photo by altRego

SuperLiga 2009 – Matchday 3
Group A
Game Score Pts
Chicago 1 6 Chicago – MLSNet
Tigres UANL 2 6 Tigres UANL – Wikipedia
 
San Luis 1 4 San Luis – Wikipedia
Chivas USA 1 1 Chivas USA – MLSNet
Group B
New England 1 7 Revolution Soccer
Atlas 0 2 Atlas – The Offside
 
Kansas City 1 2 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
Santos Laguna 3 4 Santos Laguna – Wikipedia

Chicago and Tigres advance from Group A. New England and Santos Laguna advance from Group B. The semifinals are scheduled for July 15.

Summer of Soccer

In case you are just peeking out of your cave, this is the Summer of Soccer. The National team has the Confederations Cup, the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying. The Mexican national team is playing friendlies in the States. Chivas, Club America, Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Chelsea are among the international clubs playing friendlies in the US. Then you have SuperLiga(like it or not), the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions League.

Expect some changes in SuperLiga for next year. At least that’s what I’d do. First off, June 11-July 11 is World Cup time. Of course, that hasn’t stopped SUM in the past.

Maybe this will mean something: through the group phase in the inaugural year of ’07, 5 of the 12 matches drew over 15,000; in ’08, 3 of the 12 drew over 15,000; in ’09 none of the matches drew over 15,000. Naturally though, if sponsorships and TV revenue are enough to turn a profit this year, maybe nothing will change.

SuperLiga Attendance after Group Phase
Total Game Dates Average
2007  195,816  12  16,318
2008  161,167  12  13,431
2009  86,948  10  8,695
2 Doubleheaders in 2009 meant
2 fewer separate game dates
Summer of Soccer Attendances
Opponents Venue Date Event Att
 Guatemala v Mexico  San Diego, CA  Sun, 6/28  Friendly  30,624
 New England v Atlas  Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA  Sun, 6/28  SuperLiga  7,411
 Kansas City v Santos Laguna  Community America Park, Kansas City, MO  Sun, 6/28  SuperLiga  10,385
 Chicago Fire v Tigres UANL  Toyota Park, Bridgeville, IL  Sat, 6/27  SuperLiga  9,157
 Chivas USA v San Luis  Home Depot Center, LA, CA  Sat, 6/27  SuperLiga  11,083
 Mexico v Venezuela  Georgia Dome, Atlanta GA  Wed, 6/24  Friendly  51,115
 New England v Kansas City  Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA  Wed, 6/24  SuperLiga  5,378
 Santos Laguna v Atlas  Wed, 6/24  SuperLiga
 Chicago v Chivas USA  Toyota Park, Bridgeville, IL  Tue, 6/23  SuperLiga  9,126
 San Luis v Tigres UANL  Tue, 6/23  SuperLiga
 New England v Santos Laguna  Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA  Sun, 6/21  SuperLiga  9,512
 Kansas City v Atlas  Herman Stadium(SLU),St. Louis, MO  Sun, 6/21  SuperLiga  5,278
 Chivas USA v Tigres UANL  Home Depot Center, LA, CA  Sat, 6/20  SuperLiga  11,197
 Chicago Fire v San Luis  Toyota Park, Bridgeville, IL  Sat, 6/20  SuperLiga  8,421
 total  168,687
 average  14,057

Notice anything? SUM controls all of these events. Ch-ching!

How Might This Impact MLS Soccer

As they say in the PR business, ‘any news is good news’. Exposure to MLS via international club friendlies can only help. Maybe that bench player on a visiting club likes what he sees and adds MLS as a possible destination. Am I dreaming? Maybe, but here is a brief list of players that left major Euro leagues to play in lesser situations:

Kewell, Baros, and Nihat are now in the Turkish league, while Gilberto, Derbyshire and Cisse are in the Greek league. Can we not compete with those leagues or is the lure of UEFA Champions League action too strong to overcome?

Congestion for some

US Open
Jun 30 – Jul 1 Jul 7 Jul 21 or Jul 22 Sep 2
3rd Round Qtr Finals Semifinals Final
Revs, DCU, Fire, Chivas
Crew, KC, Houston, Seattle
CONCACAF Champions League
Jul 28 – Jul 30 Aug 4 – Aug 6
Prelim First Leg Prelim Second Leg
DCU, RBNY, TFC