SuperLiga Is Here! For Now...

So after the Houstan Dynamo handled Pachuca and sent the reigning SuperLiga champs back to Mexico sans hardware, it's up the New England Revolution to beat Atlante tonight to make it the first All-MLS SuperLiga in history! Well, it's only the second year the tournament is being played, but still. This is a huge milestone for MLS if it comes to the Dynamo vs. the Revs; the Mexican Priemera Division is largely veiwed as superior to the MLS and has a long and storied history of producing quality teams and players.

So in light of that... COME ON REVS!

Ok, so I generally dislike Boston sports teams (Cards, Phins, and Magic), but I would love to see the Buffalo-Bills-like Revs finally get one. I love to watch them play football. When TT is his stride the Revs are so dangerous it's silly. And I love Nicols as a player's manager. He makes such solid picks, he really gets the MLS system. Even though having an All-MLS final would be anti-climatic it would speak volumes about the MLS.

And I can't help but feel like even though this tournament has produced some amazing games (remember Chris Klein's bicycle last year in the dying minutes to tie the game? Just beautiful) it will not go more than a few years before being scrapped. If the only incentive is some chump-change and bragging rights it's not worth the players risking injury. MLS teams are just not that deep to compete in so many competitions, and the Mexican league is not going to like being taken advantage of by having such a difficult tourney during pre-season.

This tournament is only going to prosper if they start inviting some other teams from South or Central America, because in all reality this is just like a glorified CONCACAF Champions Cup. The same four teams keep playing each other. I enjoy watching it, but casual fans will be turned off by it. But you add RiverPlate and Sao Paulo in there and you can truly call it "super." Until then, it seems like every international tourney with Mexican and MLS teams is going to end with DC/Galaxy/Revs/Houstan playing Pachuca/Guadalajara/Chivas in some combination for every single game. That could turn out some great rivalries, playing to the ever-present US vs. Mexico rivalry, but mixing it up with more of the Americas outside of our hemisphere will only make our league more credible by playing some quality teams and generating additional marketing opportunities.