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Morning Ticker: Chicago falls in SuperLiga final, Barca bounces Seattle and Red Bulls tumble out of CCL

PappaTigres (Reuters) 

The Chicago Fire outplayed UANL Tigres for the better part of 90 minutes on Wednesday night, but could not find the game-winning goal that would have given the Fire the SuperLiga trophy. The SuperLiga final went to penalty kicks, where misses by Mike Banner and Justin Mapp doomed Chicago as Tigres converted four of five penalties to win the 2009 SuperLiga title.

Patrick Nyarko opened the scoring in the 10th minute to give Chicago the early lead, but Tigres responded just before halftime when Itamar Batista equalized with a well-struck shot. Batista was Tigres' hero yet again in penalties as he converted the tournament-clinching kick.

The loss kept Chicago from winning its first trophy since 2006.

Here are some other stories to get your day going:

Barcelona trounces Seattle

Lionel Messi only played 45 minutes, but that was all he needed to do damage.

The world's best player scored a pair of first-half goals to help Barcelona post a 4-0 win vs. the Seattle Sounders at Qwest Field on Wednesday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 66,848.

Messi curled home a left-footed blast from distance before running onto a lofted pass from Xavi and beating Kasey Keller with a close-range blast to give Barca a 2-0 halftime lead. Pedro Rodriguez set up a Jeffren Suarez goal before finishing off his own to make the final score 4-0.

Barcelona concludes its tour of the United States on Saturday in San Francisco vs. Chivas de Guadalajara. The game will be part of a doubleheader along with a San Jose-Columbus MLS match.

Red Bulls bounced out of Champions League

For 39 minutes, the New York Red Bulls looked like they might be able to win a game they desperately needed and salvage something from a nightmare season.

What happened instead was a recurrance of the same nightmare the club has been living all season. Defensive blunders led to a pair of goals allowed in the final five minutes before halftime, giving visiting W Connection a lead it never relinquished. John Wolyniec's opening goal gave the Red Bulls some life, but it was those two goals by Andre Toussaint that ultimately doomed the Red Bulls, who dropped a 2-1 decision and were eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League.

The Red Bulls were clearly the better team in the first 40 minutes of play, creating chances and opening up a lead off a quality sequence between Ernst Oebster, Jorge Rojas and Wolyniec, but the second goal never came, so when Toussaint found a 40th minute equalizer it gave the visitors life and left the Red Bulls dreading another replay of a season-long series of collapses just before halftime.

Kevin Goldthwaite picked the wrong time to play with the ball at the edge of his own penalty area and Toussaint made him pay, stealing the ball and finishing with ease to help give W Connection what some were calling the biggest win in the small club's history.

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What did you think of these games last night? Disappointed that Chicago couldn't win a game it controlled? Surprised to see Seattle beaten so handily? Impressed with the fans at Qwest Field? Surprised to see the Red Bulls lose to a small Caribbean club, or did you expect it?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Mapp is a mope.

    Hamlett’s subs were far too late. Rolfe is following in Mope’s footsteps. Every shot during the 90 minutes he took was off frame.

    Tigres kept seven on defense almost the entire game. It was nine in the last ten minutes. The Fire had trouble with feeding the ball into the box. When they did manage to get it into the box, Fire players looked lost on what to do. McBride was truly missed. At least Hamlett didn’t put Carr into the game.

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  2. 1. I tend to think that the night was mostly good for MLS. Good to see passion and attendance in Seattle and Barca put on a show. While it would have been nice (ego-wise) to see a 1-1 tie with the Sounders sharing the run of play, the reality is that Messi has embarassed a lot of top class players and Barca showed last year they’re in a class by themselves. Only fools are looking at that result and saying “this shows MLS is crap.” Just look at who Barca ran circles around last year (including Real Madrid) and tell me that result shows MLS is inferior.

    2. SuperLiga, a shame for Chicago but that’s the way the game goes sometimes. I continue to think that SuperLiga is underrated. Furthermore, with a ton of MFL fans in the US, anything we can do to get them more interested in MLS is a huge plus–for fans, for sponsorship, for advertising (which leads to mainstream TV and sports coverage) to more teams. If the price we pay to help make that happen is SuperLiga than I’m all for it.

    3. My understanding is that this win by W Connection is their first Concacaf win by W Connection in 23 years. That’s embarassing. I can understand a team being woeful if a couple of key players get hurt and the foundation of the team isn’t there. But for two years, RBNY has been woeful. The run to the finals was great. But basically it was two wins (away at Houston when Dane Richards created a matchup problem with Wade Barrett and against RSL when the crossbar did more work than Cepero!). I don’t mean to minimize that run–there are plenty of other teams that had the opportunity to either make the playoffs or make the run–and they didn’t. But saying that the team won 2 games in a row (really big games but still, just two games) when over 2 years it’s been pretty dreadful soccer, dreadful signings, not a lot of youth development…all I can say is: why does JCO still have a job?

