AROUND THE LEAGUE (Superliga Edition)

By: Dave Martinez | July 26th, 2007

In the absence of any new Red Bull news (and since my pregame will be up shortly), here is the AROUND THE LEAGUE report, SuperLiga Edition:

SUPERLIGA – LANDON DONOVAN

I have a brilliant idea. Let me know what you think.

We should take Landon Donovan . . .

and anytime he plays for the Nats, we respectfully ask that the opposing side wear sombreros and eat Taco Bell, on us.

Mexicans are Landos soccer steroids – a perfomance enhancer indeed. Someone should compile Landos scoring record breakdown, and I would say at least a third of all his goals have been against Mexicans. AT LEAST!

Well, thats what it seems like anyway . . .

SUPERLIGA THOUGHTS – Nights 1 and 2

When this tournament was called on, the MLS as a whole stood up and said FINALLY! A regional tournament with meaning!

Now that it is upon us, we have been able to see both the good and the bad of it all.

- Much like CONCACAF CUP, the offseason team seems a step off of the midseason club. Gee, wonder how that can be, huh?

- The rosters are, for some teams like LA and Houston, very strong, but some of the Mexican sides, such as Chivas, didn’t display their full potential in the attacking side especially, showing little importance to a tourney which has been anticipated for months.

- Telefutura is doing a wonderful job on the games (Except for that announcer that pronounces Brian Chings name all funny). But my english speaking brothers are being left out in the cold. Once the ratings come in for these games, I would love to find out just how well (or terribly) they are doing. It could mean the difference between obscurity or a spot on some English speaking sports outlet (ESPN is a dream, but there are others)

- We are 2-0-2 in the first round – an excellent showing. Goals are on our favor as well. This is an important step to gaining the respect we deserve in this region for our little league.

- Maybe next year, instead of having the Superliga simply creep up on us, someone might want to put some money behind the event. My brother, who is an ARDENT South American / European soccer snob of sorts, was CHEERING everytime DeRo touched the ball. The tounrnament, with the quality we are seeing on the field, has much more potential than CONCACAF even – people want to see our league against a more respected Mexican side! And if we can build on this year for the next tournament, throwing in qualifiers and the like, it will be the success we all dreamed about.

Let me know whatcha think, as always.

Some Related Red Bulls Posts:

Category: CURRENT ROSTER, News, Results

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William H Jones JR

How cool was it to see two MLS teams playing against each other on Telefutura? I am American who happens to speak spanish and it was just interesting to see that. What is more important was that the SuperLiga was supposed to expose MLS teams to Mexicans ,and to show them that the MLS has good soccer.Secondly to show them that we are not so inferior as they may think or believe. Yeah i know it sucks when some people cant understand spanish but thats all right in the future things may be different.
david m

Hey Brian, don't be SUCH a hater. But do HATE a little bit.

Lets face facts - our little league plays a tournament during our off season with MUCH more importance than this one, yet when MLS fans cry about playing CONCACAF in the offseason, its seen as making an excuse.

Reality is also that the US is better equiped to handle any tournament at any time due to our infrastructure. And since this tournament has been basically slapped together, I am sure that, judging from what we have seen, it will be more across both border lines. Expect more games in Mexico in the future, I would think.

Good points, but you can't label the league garbage when its steadily growing, and showing that the level of play is improving overall.
CentralCoaster

Hater. Brian, you make some good points, such as playing in Mexico and playing after their season has started, but to dismiss the league is ignorant. No worries though, over time we will prove ourselves to everyone.

As far as qualifying, next year it will be the top four regular season MLS clubs that qualify. It will be a long while before they create a qualifying tournament.
Brian

The 'tournament' is rubbish. Play some games in Mexico, play it in September, but until then people who refuse to be a puppet aren't going to give two seconds for a tournament that is supposed to prove some sort of legitimacy to 'your little league.' It's the same bullshit, cowardly US Soccer story: won't play away from home and will only play on our terms.