The battle between MLS and the Mexican league is over and two MLS teams are left standing. New England and Houston have vanquished their Mexican counterparts and are now set to square off in a final that won’t be of much interest to fans outside of MLS.
Call it MLS Cup 12 1/2.
You have already heard about how the Revs and Dynamo are set to split the winner’s share for the final as a show of support for what they feel are meager winnings, and you may have heard about MLS commissioner Don Garber all but threatening the teams with punishment if they did just that. While that gets sorted out we should remember that a trophy is, in fact, on the line and I doubt either team is forgetting that fact.
You know the routine. If you will be watching tonight’s match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match.
Good to see some travelling support for Houston.
Well hopefully the losing team does not try and beat the snot out of the winning team or the refs…but then that would not be SUPERLIGA
New england with a really bad clearance, leads to an easy goal for Ching
Tierney looked great on his first couple of touches–nice passes.
Igwe–NSM.
Is this game online too?
You have to admire how far Houston have come. they were the last team in the MLS to get a win. but now they are in the Superliga final and doing well.
nevermind it is here link to superliga2008.com
oh no….nyassi beautiful chance but he smashes it in to the outside netting…..
Nyassi brought down. but no call! ouch. after missing that chance that would have made up…
I don’t know about “brought down” Isaac. Feldman and Lalas obviously thought it was outrageous but it was a nudge at best.
If you ask me both of these teams did not come out today just to get the game over with(since they are both splitting up the money anyway) but instead they are showing there pride
Major kudos to those Dynamo fans who made the trip. I met some of their fans at a Red Bulls home game in 2007 and was impressed at the committment.
What a strike from Ralston!!
Nyassi dove. Refs should expect players to fight to stay up and fight for the ball. Good call.
Man the refs are bad tonight. I hope the Mexican league notices this, but I’m sure the teams couldn’t care less about Superliga at this point.
Greg Lallas is a homer moron … for the record.
Someone turn Greg Lalas’ mic down, or at least tell him to stop yelling.
Glad to see both teams bringing their A-squad.
Nyassi nearly broke his own ankles with that stepover…
twellman coming on
58th minute twellman on
I feel like when the commentary is constantly critical of the referee, it really just takes away from the game. It just makes the whole broadcast seem so negative.
I agree. Its the wrong attitude. The referee is what the referree is. Soccer is impossible to call perfectly. Start accepting calls and get on with it.
And coming from a decidedly non Revolution fan, Joseph is just pure class on the field. So calm and composed.
I’m watching on Telefutura because my Spanish is very limited and it sounds to me like they’re just calling a soccer game.
I don’t think the commentators know what they are talking about, the ref happens to be a ref from the EPL, and he is excellent:
Howard Webb:
link to en.wikipedia.org
Wow, The ref doesn’t look that young, but Pat Onstad is 3 years his senior..haha.
Yeah I’m out of town, so I’m watching it online. The network should know that the continual complaints from the crew sounds unprofessional. It makes the entire broadcast seem bush league.
Not to sound like a constant complainer, but the same announcer also needs to lay off the players. I can understand stressing when a player should have done better, but on at least 4 occasions, the guy has described a play as terrible. Good officiating crews know when to comment on the game, but not on the individual’s mistakes.
I thought that looked like howard webb. Hey does this go straight to penalties or extra time first if the score is still level?
Pretty sure extra time before penalties…
Tiempo Extras!
Lack of composure for Ralston there.
Extra time baby. Keeping me company while I’m on the road.
Houston goal- defensive mistake.
Rev goal- defensive mistake.
Who will make the mistake in extra?
Did I just see Albright vomiting on the field and tying his shoes at the same time?
What a relaxed header – he clearly expected Reis to challenge for it!
GOAL!
KAMARA
Every team in MLS with need of a forward is thinking while they didn’t pick up Jei Kamara on the cheap.
I did not expect the next mistake to come from Reis of all people…wow.
Every team in MLS with need of a forward is thinking while they didn’t pick up kei Kamara on the cheap.
Second goal (of Houston’s two) that Igwe was involved in giving away. They’re really hurting for Heaps and Parkhurst.
It’s surprising that Reis is the one the stumble first…
I was about to suggest that Kei Kamara and Khano Smith are the same player in different uniforms, when Ameachi Igwe cemented his lock on Player of the Weak.
WOW – 2-2!
wow, that was gorgeous. Why is Shalrie in MLS again?
Joseph is quality.
Set play: Ralston–>Joseph=yet another goal. Wow.
Wow… that was a man’s goal.. the defender was all over him.
That’s the Grenada equivalent of being on the wrong end of a slam-dunk poster.
Because, as much as people say it, MLS is not bush league.
Celtic have twice offered to buy Joseph, once for 1m and a year later for 2m but MLS declined both offers. A damn shame IMO.
No, MLS is not a bush league, but Joseph is legitimately Champions League quality.
It looks like Nicol has a zebra-print slap bracelet on.
The Revs are really missing their center defenders today. Igwe is much more of a side defender, and short on experience at that.
I wonder if Greg Lalas is mad at dad…because he is EMO today. Cheer up, champ.
My apologies to Kamara for comparing him to Khano Smith. Kamara, one hopes, could at least come CLOSE to shooting on goal. Smith is SO predictable–fire at will, regardless of angle, miss by a mile. Yech. His game is uglier than Twellman’s new ‘do.
Another Superliga to be decided on PKs…
I’m thinking Twellman and Ching both miss
Imagine if Houston hadn’t played on Saturday against a good Crew team!
Joe, besides national team performances, what basis do you have for such a prediction?