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  3. Are you kidding that Itamar scored a goal? Itamar is AWFULL! He played for Palmeiras (I think he started his carrer here) and he was awfull and will always be. Sorry but when I read it I had to say something.

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  4. @Posted by: Dominick | August 06, 2009 at 11:18 AM

    The ONLY reason I don’t like your tweak though in theory it seems ‘fair’ is two years ago.

    Two years ago if they took the best 8 teams in terms of record pretty much the entire Eastern Conference would have made it into the playoffs. I think only one team from the West would have made it and even then they would have been like the number 5 see.

    There are just too many years where the league’s balance of power is so off kilter that awarding it to the other conference is no different than awarding it to the MLS Cup Runner Up.

    RBNY…seriously? They are just a joke. There is no need to talk about that ‘club’ until they cease being a joke. The run to the final last year was a fluke and the biggest argument against the playoff system.

    Fire fell victim to the game of chance that is penalty kicks unfortunately. It happens. They played well but ultimately you gotta finish those PK’s. Being the better team the whole game doesn’t mean a thing when it gets down to PK’s unfortunately. Congrats to Tigres for taking their second chance and finishing it.

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  5. Hamlett should be fired. He continues to show he has no football judgement. To put Mike Banner in the game, knowing the PKs were minutes away, was either complete stupidity or utter wishfulness. The kid can’t complete a pass under the best of circumstances and he’s chosen to go in and take the second kick?!

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  6. Forget the new stadium, or the current one they play in. The fans have given up on the club this year because they’ve gone from possible cup champs to doormats. Fans here want a winner after 14 seasons of futility. However, the main issue is that the club (going back to the Metros era) has had trouble fielding a good DEFENSE! And we all know that some flashy player upfront is fun to watch but if they’re allowing too many goals to sink into their own net, it’s a lost cause! Maybe they’ll wake up like the Galaxy did and address the fact they need to spend more money on two good central defenders. Until then, those 2 games they won this season is about all we’ll see. DEFENSE wins championships!

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  7. You don’t get to gloat every year to fans of a rival team. So I will gloat…

    The Red Bulls suck. If there was ever a team that serves as the reason relegation should be brought to the MLS, this is the team. 2009 energy drinks. wah wah waaaaaahhhhhh

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  8. “Paul: remember, the team isn’t actually in New York, but New Jersey. You can certainly live in New Jersey on an MLS salary, maybe not well for the minimums, but there are a lot of people making minimum wage in Jersey (and a lot making a lot more) and even the lowest MLS salary far outstrips minimum wage.”

    You have got to be kidding me. Granted, Jersey is not Manhattan south of 96th Street in terms of cost of living, but New Jersey has the highest cost of living of any state, and Bergen County, where Giants Stadium is located, is one of the most expensive parts of NJ.

    If you’re suggesting that players could economize by living in the slums of Newark or Paterson, you would be right, but you would also be completely insane.

    Please provide some context for why you misrepresented the cost of living for NYRB players. Is it because you want to deny any objective excuse for the consistant problems that the team has had? I honestly think it’s a pretty plausible argument, having talked to players with families about how much easier it is to survive on the same MLS salary when playing for teams other than NY. (And I’m not talking about minimum salary players– Meola said that other than the championship, the dramatically lower living expenses was the best thing about his trade to Kansas City.)

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  9. I tend to agree with those on here who see last night as glass half full and I certainly like Jason’s revision to the Champions League Qualifying.

    Being at Toyota Park last night the atmosphere was awesome. It really felt liek a final particularly in the second half. I know there’e no way to guarnatee it bu the key to the tournament is having an MLS team and Mexican Team inthe Final. The two years that has happened it really ahs been good stuff.

    And good for the Fire’s ticket staff and the Fire fans to fill the place (cause there was certainly much more Red than Yellow in the building) considering this wasn’t even in the season ticket holder’s packages.

    I guess MLS Cup will have to be our only trophy this year.

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  10. I would guess 30 to 40% of the fans at Toyota Park were Tigres fans. It was a great atmosphere and the Fire dominated and moved the ball extremely well. We could have used McBride, Conde, and Thorrington. I’m sure the 90th minute substitutions were supposed to be the best PK shooters on the team. If they do the job the coach looks like a genious. If not, everyone criticizes him. But its the players who have to do the job when given the opportunity.

