Monday, July 23, 2007

Glorified friendlies?

SuperLiga kicks off on Tuesday but for some of us media hacks, the festivities get underway today. There's a press conference in L.A. previewing this tournament and the gang's all going to be there, as MLS and FMF suits will be in attendance as well as Pachuca and Galaxy coaches and players.

I'm excited about the prospect of watching both Pachuca and Chivas de Guadalajara in the coming week.

However, I'm still skeptical about the whole SuperLiga and whether it will be successful. I think fans will buy into it, simply because Pachuca and Chivas don't come around that often, but will this tournament gain the expected outcome and re-create the US-Mexico rivalry at the club level?

I don't think it will. I may be dead wrong, but I think international rivalries are unique because that is really representative of their countries and clubs don't really represent nations. I mean, does the L.A. Galaxy represent the United States? Does DC United represent the United States? They are MLS teams and represent their respective owners and fans, not the country in which they play.

What could make this tournament more interesting is if the stakes are raised. If there were a Copa Libertadores berth attached to SuperLiga, the excitement and anticipation surrounding the tournament would increase. But simply offering a large monetary award to the winners means the owners will benefit, not necessarily the fans. I mean, if I'm a Morelia fan and we win a million bucks, it's great to me only if the team uses those funds to bring in a big-name player. Otherwise, how does it benefit me? Winning it and advancing to Copa Libertadores, meanwhile, would a far greater prize for the fans than money to line the owners' pockets.

Now, I'm keeping an open mind on the tournament. I'm sure there will be good games and some drama and of course sizable crowds - I'm really looking forward to the Galaxy-Chivas game on Saturday, for instance. I'm just hoping that there is some real payoff at the end.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Club before country. I won't be rooting for any mls team(except maybe DCU), I'll sit back quietly and wait for CUSA's entry into SuperLiga.

New Found Madness said...

I share your thoughts, Luis, although I am hopeful that this will either morph into some sort of Champion's League (and its a stretch to use that name) for CONCACAF, or force a revamp of the current CCC structure, such as group play.

Certainly a Copa Libertadores spot would make it more appealing as well, but if you are going that route, why not make the Copa to just be THE club tournament for all the Americas?

Oh yeah...it already is, minus MLS.
:-)

Anonymous said...

LB. Well with your rationale, why even bother to cheer for a crappy league game midweek during MLS season.

The fact is, of course, club owners/investors and suits always proft at the expense of all fans, that is why they are the owners. I mean come on, does the average joe really benefit by plunking $100 to take his family to a corporate names Mcstadium? How about buying an $80 Galaxy Beckham jersey?

It's just entertainment man, there doesn't always have to be some strings attached. Quality entertainment is good. Superliga is good. It beats a vaunted KC Wizards vs. Real Salt Lake midweek match.

BBSC

Anonymous said...

i disagree. i think there will be plenty of MLS fans siding with the Galaxy/DC just like they side with the All Star team, or when DC/Houston played in the CCC.

Anonymous said...

I am of the opinion that the Superliga is MLS' way of starting a long term process by which they envision the end result being a "domination" of Mexican club soccer much in the same way the USMNT now "dominates" the Mexican NT. This happened by playing them over and over throughout the '90s. Now they want to do the same at the club level.

The key to success of American soccer (country and club) lies in beating Mexico, at least in the short term. That's the only way for them to get better, much in the same way that the key to sucess for Mexican soccer has been through South America (Copa America, Libertadores, Sudamericana).

These are long-term processes and the Superliga is the beginning step for MLS. It means a lot more to them than for Mexican teams.

Anonymous said...

At this point, the tournament is really a bunch of glorified friendlies. There is no qualification process to get in, and there are no great consequences to winning. Yes, a money pool helps, but I don't think it will be enough to make it extremely competitive.

My hope is that if they are going to keep this tournament around, there will be a Libertadores qualifying spot for the winner. Of course, if that's what they are going to do, they might as well try to get into Libertadores directly. Give the spot to the regular season winner.

Anonymous said...

Next year the participates will have to qualify for Super Liga. I believe the way teams finish at the end of this year will help determine qualification for next years Super Liga.

I would think the goal on both sides of the border has to be to generate cross border interest. Is it a bad thing for either league to try and increase their fan bases and thus increase their sources of revenue. As with the national teams both leagues should be able to feed off each others strengths.

Unknown said...

Call me crazy, but I have a more South American view of all this playing fast and loose with Libertadores places. That is a tournament steeped in tradition, not one to be handing out places to any [ team / nation / other regional tournament winner ] just for the asking.

One doesn't receive the prestige associated with playing in the Libertadores by organizing a little league; it has to be earned. Sadly our children may benefit by the traditions started today by the SuperLiga, but it would be a mistake any other way.

See how long it took for the Libertadores to include Venezuelan teams, and then Mexican ones. It's not an easy process, nor should it be. Regalando Prestigio, as a Uruguayan would say...