Top Stories

SuperLiga 2009 set to kick off

2008_012

The third annual SuperLiga Tournament is set to kick off this weekend and what was once a tournament with so much promise has turned into a bit of an afterthought that isn't getting much in the way of attention.

Some of the best teams in MLS and the Mexican First Division are set to do battle in a tournament that has provided some entertaining, as well as feisty, matches. The tournament has its flaws of course, from Mexican teams that are out of season to MLS teams that aren't exactly enthusiastic about competing in the event, but somewhere along the way we still wind up with some pretty good games.

Here is the question for you, MLS fans. Do you still care about SuperLiga? Is your team competing in it, and if so, are you interested?

If so, here is the upcoming schedule of SuperLiga matches:

(All times Eastern)

SATURDAY

San Luis at Chicago Fire, 8pm (at Toyota Park)

Tigres UNAL at Chivas USA, 10pm (at Home Depot Center)

SUNDAY

Atlas at Kansas City Wizards, 4:30pm (at Hermann Stadium, St. Louis)

Santos Laguna at New England Revolution, 6:30pm (Gillette Stadium)

TUESDAY

Chivas USA at Chicago Fire, 8pm (Toyota Park)

San Luis vs. Tigres, 10pm (Toyota Park)

All SuperLiga matches can be seen live on the SuperLiga website.

So what do you think of this year's tournament? Wish Pachuca was in it again? Concerned about the toll that extra matches will take on your MLS team? Don't care about the negatives and just hoping your team can win the trophy?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I’m a Chicago fan and I’m pumped that we are finally in it (although I would’ve preferred CCL). Nice to have so many MLS teams getting to play in an international tournament one way or the other – I think they should keep it up long term as a sort of UEFA Cup / Europa league below the Champion’s League.

    Reply
  2. it’s stupid. our tiny MLS rosters are not made for this needless fixture congestion.

    now IF there was money to be made on it, and IF those MLS teams could SPEND the money to improve their squad (on salaries), THEN it might make sense.

    Reply
  3. Kevin, MLS is playing in competitions with teams that are generally of the same quality. They aren’t using their depth, and so the MLS fans that whine about it are just showing that they don’t pay attention to the sport around the world.

    ManUs stars get tired and they use a bench, but not a big one. MLS teams get tired and they use their bench. I doubt there is any evidence whatsoever that MLS benches aren’t as deep in talent as the PR Islanders, or the 3rd team from Honduras or the 16th in the FMF.

    Again, if fixture congestion isn’t a myth than the MLS teams in SuperLiga and the CCL won’t make the playoffs.

    Reply
  4. I understand the criticism of SuperLiga, but the games are a lot of fun to watch and very entertaining. Isn’t that ultimately the point, to be entertained? I am a Revs fan and really enjoyed it last year and hope the team does well this year.

    Reply
  5. Ives, I don’t see have you can call these “some of the best Mexican teams”. These are basically bottom half the table teams, least recently. This is how they finished overall last season in the 18 team league:

    Santos Laguna – 9th
    Atlas – 13th
    San Luis – 15th
    UNAL Tigres – 16th

    Reply
  6. Dave Clark:

    That is quite a laughable comment. Man U is one of, if not the, best teams in the world. It has 24 quality players at its disposable.

    Your average MLS squad? Meh. Maybe 10-12 good players, if you’re lucky. Man U can play in 12 different tournaments and win them all, not because of numerical depth but because of the quality of their players. MLS has rosters of 24, yes, but most of them are really USL-2 level players.

    Reply
  7. For those that claim that there isn’t the bench depth for MLS teams, Man U played their 24th man how many minutes in their nearly 60 matches in the last 52 weeks?

    Quit making excuses, the best team in MLS will play fewer matches in as long a period of time as the top Euro clubs, and neither side will use more than 20 guys.

    Reply
  8. Thank god DCU isn’t in it this year. All those games and tournaments killed them last year.

    Snooze……………

    Reply
  9. The less tournaments my team is in the better. All the extra games killed DCU last year. MLS teams don’t have the bench to survive these tournaments AND mls competition.

    Reply
  10. No. I do not care about SuperLiga and if my team, DC United, had the choice between playing there or doing nothing, I would want them to do nothing and instead focus on the league. Until MLS starts honoring international dates, decongesting the summer schedule for these teams and re-instating a decent reserve league, I see no value in overburdening our guys.

    Reply
  11. The prevailing attitude in New England is Who Cares? Many are predicting that the Revolution will not play key players and that it’s a good time to roll out people that aren’t getting many minutes. If we draw 6000 that would be a lot

    Reply
  12. I have always enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing some different teams play. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. I’m not sure how this has anything to do with the pipe dreams of some for promotion/relegation.

    Reply
  13. I do understand soccer fans with no team involved have no real intrest in this though, I doubt I will watch much more than the finals outside of the games my team plays in.

    Reply
  14. I like it, it a chance to see your team against someone different and you see some different apporaches to the game.

    Seems with the NATS laying stinky steamers lately everyone is negitive about everything. Get over it.

    Reports are that Atlas is bringing a bunch of youth players

    Reply
  15. As a general fan of MLS I have cared more and more as each SuperLiga has gone on, which I guess is good. However, I barely cared the first year and I now care slightly. It does have some pretty interesting game and I will be at least tuning into the final because they have been epic and the reason I have started to care a little more.