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  11. Paul: remember, the team isn’t actually in New York, but New Jersey. You can certainly live in New Jersey on an MLS salary, maybe not well for the minimums, but there are a lot of people making minimum wage in Jersey (and a lot making a lot more) and even the lowest MLS salary far outstrips minimum wage.

    Personally, I agree with Dom (if this is really him and not his wife!) on balance, a good night for MLS. 66k+ in Seattle, a PK loss to a very good team and the expected loss of perhaps the worst team in MLS history.

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  12. Ok..the real question is, what is wrong with NY?

    Why do players that played in NY seem to thrive in other markets?

    NY has had some good coaches over the years. BB loses his job, Arena loses his job, yet they did better somewhere else. Why?

    Is it because the club is cursed? Giants Stadium? Are the players partying too much in NY? The city that never sleeps..

    Apart from the Designated Players, can players really survive on their MLS salaries in NY?

    From MLS inception, NY has had mediocre teams. Everyone is quick to blame the coach, but it is obvious that something else is contributing to the mediocrity coming out of NY.

    I don’t have any hard facts, but based on some of the player salaries, it is probably very difficult economically for players on a minimum MLS salary to survive in NY.

    Ives, it would be an interesting story.

    Is it always the coaches fault? So, fire JCO. Next year, you will be wanting to fire the next coach because the mediocrity will persist.

    MLS needs to address what they can do to help the NY market. It is an important Soccer market and NY needs to be fielding strong teams. I think the economics of living in NY have some impact on player moral.

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  13. Irony of ironies — it was the Mexican team that dropped back and relied on the counter. Can you imagine how much whining there would be about who played the better soccer if the roles were reversed? If the Fire had scored on their only shot on goal and won on penalties, there would be a river of excuses from the MFL fans.

    Posted by: cjbrown

    ————–

    I know what you mean:

    ” We sent our C team”

    “The tournament was meaningless”

    “US fans don’t care about the Gold Cup final”

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  14. First sellout of the year at Toyota Park, and relatively few Tigres fans in the audience.

    Irony of ironies — it was the Mexican team that dropped back and relied on the counter. Can you imagine how much whining there would be about who played the better soccer if the roles were reversed? If the Fire had scored on their only shot on goal and won on penalties, there would be a river of excuses from the MFL fans.

    Mapp is a sad case — he is a shadow of the player he was 2 or 3 years ago, and even less than what he was as an 18-year-old. Let’s not even talk about how short of his potential he has fallen. Gotta put those penalty shots at least on frame.

    Osorio is a fraud, Agoos was an embarrassment to US soccer as a player and Red Bull should just sell the team and the new stadium if they don’t care enuff to Fire both today.

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  15. Some good posts here. I think overall it was a positive night with big crowds for 2 games and some good play. As a Fire fan I would have loved taking the trophy home, but the team played well and it just wasn’t our day. I don’t know what is wrong w/ Mapp, but he better get himself in gear if he wants to maintain a paycheck! NY, well, that’s just sad. One would think it was time for something drastic there (to understate it).

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  16. Fire did well… tho the PK’s pissed me off like no other…. how do you shank a PK?? its an open shot right in front of the goal… at least make the GK’er make the save….

    if Mapp’s stock wasnt already loos with us Fire fan’s, it reached an all time low…. wow, the guy did nothing in his limited PT not to mention a terrible PK…. Fire need to throw him up for trade bait… or drop completely… the guy takes up 225k… 225K!!!

    ridiculous

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  17. It sure seemed there were more than 66-848 people there. Just kidding though Ives, I love the site.

    I, as a season ticket holder, didn’t feel upset or embarrassed for the Sounders. I think Sigi was spot on by only playing the starting 11 for the first half, especially with saturday’s game at Rio Tinto. It was great to see the reserves get a chance to play against the likes a Barca. Also, Leo Gonzalez was great. I am super excited to see him play on the left. All in all an amazing experience (with the exception of one particularly inebriated Canadian).

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  18. I looked at my post and thought, “I didn’t type that….” Thanks for the response, as confusing as I found it at first!

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  19. i was at the RB disgrace last night and i will not attend another RB game until JCO and Agoos are fired.

    the austrian dictators dont care about the team, they only care about the brand. we are hopeless without any signs of light.

    JCO and Agoos NEED to be fired within the next 24 hours for the organization to show it has any resemblance of a spine left.

    WE DESERVE BETTER

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  20. Do you think if people stop paying money to drink Red Bull, they might get the message and finally do something about the embarrassment their team is?

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  21. 2 points: first, the red bulls run to the finals was very peculiar and heading forward, with the record they had, would not even have qualified for the playoffs. so that is not a worry in the future.
    second, with the red bulls woeful season, I am pretty surprised they have not signed a couple academy players and at least used all of those losses to “season” their young academy players that we have been hearing about.

