2009 North American SuperLiga

2009 SuperLiga

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)
← 2008 2010 →

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 Primera División de México. 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.

Qualification

The teams involved are selected based on qualification rules set by their respective leagues.

On November 21, 2008, MLS announced that for the upcoming 2009 season the top four teams, still based on the 2008 MLS regular season standings, but who are not competing in the CONCACAF Champions League in 2009, will 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 have already qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10, are not eligible to participate in the Superliga 2009.

On May 14, 2009, FMF announced that for the upcoming 2009 season the top four eligible teams, based on the Clausura 2008 and Apertura 2008 overall season standings, but who are not competing in the CONCACAF Champions League, will qualify for SuperLiga 2009. That ruling means that the Apertura-08 Champion Toluca and the runner-up Cruz Azul (2008 3rd and 4th overall respectively), who have already qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10, are not eligible to participate in the Superliga 2009. Also Guadalajara (2nd overall) and UNAM (6th overall) declined to participate in the 2009 season.

The SuperLiga 2009 participants are as follows:

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 Primera División de México:

• San Luis (2008 1st overall)
• Santos Laguna (2008 5th overall)
• UANL (2008 7th overall)
• Atlas (2008 8th overall)

Format

In past competitions, two teams from each league played in two groups of four teams, with the top two in each group advancing to the knockout round. MLS Commissioner Don Garber has suggested that the format of next year's competition might change.^[3]

Group stage

The competition consisted of an initial group stage with the top two teams from each groups advancing to the semifinals.

Tie-breaking criteria

If two teams are equal on points, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:^[4]

1. Head-to-Head Results (points only)
2. Goal Differential
3. Goals Scored
4. Coin Toss

In the event that three or more teams are equal on points and no one team has defeated the other two (Head-to-Head Results), then the remaining tiebreakers are employed to advance a single team. The tiebreakers are applied again between the teams that failed to advance if it is necessary to determine a second-place team.

If the tiebreakers fail to advance a single team, the tiebreakers are then used to eliminate one of the three teams.

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

2009-06-20 20:00 EDT	Chicago Fire	1 – 0	San Luis	Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois Attendance: 8,421 Referee: Silviu Petrescu (Canada)
	McBride  57'	Report

---

2009-06-20 22:00 EDT	Chivas USA	1 – 2	UANL	The Home Depot Center, Carson, California Attendance: 11,197 Referee: Walter Quesada (Costa Rica)
	Lahoud  55'	Report	Pulido  11' Dueñas  82'

---

2009-06-23 20:00 EDT	Chicago Fire	1 – 0	Chivas USA	Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois Attendance: 9,126 Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)
	Mapp  35'	Report

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2009-06-23 22:00 EDT	San Luis	3 – 1	UANL	Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois Attendance: 9,126 Referee: Ricardo Areliano (Mexico)
	Luna  55' Reyes  56', 76'	Report	García  74'

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2009-06-27 20:00 EDT	Chicago Fire	1 – 2	UANL	Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois Attendance: 9,157 Referee: Kevin Thomas (Jamaica)
	Blanco  85' (pen.)	Report	Pulido  37', 61'

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2009-06-27 22:00 EDT	Chivas USA	1 – 1	San Luis	The Home Depot Center, Carson, California Attendance: 7,411 Referee: Luis de la Rosa (Panama)
	Harris  89'	Report	Moreno  54' (pen.)

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

2009-06-21 16:30 EDT	Kansas City Wizards	0 – 0	Atlas	Hermann Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri Attendance: 5,278 Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)
		Report

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2009-06-21 18:30 EDT	New England Revolution	4 – 2	Santos Laguna	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 9,512 Referee: Cortney Campbell (Jamaica)
	Larentowicz  38' Mansally  60' Heaps  63' Dube  82'	Report	Vuoso  51' Rodríguez  55'

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2009-06-24 19:00 EDT	New England Revolution	1 – 1	Kansas City Wizards	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 5,378 Referee: Jorge Gonzalez (USA)
	Dube  45+1'	Report	Barnes  85' (o.g.)

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2009-06-24 21:00 EDT	Santos Laguna	0 – 0	Atlas	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 5,378 Referee: Erim Ramírez Ulloa (Mexico)
	Torres  74'	Report

---

2009-06-28 16:30 EDT	New England Revolution	1 – 0	Atlas	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 7,411 Referee: Ricardo Cerdas (Costa Rica)
	Mansally  32'	Report

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2009-06-28 18:30 EDT	Kansas City Wizards	1 – 3	Santos Laguna	CommunityAmerica Ballpark, Kansas City, Kansas Attendance: 10,385 Referee: José Molina (Honduras)
	López  80'	Report	Herrera  61' Vuoso  74' Rodríguez  90+'

Semifinals

2009-07-15 19:00 EDT	New England Revolution	1 – 2	Chicago Fire	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 7,215 Referee: Paul Ward (Canada)
	Jankauskas  44'	Report	McBride  34' Blanco  63'

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2009-07-15 21:00 EDT	UANL	3 – 2	Santos Laguna	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 7,215 Referee: Jamie Gardano (Mexico)
	Molina  3' Fonseca  19' Batista  83'	Report	Quintero  27' Torres  91+'

Final

2009-08-05 20:00 EDT	Chicago Fire	1 – 1	UANL	Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)
	Nyarko  10'	Report	Itamar  43'
		Penalties
	Blanco Banner Rolfe Mapp Woolard	3 – 4	Fernández Viniegra Ayala Pulido Itamar

SuperLiga 2009 Champion
UANL First Title

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	15 July - Gillette Stadium
	New England	1
	Chicago	2
					5 August - Toyota Park
					Chicago	1 (3)
					UANL	1 (4)
	15 July - Gillette Stadium
	UANL	3
	Santos Laguna	2

Goalscorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Armando Pulido	UANL	3
2	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire	2
	Kheli Dube	New England Revolution
	Itamar	UANL
	Kenny Mansally	New England Revolution
	Brian McBride	Chicago Fire
	José Rodolfo Reyes	San Luis
	Juan Pablo Rodríguez	Santos Laguna
	Matías Vuoso	Santos Laguna
10	Jesús Dueñas	UANL	1
	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

1. ^ "'Game First' initiatives enhance on-field product". 2 April 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071009223002/http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20070402&content_id=87043&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 15 October 2007. 
2. ^ "'MLS announces competition changes for 2009'". 21 November 2008. http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20081121&content_id=205863&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 21 November 2008. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Mahoney, Ridge (21 November 2008). "Three biggies in three days". SoccerAmerica.com (Soccer America). http://www.socceramerica.com/blogs/mls_confidential/?p=159. Retrieved 21 November 2008. ,
4. ^ "SuperLiga Tiebreaker Information". 2008-07-18. http://www.superliga2008.com/newsstand/index.html?article_id=85. Retrieved 2008-07-20. 

External links

• SuperLiga 2009 Official site