SuperLiga 2008

Good news for MLS tonight as Houston beat Pachuca 2-0 in the first semifinal.

 

They certainly played well enough to win it but DeRo should have made it 3-0. I'm just glad an MLS side has the chance to win it but I'm hoping for an all MLS final. I dunno why, I guess its just my desire to show that the MLS is a competitive league.

 

Pachuca got screwed on that offside call, but they showed their lack of composure (and class) by giving up and blaming everyone else when they lost. Pachuca always seems to suffer from poor conduct.

 

DeRosario is too good to be playing in MLS.
I'm suprised that he's not moving to a club bigger than FC Copenhagen.
He's athletic, versatile, and done well on the big stage - why no interest in England?

 

That was a really bad offsides call.
I am glad Houston won though. Nice header by Ashe, textbook finish - wait on the back post, approach and head it down to the goal line.

 

Atlante is classless.

 

I think Atlante dipped below the blue poo in terms of class. They deserved to lose if they start fights when they do. They did get screwed on a hand ball in the box but that is no reason to start fighting. Good riddance Atlante

 

adios, cabrones.

 

So its Houston and NE in the final (wait has this happened recently?). Houston has a strangle hold on the Revs in tournament finals but the Revs have beat Houston both times (or has there been more?) this year. It should be a great match and no Atlante to single handedly destroy the integrity of Superliga. Lets hope they get a HUGE fine for that display

 

I thought the game sad on two points:

1. Sad that Atlante had such a lack of class to try to get Rev players tossed AFTER the game, just so they'd miss the final that they weren't good enough to qualify for.

2. Sad that there were only 8000 fans at a Superliga semi-final game. The team may be good, but their fanbase leaves much to be desired.

 

It's foolish to stage a match in a 65,000 seat stadium that has no atmosphere. The Krafts are building shopping, entertainment, and restaurants all around the stadium. I was hoping they would build a soccer facility across the street or at least somewhere in the Boston area to put a kick-start in attendance. So far that's a baseless hope.

 

I can see Kraft's point. Why invest in a new stadium across the street when no one is coming to the one they already have? You can expect some increase in fans with a new stadium, but a 250% increase is more than optimistic. DCU is in a big stadium, too, but still get $15-20 at every game; there's no doubt they'd fill a new $20-25k soccer-specific stadium. The Revs fans, however, haven't done their part to meet Kraft "half way."

 

Bob Kraft is an interesting owner. He put up a lot of his own money to finance Gillette Stadium (major props too -- public funded stadiums be damned!), yet doesn't put a lot of money into his teams. Yes signing Moss, Dillon, etc etc were huge. But they weren't Dan Synder-esque with benjamins thrown all around. Same goes for the Revs, a club with the same if not smaller budget than Bristol City.

Yet both teams keep plugging away and continue to succeed without spending money on either purchasing or keeping existing players.

So I dont think there will ever big a soccer-specific stadium for the Revs. Which really sucks because they're probably the best (ugh) franchise in MLS but you wouldn't know it with their stadium/crowd.

 

The Revs ticket prices are $19-$37 - not a strong inducement for fans to come to a stadium that is 85% empty. Half the season, they play on a pitch with football markings making it hard to see the soccer lines. That irritates the crap out of me. The Krafts are an extremely wealthy and philanthropic family. I was wishing he would throw some $ out there for a new field just to make himself feel good as a gesture of goodwill to his relatively small fan base ... aka philanthropy. :wink: There is always hope, no matter how unrealistic. :?

 

Revs beat Houston in PKs.

2-2 entering extra time.

Corey Ashe hits the bar in sudden death pks to lose.

 

Huh. I thought the finals were already happened. We beat Mexico.......twice.

 

Not sure if it was covered previously in this thread, and I don't have to look look right now as I am on my way out the door, but last month there was an article in the Boston Herald about a possible new stadium located in Somerville pretty much bordering Boston. It would hold about 25K and be Football (soccer) specific. The thinking is that a stadium located closer to Boston near public transportation would draw more people as Foxboro is located quite a distance from Boston, about 30 miles.