2009 North American SuperLiga
The 2009 SuperLiga was the third edition of the SuperLiga. The top four overall Major League Soccer teams from the 2008 season not already qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League earned qualification,[1] as well as four clubs from the Mexican Primera División. All games of the tournament were broadcast live on Fox Sports World in Canada, Telefutura in the United States, and Televisa and TV Azteca in Mexico and an internet stream on the SuperLiga website. UANL won their first title after beating Chicago Fire 4–3 on penalties in the final.
| SuperLiga 2009 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | USA |
| Dates | June 20 – August 5 |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 5 (in 5 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  UANL (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Chicago Fire |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 15 |
| Goals scored | 37 (2.47 per match) |
| Attendance | 106,832 (7,122 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Armando Pulido (3 goals) |
Qualification
The teams involved were selected based on qualification rules set by their respective leagues.
On November 21, 2008, MLS announced that for the 2009 tournament, the top four teams in the 2008 MLS regular season standings not competing in the CONCACAF Champions League in 2009–10 would qualify for SuperLiga 2009.[2] That ruling means that the top two teams from the 2008 MLS season, the Columbus Crew and the Houston Dynamo, who had already qualified for the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League, were not eligible to participate in the Superliga 2009.
On May 14, 2009, FMF announced that for the 2009 tournament the top four eligible teams from the Clausura 2008 and Apertura 2008 overall season standings not competing in the CONCACAF Champions League would qualify for SuperLiga 2009. That ruling meant that the Apertura-08 Champion Toluca and the runner-up Cruz Azul (2008 3rd and 4th overall respectively), who had already qualified for the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League, were not eligible to participate in the tournament. UNAM (6th overall) were also ineligible, while Guadalajara (2nd overall) declined to participate.
The SuperLiga 2009 participants were:
From Major League Soccer:
- Chicago Fire (2008 3rd overall)
- New England Revolution (2008 4th overall)
- Chivas USA (2008 5th overall)
- Kansas City Wizards (2008 6th overall)
From Mexican Primera División:
- San Luis (2008 1st overall)
- Santos Laguna (2008 5th overall)
- UANL (2008 7th overall)
- Atlas (2008 8th overall)
Group stage
There were two groups of four teams. Each group contained two clubs from each league with the top two teams from each groups advancing to the semifinals.
Group A
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UANL |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| Chicago Fire |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 |
| San Luis |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
| Chivas USA |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 1 |
| Chicago Fire | 1 – 0 | San Luis |
|---|---|---|
McBride  57' |
Report |
| Chicago Fire | 1 – 0 | Chivas USA |
|---|---|---|
| Mapp 35' |
Report |
Group B
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New England Revolution |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 7 |
| Santos Laguna |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Atlas |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Kansas City Wizards |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 2 |
| Kansas City Wizards | 0 – 0 | Atlas |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| New England Revolution | 4 – 2 | Santos Laguna |
|---|---|---|
| Larentowicz 38' Mansally 60'Heaps 63'Dube 82' |
Report | Vuoso 51' Rodríguez 55' |
| New England Revolution | 1 – 1 | Kansas City Wizards |
|---|---|---|
| Dube 45+1' |
Report | Barnes 85' (o.g.) |
| Santos Laguna | 0 – 0 | Atlas |
|---|---|---|
Torres  74' |
Report |
| New England Revolution | 1 – 0 | Atlas |
|---|---|---|
| Mansally 32' |
Report |
| Kansas City Wizards | 1 – 3 | Santos Laguna |
|---|---|---|
| López 80' |
Report | Herrera 61' Vuoso 74'Rodríguez 90+' |
Knockout stage
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 15 July – Gillette Stadium | ||||||
| New England | 1 | |||||
| 5 August – Toyota Park | ||||||
| Chicago | 2 | |||||
| Chicago | 1 (3) | |||||
| 15 July – Gillette Stadium | ||||||
| UANL | 1 (4) | |||||
| UANL | 3 | |||||
| Santos Laguna | 2 | |||||
Semifinals
| New England Revolution | 1 – 2 | Chicago Fire |
|---|---|---|
| Jankauskas 44' |
Report | McBride 34' Blanco 63' |
Goalscorers
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- Jesús Dueñas ( UANL)
- Juan Pablo García ( UANL)
Atiba Harris ( Chivas USA)- Jay Heaps ( New England Revolution))
- Agustín Herrera ( Santos Laguna)
- Francisco Fonseca ( UANL)
Edgaras Jankauskas ( New England Revolution)- Michael Lahoud ( Chivas USA)
- Jeff Larentowicz ( New England Revolution)
Claudio López ( Kansas City)- Braulio Luna ( San Luis)
- Justin Mapp ( Chicago Fire)
- Jesús Molina ( UANL)
- Alfredo Moreno ( San Luis)
Patrick Nyarko ( Chicago Fire)
Carlos Quintero ( Santos Laguna)- Francisco Javier Torres ( Santos Laguna)
References
- "'Game First' initiatives enhance on-field product". 2 April 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
- "'MLS announces competition changes for 2009'". 21 November 2008. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2008.