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Superliga Recap: Violent ending in Dynamo defeat of Puebla, Chivas USA beat Pachuca

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BY ADAM SERRANO

A goal by Houston Dynamo forward Domnic Oduro was all that Houston needed to defeat Puebla, 1-0 on Wednesday. The victory allowed the Dynamo to claim first place in Group A and gave the Texas club a date in the Superliga semifinals.

The match began slowly for both clubs, but grew lively in the 63rd minute after a Corey Ashe free kick was headed down by Cam Weaver for a streaking Dominic Oduro, who made the score 1-0 for the Dynamo. As Puebla sought to even up the match, the Camateros grew desperate and the match started to grow ugly late in the match in the 83rd minute, a foul by Melvin Brown on Houston midfielder Anthony Obodai set off a violent scuffle that when completed would leave Puebla down two men. The Dynamo were already down a man with Danny Cruz's ejection moments earlier.

The match ended with 12 cards and 35 fouls in total in what was an extremely heated match between the two clubs. Houston will be without the services of three players for their semi-final match up as Danny Cruz (Red Card), Joseph Ngwenya (Card accumulation) and Dominic Oduro (Red Card) will be unavailable.The Dynamo will now play Morelia while Puebla will take on the New England Revolution in the first week of August.


CHIVAS USA END SUPER LIGA ON A HIGH NOTE WITH DEFEAT OF PACHUCA

A Giancarlo Maldonado goal was the difference as Chivas USA ended Superliga play with a victory over Mexican club Pachuca on Wednesday.

When the match kicked off at Home Depot Center, both clubs were well aware due to the night's previous results — the Houston Dynamo's 1-0 victory over Puebla — that they would not be advancing in the competition, but with vital league games on the horizon each side actively sought the three points. 

The Rojiblancos would strike in the 7th minute when Ante Jazic played  a long direct pass to a streaking Maldonado who took the shot inside the 18 and buried it past the diving Pachuca goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota. The goal was the Venezuelan's first of his career with Chivas USA. Following the match, Chivas USA head Coach Martin Vasquez was optimistic about how his three new signings have gelled during Superliga play.

“We're very happy with Espinoza, because he's in rhythm, he's been playing," said Vasquez. "He comes in and he fits, he looks like he's been playing with us for a while. I think the adjustment is going to be very easy. … With Giancarlo (Maldonado), we saw today a goal and him moving and pressuring and being active. We're seeing signs of what we want from Giancarlo."

Pachuca's line up featured two Americans, Herculez Gomez and Marco Vidal who went the full 90 minutes in the loss. The Rojiblancos resume MLS play this weekend when they take on Real Salt Lake.

Comments

  1. Good to see the MLS teams doing well, so far, in this tournament. Wins Ties Losses Points

    USA 7 2 3 23

    MEXICO 3 2 7 11

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  2. Yeah, kind of a perfect night if you don’t like the Dynamo but love MLS. Houston wins, but you get to watch them getting their asses kicked in the process.

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  3. Dynamo must have too many black players for the refs to keep up with. Oh well. After the game the Dynamo fans lined up to let Oscar Reyna know what they thought of his performance. The crowd was small but energetic.

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  4. had to say it again, these mexican teams are classless poor sport dirty players. hate to say it cause we have a couple players on Pachuca but damn! no-class

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  5. where do they get these refs that allow this poor behavior from “every” mexican team. you see it over and over again……. POOR sportsmanship continuously, very dirty tactics!

    time for superliga to go bye bye or start bringing in some teams from the epl or la liga (they’re warm up) for a tourney similar to what new york is doing. tired of seeing these teams from mexico with their behavior. adios!

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  6. Mlssoccer recap says according to the ref’s match report, Oduro got the 1st yellow for diving and then the 2nd for dissent for arguing the diving call. The ref didn’t appear to show Oduro the yellow again though which led to all the confusion. Also the ref may have just made up the dissent bit for his report to try and hide his mistake.

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  7. ok, i understand the reffing sucked, but why does this kind of thing always seem to happen when mexican teams lose? it’s situations like this which lead to the “no class” label.

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  8. Aren’t these the sorts of factual errors (card to the wrong guy, failure to keep count, etc.) that might get corrected on appeal? Maybe the Dynamo can get somebody back for the semifinal.

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  9. Referee: Oscar Reyna (GUA)
    Referee’s Assistants: Gerson Lopez (GUA); Hermenerito Leal (GUA)
    4th official: Terry Vaughn

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  10. The last name of the head referee was Reyna but that’s all I know.

    A couple other notes from last night should be out there:

    Ching had asked Reyna after the Oduro ejection what was the first yellow for and if it was in the fist fight. The referee said yes, it was, but he actually had given the yellow to Serioux and not Oduro.

    Later in the second half, a Puebla player (14) received his second yellow card but was mistakenly left on the pitch. Puebla, without a doubt, should have finished with 8 men last night.

    By far, the worst officiating I’ve seen live. Really hope this guy gets fired. It’s not his best dayjob.

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  11. Isn’t a requirement for Superliga games to have some sort of tussle, fight, fracass, scrum, shoving match, what-have-you at the end of the game?

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  12. In league play I despise Houston (being an RSL supporter) but when it comes to international matches, especially the Mexican clubs, Dynamo usually do a solid job representing. I’m definitely pulling for them and I love to see them down a dirty Mexican side and send them home packing.

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  13. The story of the Dynamo v Puebla match, unfortunately, was again sub-par officiating by an overmatched crew. The highlight was the yellow given to Oduro (not a straight red as one might assume from reading the SBI article). Oduro (#23) was somewhat harshly given a yellow for diving as he hurried to latch on to a ball after a poor second touch. The center showed him a yellow, then produced a red as it seemed he was ejecting Oduro for card accumulation. Perhaps as a result of something like Jodie Foster observed in Freaky Friday, there could have been a case of mistaken identity as earlier in the match the center had given Lovell Palmer (#22) a yellow for violent play. Palmer was not on the field at the time of Oduro’s as he was subbed midway through the 2nd half.

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  14. “Dominic Oduro (Red Card)”

    It looked like it may have been one yellow that was mistaken for a second. It looks now to be the first red card ever given for a dive.

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