This is a fun tournament, so I dug in and did a bit of research. Overall it’s not that important given that well #1 Mexico doesn’t seem to care and #2 all games are played in the U.S. What is the format? The format consists of a Group Stage and Knockout Rounds, with all games held in American venues. Who qualifies from the U.S.? "Major League Soccer announced that starting with SuperLiga 2009 it will no longer allow teams to compete in both the CONCACAF Champions League and the SuperLiga, so the criteria for MLS teams has been amended to the top four teams not already qualified for the Champions League." Who qualifies from Mexico? [need some help here] For the Primera División, "the champions of the last 4 semi-annual tournaments will earn berths to SuperLiga." It seems more than a couple of Mexican Teams have passed on their well earned berths. I wonder why? [now from 2008 quoted @ http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110.../774032/mls-players-union-denounces-superliga] In the past …”the MLS Players Association…slammed the tournament and MLS's marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing, for misrepresenting the true amount of money involved.” "What has not been revealed by the league is that its New York office has unilaterally set its own bonus structure for players, who will receive only a small fraction of the $1 million....If an MLS team wins SuperLiga, the players on that team won't split $1 million. Instead, they will receive only 15% of the prize money. This puts MLS players at a significant competitive disadvantage as the Mexican clubs are not operating under the same rules. Indeed, it is our understanding that the players on last year's winner Pachuca split the entire $1 million prize amongst themselves." “In other words, the MLS players, if their team wins the tournament, would split $150,000. This breaks down to roughly $5,300 per player.” Well that was 2008, have things improved? Why is it that Mexico isn’t sending their full squads to play? Is the 1 million purse for real? According to goal.com it is or it was for Mexico. I question why certain teams have passed on participating. Am I the only one confused?
As my lengthy statement clearly shows – I’m a bit confused. Who qualifies from which countries? Why would one qualify and not want to play. Why are teams from both sides of the border playing their B squads? What is the real monetary gain from winning?
There's a thread on this? Read it? The MLS teams that qualify play. They dont use their B squads, for the most part, although for some games they might not use all starters (so like A-/B+ squads?). FMF teams are arrogant i guess, so they dont take it as seriously as MLS teams do.... but two of the FMF teams are using their starters. The prize money situation has gotten fairer and i think instead of 15% to MLS players now its like 33%.
Yup. MLS team winner split aprox 350,000 prize. I believe that's what the Revs got last year. Half of the teams in the tourney are taking it seriously. Most MLS squads are playing their "A" teams minus their Blanco/Shalrie/Ralstons. Santos and San Luis are playing their "A" sqauds. UNAL and Atlas are starting the tournament with "B" sqauds and shuffling in their starters here and there.
My understanding is that at the last minute Tigres had to send many of their youth players because of another game/tournament that the starters had to play. I believe they were taking it seriously before that though. The Fire played their starters against San Luis, and a youth heavy mix against Chivas USA. I think with Chivas USA missing so many starters already that made sense.
Atlas ended up playing lots of starters against KC. The press reports initially stated they were bringing a U-20 side.
Revs started mostly their normal lineup, but due to injuries, I'm not even sure what qualifies as normal lineup anymore. Tonight, for regular Revs players ... you won't see Twellman, Albright, Ralston, Alston, Joseph ... at least, all due to injuries. So it'll be a pretty young squad out there.
Obviously losing 3 guys like Twellman, Ralston, and Joseph is going to hurt bigtime. I don't want to play it up too much - but I'm actually thinking missing Alston will hurt as much as anything. He does a nice job covering ground on that side, and it's really hard to replace a good outside back. If Onalfo brings out a mostly full lineup, I'm going to have predict 3 for the good guys. We'll be missing Espinoza bc of a pretty crap red card in the last game, but he's only been a rotational player so far.
I'm not sure that's right. I recall last year there was a big fuss made when they kept promoting the Doctor Evil Cup with the prize of ONE MILLION DOLLARS, but it came out that the players themselves only got to split something like $165,000. Bob Kraft kept the rest so he could buy a crate of those blue shirts with the white collars. Maybe this year they upped it to $350k for the players?
In an interview Jimmy Conrad did with me and another KC blogger, he said that the prize had gone up 10-15% for the players.
This competition was created when the CONCACAF Champions Cup (now the Champions League) was looking really shaky. It was supposed to provide an opportunity for the best teams from the FMF and the MLS to face off, feeding off the already strong Mexico-USA soccer rivalry and building support and credibility for US soccer. The initial tournament in 2007 wasn't very successful, and the teams that played in it actually ended up being stretched too thinly between their league fixtures, CONCACAF Champions Cup matches, and the Superliga to perform well in any of them. With the new Champions League (and the fact that it's actually a viable tournament with a sizeable playoff and big exposure), many top-tier teams don't want to waste their time with SuperLiga. Some FMF teams even declined to play in the SuperLiga this year, which let Atlas (9th in the Clausura) in.
Somehow I don't think Superliga will last much longer. There is no interest and no coverage anywhere. Event the Open Cup is more relevant.
Why is the USOC considered irrelevant, anyway? Never been able to figure that one out, as a person who started watching soccer through the lens of what is now USL-1. I hope SuperLiga sticks around. It's a nice chance for the mid-table teams that don't get into the CL to play some decent international tallent.
I think this tournament could grow to become something, my only disagreement is that all games are held in the u.s. I mean is it crazy to say alternate the venues? perhaps 1 year in the u.s. the next in the mexico? rinse.. repeat??
There are lots of fans of Mexican soccer living in the US. That's why there are so many Mexican soccer events in the US, both national team and club teams. There aren't nearly as many people in Mexico who are interested in MLS teams. I'm not sure what you mean. So far it looks far more successful than this year's version. Crowds haven't exactly been huge this week. I'm concerned about the future of the Superliga. I guess it needs Chivas or America to help it survive. Of course, there's a decent chance that Seattle will qualify for next year's Superliga, and the potential to generate revenue in Seattle might be enough to keep Superliga in business.
THis tournament is pointless!! that sucks, why the hell does the MLS players win 150,000 and get roughly around 5,300?? While the meican get to split the full amount?? MLS and Garber messed up, how is it that the reserve squads win this and they get more money than you starting professional MLS players... Unjust, MLS and Garber are just wrong, that ain't fair to the players...
First of all, MLS teams split over 300,000 of the 1 million among the players. The reason the prize money is LESS for the american clubs is because Garber wants the prize money to be higher for the MLS Cup than Superliga.
I believe SUM also pays for running the tournament so if an MLS team wins it they use some of the winnings to pay for the logistics. Silly, but that's what Garber (I believe it was Garber) said at one point in time.
It may just be a biased pov but it seems as though the tourney has lost some of it's flare without Houston and D.C.
I actually agree with both of you. In regards to bunge's comment, self explanatory. In regards to Mannie's ... this was foreseeable when you saw the teams playing. There's not a huge Mexican population here in New England, and I'm not sure what it's like in KC (ok, St. Louis) to draw from for these games. If these games were consistently played in Houston, DC, Chicago and LA ... they'd do fine attendance wise, and that part is definitely missing.
Yeah, it's crazy. Because no one in Mexico gives a flying fig. Mexican fans aren't going to come out in large numbers to watch their club play a preseason tournament against US clubs. Now, in the US, it's different, because for many expatriate Mexicans, events like these are the only chance they get to see their favorite team in person. ------RM
Well, that does makes sense. I'm think I'm now with the crowd who believes this tournament may have run its course. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts or until something changes to make it more relevant.