SUPERLIGA: MLS keeps rolling on

Major League Soccer upped its record in Superliga to 3-1-4 on Sunday with a DC United win against Club America and a Houston Dynamo tie against Morelia.

That impressive record against the Mexican clubs in the competition won't change until the semifinals as MLS teams and Mexican teams will face each other in the final stage of first-round games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

What should you make of the lop-sided record? Don't go filling out your MLS is better than Mexico's League banners just yet. Two key points that cannot be overlooked are the fact that Mexican teams are in their pre-season (which explains why a team like America started the tournament without a handful of Mexican national team players) and Mexican clubs are playing all these games on the road.

Even with those factors, MLS can definitely come away from this tournament confident that it has made a strong case that there isn't that much of a difference in quality between the leagues. The argument can still be made that Mexico's league is a bit stronger but considering how much money the league spends on salaries it would be a crime if it weren't.

As good as that 3-1-4 record is, MLS needs one of its teams to lift the Superliga trophy to really drive the message home that MLS is no longer a league to be taken lightly. I'm sure many Mexican fans still won't give MLS credit but as long as some of them are converted, and some become MLS fans in the process, then Superliga will be considered a rousing success.

Comments

[Peter Kempf]

Sure, the Mexican teams are on "the road", but can we use that same "excuse" for LA on Saturday?

[Chancho]

Mexicans are always putting out excuses. LOL Yes they are in preseason form, but what about the concacaf tournament. It the same thing MLS clubs are in their beginning stages of preseason. The home situation that ill give them that. But Mexican run after their team when ever they are playing. So i don't see the difference, they packed the Colosseum the other night and home Depot.... so there is no excuses.....
MLS team are getting better, Look at Houston they such a good team. Hopefully one day we can pack our stadiums and we proud of our local Clubs.....
Go Red Bulls!

[DCUinCT]

Yep. Their "on the road" is a lot easier that it would be for an MLS team in Guadalajara or Mexico City. Them playing here is certainly more fair than a home-and-home series or even in a "neutral" site like Miami.

[LA James]

Put this on an aging post, so put it here also:

I have been watching and have been pretty impressed with the three games I have seen. They have been competitive and for the most part, well played. I few observations and comments:

1) Where the @#&% is the marketing for these games? They seem to be getting fairly low attendance.

2) I don't like that the games are primarily being shown on Spanish channels. I understand that a vast number of soccer (futbol) fans in this country are hispanic, and that's great, but why target what seems to be 90% of your efforts strictly to that segment. I really wish ESPN, FOX, and maybe one of the major stations would get inlvolved with some of the games.

3) I think in order to make the tournament even more important, competitive, and meaningful, the league needs to adapt its schedule so that the Mexican league teams involved will also be well into their league seasons as the MLS teams are.

4) I really, and I mean REALLY hope there is some push in the near future to get more than just Mexican and U.S. teams involved. IMO this tourny would really attract attention and respect if they could get other club teams from Central America and South America involved as well - thus making it more of a UEFA Champions League clone than it claims to be. I really believe things could take off if this happened.

[EdTheRed]

Um, LA James? WRT your #4, um, that tournament already exists...it's called the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

[h4]

LA James: isn't that Champion's Cup and the Copa Libertadores?

The players from the Mexican league still seem technically better on average, but its fun to see that MLS sides can compete (as they showed in this Champ's Cup as well). If MLS triples the salary cap, I think the games would be even more competitive.

[Brad]

Why do these MLS teams look so much better against better competition, but look so terrible against each other? That's something will all perplex me.

How DC vs. NY can be so terrible, but DC vs. Morelia can be so much better. Makes no sense.

[Derek]

I don't think a 3-1-4 record is particularly dominant. With draws the most common result, MLS teams have taken at least a point from 7 of 8 games and the Mexican teams have done the same 5 out of 8 times.

What is frustrating is that the MLS teams should probably have a better record than they do...consider each of the first round games that ended as a draw.
- DC and Houston both allowed a late goal against 10-man Monarcas Morelia.
- FC Dallas could have beaten both Pachuca and Chivas but instead ended up with two draws.
- On the other hand, the Galaxy were probably lucky to beat Pachuca.