    Reply
  16. Superliga — it’s a preseason tournament for Mexican teams to get in shape and for the leagues to make money.

    The CONCACAF Champions League exists now — that’s the important tournament. And that’s why the best MLS teams are in that one.

    Reply
  17. I’ve liked Superliga since its inception. Most of the games have been highly competitive and exciting, and although some may say the Mexican teams don’t take it seriously, that all seems to change whenever they start to get beat by the MLS teams. (Atlante anyone?) This year it does seem to have a bit less buzz, and thats a shame. My question is, with next year being a World Cup year, will they even bother having Superliga? My guess would be no, since the WC will be taking place at the same time.

    Reply
  18. It’s a great idea on paper but everything’s a little more…uhm…complicated for MLS. Our schedule isn’t geared to have competitions against foreign leagues. Every time we schedule a competitive match or tourney, it’s always seen as a friendly to foreign clubs.

    I actually like this tournament, yeah, it’s got its setbacks, especially low attendances, but I enjoy watching matches. It is a stepping stone to bigger things in the future. Hopefully the cocacaf ccl one day gets very big…and MLS steps up to that level.

    Reply
  19. It’s ok, but with the Concacaf Champions League now a reality, it doesn’t really matter.

    If MLS teams could afford to have any type of depth on their rosters, then it would be a much more interesting tournament.

    Reply
  20. I got a question if u guys can answer

    sooo, CCL is like the Uefa Champions league right? but for us

    so is the Superliga like the Uefa Cup?

    and the US Open Cup is like the English League Cup, Copa Del Rey etc?

    Reply
  21. I’d like to see 18 MLS teams compete in a league that isn’t a complete joke. Relegation/promotion would be nice. An even schedule would be awesome.

    Superliga doesn’t mean anything to me. It might make sense in Texas or other areas heavily populated by Mexicans, but I just don’t care (kind of like ESPN cares about MLS).

    Reply
  22. I’m with Tony on this one… this tournment has delivered entertaining games even if they are minor in importance. That aside no matter what you think of the tournament you have to admit they have one of the coolest trophies around.

    Reply
  23. Mexico vs. US on any level usually makes for interesting games, and these games should be fun to watch, and still expand the brand recognition between the two countries. That said, this is clearly a second-tier competition.

    Reply
  24. I would like to see all the Mexican First Division Clubs and MLS clubs have interleague games that count towards their regular season (sort of like baseball’s interleague play).

    Reply
  25. This is just a made up tourney for $$.

    Mexican teams decline to participate.

    MLS should get rid of it and save the two weeks of scheduling in an effort to have more international match days off.

    Reply
  26. If the games were going to be aired on a channel I have and in English, I might have more interest. I’m all for Spanish commentary for all MLS games, but they should all be available in English as well. As far as I know these games will only be on telefutura and ONLY in Spanish even if you watch the online feed.

    Reply
  27. The attitude here is a shame – Superliga games have been among the most entertaining involving MLS teams over the last couple years. The deserve more exposure.

    Reply
  28. It is a good to have another international tourney, they play another one in Europe, even better though is that if fixture congestion actually matters having things like the CCL and SL help increase league parity a bit.

    The second tier clubs in MLS competing for the Sheild and Cup have the opportunity to make a run, particularly those that just misseed the playoffs last season.

    Reply
  29. I don’t have a dog in this fight this year and for that I am grateful. The only way I was able to watch DC last year was on the website and the video quality was horrible and all the commentary was in Spanish. I don’t speak or understand Spanish. I’m not sure why they can’t have English and Spanish feeds for every MLS match. It only makes sense, but I digress.
    I couldn’t give a fat rat’s ass about the Super Liga.

    Reply
  30. It could be a nice tournament if the players and teams had some incentives. As far as I know, the players get a tiny amount of the winning prize money and the league gets the rest. The league’s should just take their share of gate reciepts and let the winning players keep the whole 1 million (I think 1 million). Now the players would really have something to play for.

    Reply
  31. I’m not a pissed of KC fan, though having the game in St. Louis is a pretty weak call, whatever we’ll deal with it. Since the FMF clubs don’t sound to serious about this I wouldn’t mind seeing MLS sides put out an almost starting XI and crush them (if that’s possible). Maybe they’ll take it seriously after a complete embarrassment in from of their North of the Border fans.

    Reply
  32. I know the players only get a small portion of the million dollar prize. Does any one know what prize money is awarded to the players for the concacaf champions league? I haven’t been able to find it.

    Reply
  33. In order for me to “still” care, I would’ve had to have cared in the first place. Thank god DC don’t have to take part in this year’s cash grab.

    Reply
  34. I like Super Liga and I am looking forward to it. Every year there has been some good games in this tournament. Nice to see more MLS teams able to get into an international tournament. It should be an interesting blogging point next week depending how good St Louis does as a host.

    Reply
  35. Agree with Colin. Put more emphasis on the CONCACAF CL rather than these glorified friendlies that don’t even pit the best of the two leagues, but rather the second tier teams against each other. Yawn.

    Reply
  36. I’d rather see the attention being placed on the CONCACAF Champions League, but the 07 tournament (including that sick shot by Beckham against DC United and the shootout final between LA and Pachuca) was pretty great.

    Hopefully with the FMF turning their backs on South America, this tourney will get some more notice.

    Reply

Leave a Comment