SuperLiga tourney lands at Toyota Park
SuperLiga is coming to town.
The new tournament, an attempt to create a continental club competition, makes its first Chicago appearance Wednesday at Toyota Park when Club America plays Morelia Monarcas in the final group-play game.
Four Major League Soccer teams and four Mexican League teams are competing, and through the first two games of group play, only the storied Mexican side Club America is out of the running for the semifinals.
Maybe Club America misses Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
The top two teams from the two four-team groups will advance to the semifinals, and Toyota Park has bid to host the semifinal and final games.
After two games of group play, Guadalajara leads Group A with 2 wins and 4 points.
The Los Angeles Galaxy is second and FC Dallas third going into their matchup tonight at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.
Group B leader D.C. United and Houston are tied for the lead in Group B. If they tie on Wednesday, MLS teams will comprise at least three of the four semifinalists.
The tournament champion wins $1 million.
Thirteen? Bayern Munich, one of the strongest clubs in the German Bundesliga, has signed 13-year-old Pierre Laurrari for a one-month trial. Laurrari is from Peru, and his services were also sought by Real Madrid of Spain and AC Milan of Italy.
War games: Just a few weeks after David Beckham made front-page news by coming to the United States, soccer grabbed international headlines again -- sharing it with the war in Iraq.
For the first time, Iraq won the Asian Cup tournament, the continental national team competition similar to the Gold Cup just concluded in Chicago.
Iraq defeated Saudi Arabia for the title after beating South Korea in the semifinal. Saudi Arabia had defeated two-time defending champion Japan.
The fact that Iraq was able to put together a competitive team with all the turmoil that exists in that country is a testament to something.
"This is not just about football, this is more important than that,'' Iraq coach Jorvan Vieira told reporters covering the event. "This has brought great happiness to a whole country. This is not about a team, this is about human beings."
The celebrations that took place throughout the country were seen around the world thanks to all the camera crews there covering the war.
Unfortunately, there were seven deaths related to stray bullets fired in celebration of the victory.