Except for LA, the MLS sides have played well but I think they have missed an opportunity to really put up a dominant record in round 1...they could have 6 or 7 wins!

[JC]

I find the idea of "converting" fans from other teams or leagues rather naive on MLS' part. It's like saying Boston Red Sox fans would turn Yankee fans if the Yankees beat the Red Sox enough times. How many times does this happen if ever? The league should just focus on getting fans at the grassroots level. Converting fans from other teams and leagues is a fruitless venture. Plus the turn out for the games haven't been that great. Reading some of these articles claiming the tournament a success on the US soccer sites, you'd think Superliga was selling out and turning people away at the gate. The tournament has been okay so far, but it still remains to be seen if it's a success. I feel that Mexican teams next year might take the tourney even less seriously, especially if they expand the number of teams participating.

[golfstrom]

An interesting stat ESPN would love: MLS teams have scored first in 7 out of 8 games. Mexican teams have scored the 2nd goal in 5 of the 6 games w/ 2 or more goals.

I've been pleasantly surprised by SuperLiga. It's been good soccer, good competition. The buzz will only build from here.

[Chg]

I'm with Derek. MLS would've taken this record if given the chance before the games were played, but it doesn't reflect what they should have done.

If you can imagine watching the games so that you see everything but the result of each shot on goal, you could reasonably expect Dallas, DC, and Houston to have six points, while LA would be happy to have one.

[Matt]

Brad, the only answer I can come up with is that so little is on the line in your average MLS game. IMO until the playoffs are contracted or eliminated altogether, MLS regular season games will lack that extra cutting edge.

[Sean G]

I like that the CONCACAF Champions Cup is in our preseason and this is in the Mexican preseason. Averaging the results between those two tournaments would seem to be a good indicator of where the leagues are. I prefer the Champions Cup, since it involves other leagues in the region.

MLS targeting the hispanic community is not a bad move. The second generation kids are likely to become fans of the MLS teams when their parents take them to these matches. If nothing else, just to rub it in Dad's face.

Should worry too much about group attendance. Euro teams experience the same thing in UEFA/Champ. League group stages.

[srfinger]

JC,

I dont think the idea is to turn a Yankee fan into a Red Sox fan. Its to convince a Yankee fan who lives in Tokyo to show up for a few Japanese league games because it can be fun as well. If you like the sport, and you physically have no way to attend your team's matches, then go see teams that play where you live.

Sure you never are going to persuade an Aguilas de America fan to only root for DC United, but you may be able to show him that MLS is a decent league, and if you are living near NY or DC or in Texas, you can have a good time going to their games as well.

Its the same sorta thing with the Beckham effect. For him to be successful, you dont need to convince European soccer fans living in the US that RBNY could beat ManU, you just need to convince them that our league has some pretty good players and going to matches is a good time. If those fans are exposed to MLS because Beckham is here and decide its worth it to attend a few games a season, he has done his job.

I think Toronto has done a tremendous job with that this year. Toronto has no more europeans living there than NY or DC, but somehow those people have adopted TFC as their own.

No we are not going to convince all the Mexican soccer fans in the US that they should drop their allegiance to the clubs they grew up with, we just need to convince them that the product here is also worth their attention.

[srfinger]

Matt,

Before we start eliminating or cutting back the teams that make the playoffs, imagine what a RSL v Colorado match would be like by July.

EPL has no need for playoffs because even late in the season, just about all the teams still have something to play for. The top few are trying to win the league. The next few are trying for guaranteed spots in the Champions League, the clubs after that are trying to get UEFA slots, and then the rest have to avoid relegation.

Teams aren't just trying to win matches so they can say "Woo, woo, we are 7th". Every position matters.

Plus there is no need for a knock out tourney because there are all sorts of cups in England. FA is the big one obviously, but then there is Worthington, etc...

[jeremy]

Perfectly put, srfinger.