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  22. Every football player should be given a tape of Barcelona’s play, not because of the goals but to learn basic things like movement off the ball, spacing, field view, ball control and delivery.

    If you notice, all players subscribe to the simple idea of “receive the ball, pass the ball, make yourself available”. One of the things that always amazed me is that whenever a player makes a pass, he rarely puts his teammates in a bad position, and always looks for a way to became an outlet after the pass.

    Cheers

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  23. Red Bulls are an embarassment. They looked simply awful in the second half. Never really thought they were going to equalize.

    It was cool at the end to see how happy and excited the W Connection team was when they won. Loved the knit Rasta hat one of their coaches was wearing over his dreads — heh.

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  24. Jason, I like removing the MLS Cup runner up from the Champions League. I’d only make one tweak to your suggestion.

    1) MLS Cup Champ

    2) Supporter’s Shield Champ

    3) USOC Champ

    4) Other Conference Champ (Since the Supporter’s Shield will obviously win the other conference)

    #4 will put additional weight to the conference set up. #3 and #4 go into the qualifying phase.

    Just a thought.

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  25. So the NY Post says last night cost Osario his job. Is that them following a out to a logical conclusion or do they actually know something?

    (SBI-the Post said it “LIKELY” cost him his job, which was the widely-held belief of what would happen if they lost last night.)

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  26. All the chicken littles on this site are amazing.

    Horrible night? Not really.

    1) Barcelona 4 – Seattle 0. What did you expect Barca to do? Sold out Qwest. Good show by Messi. That’s fantastic.

    2) Chicago 1: Tigres 1. Tigres win on PK’s. As noted, Chicago outplayed them, just lost on PK’s. No shame there, in fact, some pride gained. Though I don’t think we’ll get a lot of sympathy from Mexico fans about playing the best ball for 90 minutes and not winning. Still, the Fire looked the better team.

    3) NY 1: W Connection 2. Yeah, that was bad. But at least they didn’t get humiliated like NE did last year. And we all no NYRB are historically bad, and it was w/out Angel. Disappointing, yes. Horrible? No.

    Really, MLS needs to look at giving a CCL slot to the MLS Cup runners up. Any team can make a run, but if one wants the best teams, I think the spot should go to the next best regular season, the spots should be:

    1) MLS Cup Champ
    2) Supporter’s Shield Champ
    3) USOC Champ
    4) Next Best MLS Regular Season Record

    Any duplications, and go to next best record.

    If that was the case this year, we’d be looking at Chicago in the CL, not NY, and a better showing.

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  27. Mapp’s attempt was bad, but Banner’s might have been even worse. After all, he was a last-minute sub precisely because he was supposedly automatic on penalties.

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  28. Seriously, Red Bulls NY needs to fire all their players, save Angel, and starts from scratch Because this team is just heartless, horrible, pitiful.

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  29. WoW i cant believe that i live in New york… I always wanted to be able to have a team follow…. Metro Came and i was very happy… but gosh this team sucks… Metro and the Red bulls have always suck… a stadium is not going to change anything…

    People will show up first games.. but when they notice that the red bulls suck… they will never come back… and Red bulls will kill the whole excitement of having a professional soccer team in our area..

    We need a whole new ball club..!

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  30. I want my money back as a season ticket holder for the Red Bulls. If Osorio is still the coach after the next 24 hours, then this team is dead to me…

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  31. As a sounders season ticket holder i got to go to the game last night and I am not the least bit disappointed with the result. Sure the score line is depressing to look at but it was Barcelona! I’m proud of the team for not playing a defensive game. Instead they tried to play an attacking game and had a number of great sequences in the beginning but eventually the brilliance of Barca took over.

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  32. Anyone that thinks last night wasn’t a terrible night for MLS is crazy. It was pathetic watching the Red Bulls last night, I can’t believe something hasn’t been done about those players and their coach. Honestly they should just cancel the rest of the Bulls seasona and give everyone that was scheduled against them 1 point.

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  33. I’m not sure All-Around horrible night for MLS. Yes, the results were not what we wanted, true. However, the sold out crowd at Toyota Park for the Superliga final was certainly a good thing, as was the sold out game in Seattle.

    Small details, but I think they should be noted.

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  34. I have to confess that I haven’t watched the
    Red Bulls much this year despite having Direct Kick. I realized last night why… they are terrible. Embarrassingly bad. I actually feel sorry for Red Bulls fans. As a Fire fan I should gloat I suppose at how bad RBNY is, but I think a strong team in NY would really add to the league. Hopefully a new coach, new roster and new stadium next year will help turn things around.

    Reply

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