Photo by ISIphotos.com
Good morning all. Last night was a good night to be an MLS fan. New England toppled Mexican champions Atlante in SuperLiga while the Chicago Fire defeated Everton in a friendly. Couple those results with the latest in the European soccer world and we’ve got a lot to get to this morning. Let’s get started:
Revs reach SuperLiga final
Shalrie Joseph’s first-half header goal was all New England needed as its defense held up without Michael Parkhurst in a 1-0 victory against Atlante in the SuperLiga semifinals on Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium.
The game was marred, as so many matches between Mexican and Amerian teams are, by post-game scuffles (call them handbags if you prefer). The result was five red cards for Atlante and one unfortunate red card for New England and Jay Heaps (has he ever not looked shocked at getting a card?).
Now England moves on to the SuperLiga final, where it will take on the Houston Dynamo in a rematch of the past two MLS Cup finals.
Fire downs Everton
Chris Rolfe’s first-half strike proved to be the difference as the Chicago Fire defeated English club Everton, 2-0, at Toyota Park on Wednesday.
The Fire played most of its starters in the first half, with the exception of Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who did not play. Tomasz Frankowski added a second half score to make the final 2-0.
Everton also played several starters, including Tim Howard, Jolean Lescott, Ayegbeni Yakubu and Mikel Arteta.
Champions League qualifying underway
The second round of Champions League qualifying got underway this week with a full slate of games on Wednesday. Teams will play a home-and-home series, with the winners moving on to the third-round of qualifying. Here are the first-leg results:
Anorthosis Famugusta (Cyprus) 3, Rapid Vienna (Austria) 0
IFK Gothenburg (Sweden) 1, Basel (Switzerland) 1
Tampere United (Finland) 1, Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia) 3
AaB Aalborg (Denmark) 5, Modrica (Bosnia) 0
Domzale (Slovenia) 0, Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) 3
Anderlecht (Belgium) 1, BATE Borisov (Belarus) 2
Fenerbahce (Turkey) 2, MTK Hungaria (Hungary) 0
Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) 2, Wisla Krakow (Poland) 1
Rangers (Scotland) 0, Kaunas (Lithuania) 0
Panathinaikos (Greece) 3, Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) 0
Sheriff (Moldova) 0, Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) 1
FC Baku (Azerbaijan) 1, Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) 1
Brann Bergen (Norway) 1, Ventspils (Latvia) 0
Drogheda United (Ireland) 1, Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) 2
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What did you think of last night’s SuperLiga semifinals? Did the post-game scuffle just absolutely shock you? Were you impressed with Chicago’s performance against Everton? Are you still in tears after Modrica’s 5-0 shellacking against Aalborg?
Share your thoughts below.