Wonder if the Rev’s will choke again?
Speaking of Greg Lalas does anybody watch MLS extra time on the MLS web site? Greg Lalas and Shep Messing, those two are so bad!!!!
None – just having fun. I’d find it ironic
I think Onstad has been rocking the Just For Men
Reis with the PK MISS!
But he makes up for it with a save on DeRo.
AND ANOTHER ON CHING!
Wow, Ching is never allowed to take a PK again. Remember last years superliga?
I was half right – we all knew Smith was going to miss though
Boswell will miss if he has to take one too.
Ashe misses – NE wins!
He looked overwhelmed walking up to take his shot
decided by a penalty of the top bar. poor corey ashe…..
Not Ashe’s fault – it never should have gotten to him. Great game – I’m glad both teams showed up and I hope to see them again in the MLS cup.
Who was Kamara’s sign for? Something about “Toros #3 JT – We will miss you.” Was it for Toja? He wears, uh, wore, #8…
What a great rivalry. These two teams are fantastic ambassadors for MLS.
Amazing game, though. Simply amazing.
Great match- not a Revs fan, but good for them!
I like seeing this real respect and sportsmanship after a close one. Not like the ‘respect’ some teams show.
Very enjoyable match. I know Superliga has some problems, but there have been some fun matches to watch.
FINALLY!! I was about to go ape s*** if NE lost another final to Houston! GO REVS!!
Were the players protesting by not going on stage to get the trophy?
what happen to the trophy ceremony?
I don’t believe it. We’ve actually beat the Dynamo in a final! And in PKs! Is this it? Is the Houston curse over? Can we finally win an MLS Cup?
Please say yes.
My cable, and thus my internet, went out after the first PK by Ralston. Oh well, Congrats to both teams, especially the Revs.
Ives, I have a question: If the Revolution win a title and nobody watches it, does it actually happen?
I’m just having fun, congrats Revs.
Quality contest. This is validation for the Superliga tournament that both teams brought it tonight. Another trophy for Robert Kraft.
Joseph is the most underrated talent in MLS.
Now if the Revs could finally win the league!
Appropriate that the players agreed in advance to split the money, because this match was as close as they come.
Also appropriate that the players didn’t take the grandstand and that Ralston immediately took the trophy to Kraft, since the owner gets most of the money from this match.
hopefully when Ralston took the trophy over to Kraft, he told him that the funds will go toward their future stadium.
Anyone know the announced attendance?
Any sources?
I love the complaints about the officiating when Howard Webb was the ref… top ref in England and the England rep at Euro 2008.
mlsnet.com says 9,242. Which sounds about right. I was there and I thought it was less than that.
Just guessig that the #3 Toro is a former teammate at Cal State DH -
link to csudh.edu
Wow, what a game. I was 10 rows back behind the penalties and I don’t remember ever experiencing such a roller coaster of emotions. Wow, wow.
And let me say this, Jeff Lawrentawicz is the most underated player in MLS. He gives me hope for the day we lose Parkhurst. I love having him in midfield, but he is a solid center back. Solid.
BTW, no competition, Shalrie Joseph is the player of the tournament. Pure class. I was sitting next to a Celtic fan who made a comment about being an easy starter there.
Just over 9,200 in attendance for a tournament final… Hmmm, good work Garber and Co.
9,242? We had a tropical storm and I am confident we could have pulled more in attendance in Houston tonight.
Hate on the attendance all you’d like but our stadium is in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation.
The die hards came out tonight. The fort was as full as ever and showed it their all.
Great win!
Hate on the attendance all you’d like but our stadium is in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation.
The die hards came out tonight. The fort was as full as ever and showed it their all.
Great win!
well worth that 4 plus hours of driving from CT.
So what if its a made up trophy….still a championship for the revs!
MLS should not seel Joseph for 1 or 2 million, thats nothing in the world of football. If they make a serious offer they should consider it, but not for peanuts.
For all the SuperLiga supercritics and haters – despite all that can be fixed with the tournament, there have been consistently competitive matches. Exciting for both fans of the teams and just of the game. Last night was yet another example.
Foxboro is halfway to Providence. If you don’t have a car around there (I didn’t when I went to NU) there’s no way to get there. If they could get a SSS in the city near a T line, that would help. However that would make it tougher to get to for suburbanites. 6 of one, half a dozen of another. Foxboro has notoriously bad access and egress traffic on Rte 1 and 95, but they did do a lot of work when they built Gillette.
I’d also like to see Shalrie get a shot at a top league, just to see what he can do. But they’d have to offer something more than a derisory bid. How much would it cost to replace a player like Shalrie? (not considering Nicol’s scouting and drafting ability) Probably a lot more than they’d get for him from some English team trying to buy cheap. And that’s the problem.
Great game. Congrats to Revs. Good to see the teams exchange jerseys after the match. Respect. Joseph is clearly man of the tournament. I don’t understand the referee complaints — thought he did fairly well. BTW, was Barrett beaten on both New England goals? doh!
Was at the game last night, & it was the best atmosphere I’ve seen yet at Gillette Stadium (I’m new to the area, so this was about my fifth game of the year, first for Superliga – and missed the Brazil doubleheader). The crowd was far more energetic than I’d seen before, and big kudos to the Texas fans who came all the way. The ref seemed to blow a few calls for both teams (I had no tv/online commentary), but that’s the game. We definitely missed Heaps & Parkhurst, that was very obvious. Overall, I thought the Dynamo outplayed us just a bit – 52-48, something like that, but not so dramatically that the win in PKs felt lucky.