Pachuca Are SuperLiga Champions
Everything that LA dreaded would happen, happened. Mostly, another injury to David Beckham. He left the game around the 30th minute with what looks to be strained ligaments in his knee. This is just another blow to an already weak Galaxy team, and it looks like he could be out for quite a while.
Pachuca scored right before Beckham’s injury, through an own goal, which began the long list of unluckiness that plagued the Galaxy all night. Landon Donovan missed a golden opportunity at the end of the game to tie it. However, in second half stoppage time, Chris Klein was able to get the equalizer and send the game to extra time. LA looked decent in the second half, and as the game went on they showed their attacking side well, putting pressure on Pachuca and causing the keeper to make many saves.
The match eventually went to penalty kicks, where Landon Donovan had his saved. The usually reliable Abel Xavier sealed the coffin for the Galaxy by kicking wide, handing the inaugural trophy to the Mexican champions.
U-17 Men
Just a quick note here. There’ll be more on this later. The U-17 men were knocked out of the World Cup by Germany early this morning. Yet another disappointment for this much-touted team. Hopefully they can step up their game by the time they make the senior team.
SuperLiga Final: LA vs Pachuca
The LA Galaxy and CF Pachuca will meet tonight at 11 pm in the SuperLiga final in Carson, California. With 1 million dollars on the line, both teams will bring their A game. Regional supremacy will also be on the line. Pachuca will be looking to avenge its July 24th loss to the Galaxy earlier this summer. The Galaxy won that game 2-1, with Alan Gordon putting the Galaxy ahead 1-0. Rafael Marquez Lugo equalized for Pachuca in the 78th minute, but Landon Donovan won the game for LA with a goal of his own 3 minutes later. That loss for Pachuca was their first and last since April 11.
So what should we expect from this game? The Galaxy have serious injury issues, with David Beckham and Landon Donovan both banged up and tired from international duty and having to play in MLS games as well. They were shut out in their last match by Colorado, who won the game 3-0. LA was missing 7 of their players for that game, Beckham and Donovan included. While both are expected to play, it will be interesting to see how they hold up throughout the game. This will hold especially true for Beckham, who probably shouldn’t be playing anyway, but is doing so for the good of his club.
For Pachuca, it has been over a year since they have lost at home, but the team is coming off of a bad loss at Club Los Santos. Los Santos won the game 1-0, with Daniel Ludueña scoring the only goal for the away side. Pachuca comes into this game relatively healthy, and with revenge on their minds, but also the pressure of living up to the standards of Mexican soccer. Not only do they represent themselves, but just like the Galaxy, they represent their country as well. US clubs hold an advantage in wins in SuperLiga with 3, but nobody will remember that if Pachuca wins. Prediction? It pains me to say, but unless the Galaxy play much better than they have in MLS, Pachuca will win this game. I’ll say 2-1 win for Pachuca, but Beckham scores off a free kick. The game is at 11 pm ET on Telefutura.
L.A. Galaxy To Face Pachuca In Final
Houston Dynamo vs Pachuca
So the Superliga Semi-Finals have finally rapped up and L.A. Galaxy will be facing Pachuca. To be honest I’m a bit surprised at the results. I did not expect L.A. to pull it together to beat a very strong attacking DC United side. But first we start in Houston.
The semi-final in Texas was quite a game. 2-2 was the score at the end of regular time, with two players already ejected from the game. The scoring was started in the fourth minute by a very odd goal from Dwayne De Rosario. The Canadian international chipped the keeper by kicking the ball off of his own face. The first ejection, of Houston defender Patrick Ianni, was without a doubt worthy. Ianni was the last defender back when he took back Christian Gimenez from behind, leaving the referee with no choice but to send him off. Pachuca tied the game halfway through the first half with a goal by Juan Carlos Cacho.
The second half was more of the same. Pachuca pulled ahead just after the 60th minute with a goal off of a scramble in front of the Houston net. Houston was able to pull level in the 82nd minute with a goal from Eddie Robinson. The second half would not end without controversy, as Pachuca’s Andre Chitiva was shown a red for simulation in the 85th minute. Though it was a dive, I do not personally believe that it was enough to get sent off for.
The game went into extra time and no team pulled ahead, but another player, Houston’s Corey Ashe, was shown a red for elbowing a Pachuca player in the face. This is the second elbow I’ve seen in the last week from an MLS player and it’s something that needs to be dealt with. As I said earlier, there is no place in the game for it. The game continued on to penalties where Pachuca won it 5-4. Brian Ching hit the post and it looked like Pachuca had it in the bag, but Pat Onstad was able to save Houston. Or so we thought. Joseph Ngwenya decided to be cute, and payed for it. He tapped the ball directly at the Pachuca keeper. He had dived the wrong way, but the ball had such a small amount of pace on it, it just hit his body on the ground. This set up an easy finish for Lugo to put the Mexican side into the final.
Highlights of the game can be seen here
L.A. Galaxy vs DC United
David Beckham received his first start. That pretty much sums up the focus of the game. Not only did the former England captain get his first competitive start in America, he also wore the captain’s armband. With David in the side, and Abel Xavier back from injury, L.A. looked much better than they have. Now they didn’t necessarily look good. DC controlled most of the play, except for a few Galaxy surges, and had much more in the way of attacking weapons. But with some teamwork and a good performance by Joe Cannon, L.A. was able to hold on.
Though L.A. didn’t dominate the game, they showed a class that they have been missing all season. With Beckham and Donovan both playing in the midfield, they actually looked dangerous at times, and had a focal point for their attack to work through. It was not Beckham’s best performance, but the touches that he did have were not bad. And once again the player with a knack for the dramatic was able to deliver. His first free-kick in a scoring position, and it’s in the back of the net. Troy Perkins, a very capable keeper, was rooted to the ground. Vintage Beckham. He didn’t stop there, adding an assist (which was helped along by some poor DC defending) to Landon Donovan who calmly slotted the ball past the DC keeper. Becks left the game midway through the second half to a standing ovation.
David Beckham’s first competitive goal for the L.A. Galaxy can be seen here(along with some odd music.)
Look forward to a match preview later this month before the final. It should be a good game, which will take place in Los Angeles. And it will be another much welcomed home game for the L.A. Galaxy.
Superliga: HOUSTON DYNAMO v CF PACHUCA
The Houston Dynamo will take on CF Pachuca in the semifinal of the SuperLiga tournament today at 9pm in Houston, Texas. The Dynamo will have a chance for redemption against the Mexican club after Pachuca beat them 5-4 on aggregate in the CONCACAF Champions Cup back in March.
The Dynamo will have their hands full as Pachuca is one of the best teams in Mexico, if not the best. Houston has lost their last 2 games in MLS play, but will have a slight advantage by playing the game at home. The last time they played Pachuca at home, they played to a comfortable 2-0 win. Dynamo players and coaches say that revenge is not on their minds, and that they would just like to come away with a win tonight.
“Everyone wants to look back to those games in March. They’ve lost a couple players, and we’ve lost a couple players from those games, too. I don’t look at it as revenge. I like the matchup because it’s two teams who like to play. I want to get into the final. We’re not playing to continue this game against Pachuca. We’re playing because we want to defeat Pachuca and go on to the final,” says Dynamo Head Coach Dominic Kinnear. For Pachuca, they are Mexico’s only hope of winning the Superliga Tournament. The other 2 teams left in the tournament are DC United and the LA Galaxy.