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.
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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.