
It sounds kind of like the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Houston Dynamo advance to the semi-finals and lose to Pachuca on PK’s.
The Dynamo played to a 2-2 draw last night with Pachuca after 120 minutes of (possibly exciting) soccer. Pachuca goes on to play the winner of tonight’s game between DC United and LA Galaxy.
At least we will have one team that will still have a shot at claiming the first SuperLiga title. I wish the Wizards were there, but I really hope whoever wins tonite will beat Pachuca on August 29th.
Watch the remaining games on TeleFutura if you are lucky enough to have it.
Well the inaugural SuperLiga 1st round has come to a close. Each group represented by 2 MLS teams and 2 Mexican teams. Two teams from each advance to the semi-finals. What would most expect to happen? Probably Mexico to roll over the MLS teams, but not so much.
The Los Angeles Galaxy won group A followed by CF Pachuca. Group B was dominated by MLS teams as Houston Dynamo and DC United both advanced to the semi-finals.
On August 14th Houston Dynamo will play CF Pachuca and the next day we will see DC United and LA Galaxy. This guarantees at least one MLS team in the final. I’m hoping that we’ll see an all MLS final!