MLS just wants to convince some of the millions of rabid soccer fans who live in MLS cities to give our sides a look as their "second" team. Think of all the fans who give you a whole list when you ask who they support; MLS teams just need to get on that list somewhere and convince fans who live in the US that going to an MLS match is a lot better than not going to a soccer match at all.

From that point, as long as Superliga is at least breaking even monetarily, it looks like a huge success, and I hope it continues to build into the future.

[stevo]

You can't expect mexicans to start rooting for MLS teams, or convert to the MLS when all you read when they enter an american soccer blog (such as this one) and all you read are biased, negative and racist comments about mexican players. Such as: "the mexican such and such plays for that team, you know who to root for". So even if MLS teams slaughter the FMF teams, don't expect a whole lot of respect or admiration.

[Istvan from Budapest]

Ives, can you compare the team payrolls?

That would make for an interesting ESPN article :)

--------------

In Group A, one of the MLS teams will advance.

In Group B, both MLS teams can advance if Club American.

[Matt]

srfinger, I understand all of that, but it's a balancing act between giving clubs enough motivation to play at their best and enough of an opportunity to envision success. Why not throw some more money into the US Open Cup to make it a bigger prize? And how is the situation yhou describe any different from an end of the season Pirates-Marlins series? Some teams simply don't deserve to make the playoffs. Failure should be enough of an incentive to make them improve, especially in a league with a salary cap.

[Frank Olide]

I think Morelia have a shoe in to advance in group B. They will be playing a pathetic, unmotivated, and probably reserve team of America. I think it was a bad idea to have the same league matches last. I also want to comment on Stevo's comments. I think he is right that it is hard for us Mexican league fans to root for MLS teams when all we have been reading are 'MLS is better because of the Superliga record' and 'the US national team owns Mexico'. I love this country but will never - ever support the National team or MLS team. I think there are many other reasons why we do not support but they are not sports based and belong on a different blog. Maybe once the 3rd generation Mexican-Americans grow up they will go to MLS games.

[Matt]

Incidentally, I'm not claiming as some do that MLS regular season games are meaningless, just that they are less meaningful that they could be.

[John Prichard]

To the question of why do we only play up to the competition and no more ... it is a long season and by choice we only have to do what is needed and no more. This reminds me of the joke ... two guys running from a bear ... one says to the other "Man, I don't know if we can outrun this bear" ... other guys says "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you".

[Ives]

Stevo, who is making racist comments about Mexicans?

And are you serious? Mexico is the United States' biggest rival and vice versa. If you don't think that Mexican writers, columnists and bloggers don't take liberties with American Soccer then you're kidding yourself. I have traveled to Mexico and I have seen caricatures of Landon Donovan. I have read disparaging stories about American players and MLS. It goes both ways.

That's what rivalries are about. To sit here and say that SBI doesn't treat Mexican soccer with respect isn't really fair. I mean hey, maybe I do post funny pictures of Hugo Sanchez, but I still give Mexico's best players the respect they deserve. I still report news on what is going on with Mexican players even though this is an American soccer blog (though readers check in regularly from at least two dozen other countries).

Do I go after Mexican players when they act classless? Of course, but that is something every journalist should do. Unfortunately, Mexican media in general turns a blind eye to a lot of the classless stuff Mexican national team and club players do and it is a shame.

Do I lean toward the American view of world soccer? Yes, but implying that this blog is racist is crazy.

[Frank Olide]

I do not think he implied your blog is racist. I really like your articles and blog posts. The problem I have faced are in other blogs where I have been told that if I live in this country I should support the US National Team or go back to Mexico. These are the Lou Dobbs inspired comments I hate.

[Roger]

Ives,
Come on! Don't try to pretend you respect Mexican soccer and Mexican fans. It is very obvious you loathe them! And BTW, I think you are a bit hypocritical when singling out Mexican players for being "classless" and ignoring when U.S. players act the same way.

This is your blog and you can post what you like but don't insult my intelligence and make it seem as they are completely evil and we are without fault. I really dislike how you cover anything dealing with Mexico.

Get over it and stop pretending you're objective.