The New England Revolution are struggling through a tough MLS season, but will play in yet another SuperLiga final after beating Mexican side Puebla on Wednesday night, advancing on penalty kicks after tying 1-1 in regulation.
Kenny Mansally provided the Revs' lone goal and also converted the winning penalty kick after Matt Reis made a vital save in the fourth round of penalties.
New England will now take on the winner of the Houston Dynamo-Morelia semifinal in the SuperLiga Final, which is set to be played at Gillette Stadium in late August.
The victory proved costly for the Revolution, which lost Marko Perovic and Kevin Alston to injuries. New England is set to play D.C. United on Saturday.
Here are some other stories to get your Thursday going:
KAKA SIDELINED AFTER KNEE SURGERY
American soccer fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Kaka at this weekend's Real Madrid friendly against Los Angeles in the Rose Bowl won't get that chance after the Brazilian star underwent knee surgery. He is expected to be sidelined anywhere form two to four months.
Kaka had been in Los Angeles with Real Madrid before the knee injury was discovered, but flew to Belgium to have the procedure done to repair what is believed to be meniscus damage.
Real Madrid beat Mexican side Club America, 3-2, in San Francisco on Wednesday night.
FREE KICKS
Cesc Fabregas has rejoined Arsenal (and no, he's not wearing a Barcelona jersey).
Chelsea is close to finalizing its deal for Brazil/Benfica midfielder Ramires.
UNION-CREW TICKET GIVEAWAY
If you are a Philadelphia Union fan (or a traveling Columbus Crew fan) who plans on attending tonight's Philly-Columbus MLS match at PPL Park but still don't have tickets, you may be in luck. SBI will be giving away two tickets later today, so keep an eye out for details.
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What did you think of New England's victory? Have you officially stopped caring about SuperLiga? Disappointed that Kaka won't be playing in the Galaxy-Real Madrid friendly?
Was hoping to see Kaka, but Madrid has plenty of other stars. Hoping the Galaxy will add Ronaldinho soon!
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I really like the Superliga. It gives the teams something else to play for and based on the players reactions last night at Gillette Stadium it clearly means a lot to them too.
It looked like both Perovic and Alston were fairly mobile, but we haven’t had any updates on their injury status.
It was an exciting game, Puebla is very good, and the reffing was beyond awful, especially in the first half.
Playing Houston in the final would be a repeat of 2008, when the Revs won on Pks. Of course, they lost to Houston in the MLS final…and given the choice, I’d prefer the MLS cup. With the way this year has gone, however, any silverware, even Superliga, is all good.
You mean C’mon Foxboro, MA, because that’s where the Revs play.
hoping for another revs/dynamo final, where houston can beat those chowda-heads again.
but yeah, superliga should go away or be folded into champions league
I wish SuperLiga would just go away. CCL and USOC are plenty.
I find it funny how people don’t care about Superliga. Because I don’t care about the CCL.
Gee why would any of the players care about $$?
Should I assume that picture of NE is seriously cropped? 😉 Anyway, very cool for NE. Glad to see an MLS team doing well in Superliga, though admittedly I dont really care about the tournament in comparison to CCL.
SuperLiga is not needed so long as there is Concacaf Champions League. Champions League is where all the action is.
That picture shows the entire 35 people that were at this game last night…C’mon Boston!
Those are two big injuries for the Revs. 2 of 3 best players.
Kaka has not been the same player since he left AC Milan. The big draw is Ronaldo and Higuian. Sorry to rain on your parade Kaka fans
I’m a Barca fan, and I’m even tired of this. Buy him or don’t. Stop this cold war in the media in which every player talks about how they want Cesc there. It’s beneath you.
It’s beneath Xavi, when he says things like “Well, if he stays with Arsenal, it’s really only like he’s on loan from Barca.” Idiotic. And smug. Pep or someone needs to muzzle the players.
sergio busquet’s peekaboo lost it for me, but this situation certainly didn’t help
Barcelona has managed to lost virtually all the respect I had for them with this fabregas nonsense. I think it’s about time FIFA started taking tampering charges seriously. It’s ridiculous that what seemed like everyday someone new, whether someone in the front office or on the team was running their mouth about Fabregas.