BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - For a third straight year, the SuperLiga final went straight to penalty kicks. It’s obviously not the most conventional decision, but for this tournament, it is becoming the norm.Ultimately, two missed PKs by Mike Banner and Justin Mapp helped Tigres UANL defeat the Chicago Fire, 2-1 (4-3 on PKs), on Wednesday night at Toyota Park. Tigres also earned a $1 million prize.
The deflating aspect for the Fire was that they limited Tigres to only one shot on goal during regulation, and it came down to two missed PKs in crunch time.
“Yes, it’s a little unjust. But that’s how soccer is,” Fire forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco said through a translator. “We need a little bit more personality toward the penalty kicks. You have to be stronger in character and always go with your first instinct. You can’t doubt yourself.”
“Losing in PKs is real hard,” Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said. “But I can’t fault my group. I thought tonight we went out and did good things and made it difficult for them. They had one shot on goal and they scored that goal.”
Itamar Batista scored the final PK for Tigres and ran over to his team’s supporters in the southeast corner of the park. Before the PKs even started, Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch (pictured left) was wanting the kicks on the north end in front of the Fire supporters. But referee Joel Aguilar decided on the south end.“We wanted it on our side of the field. I figure we’re at home. We should have it with our fans,” Busch said. “But the referee obviously was wearing a Tigres jersey tonight 'cause he had (the penalty kicks by) those Tigres fans. I think that’s absolutely absurd.”
Aside from the final PK, Batista also had the game-tying goal in regulation late in the first half to give his team some momentum heading into halftime.
The game started well for the Fire. Forward Patrick Nyarko (pictured right) continued his recent offensive spark, netting a goal in the 10th minute to give the Fire a 1-0 lead. Gonzalo Segares provided the cross from the left wing and Nyarko made a run for the near post. Nyarko headed the ball inside the post and past Tigres goalkeeper Cirilo Saucedo.Though the attacks were limited on both ends throughout the half, Tigres did come up with a clutch strike. In the 43rd minute, Batista did everything on his own, with some juke moves against Fire defenders Bakary Soumare and Brandon Prideaux to free up some space for a shot. He aimed to the far right post past Busch to tie the score at 1-all.
“We had two guys on him and we allowed him to get the shot off. He hit it perfect,” Busch said. “He put it literally right on the post on the far side. That was a good goal. Nothing you can do about it. But I’m a little disappointed in that we gave up that chance when we had numbers back and were in a good position.”
When it was PK time, Busch made a save on Manuel Viniegra’s attempt and Chris Rolfe followed with a goal to give the Fire a 2-1 edge. But Banner’s earlier miss wide right and then Mapp’s soaring miss above the crossbar gave Tigres some life. Armando Pulido gave Tigres a 3-2 edge on a ball that Busch actually got a glove on.
“He hit it with power,” Busch said of Pulido’s strike. “Maybe on a different day, I get enough on it, you know? It was a good penalty kick.”
Chicago defender Daniel Woolard tied it at 3-all, and Hamlett said that Woolard’s late substitution for Soumare was in case the PK situation presented itself. But after Woolard’s shot, Batista had the final strike - a rolling shot to the left and past Busch for the SuperLiga title.
Next up: The Fire return to Major League Soccer play when they hit the road to take on the Houston Dynamo at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
SlideTackles.net thoughts: The New England Revolution (2008) and CF Pachuca (2007) were the previous PK SuperLiga winners against the Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy, respectively. Personally, I am not a fan of this format whatsoever. I think in a match that is supposed to be for some U.S.-Mexico bragging rights, they should be forced to play some overtime. But like Hamlett said, “Those are the rules, man. What are you going to do?”
Chicago had its chances, as the 16-6 edge on shots clearly showed. Nine of those shots came in the second half, with five on goal. Marco Pappa had a solid strike immediately after the break in the 46th minute, forcing Saucedo to dive to his left for the save in a mess of streamers by the north goal. Segares had a deep strike that tailed a tad to the left and forced Saucedo into a save. In the 77th minute, Blanco had a good ball and Saucedo dove to his right. Baggio Husidic served as a good decoy on that attempt, but once again Chicago could not capitalize.
The second-half substitutions by Hamlett can clearly be up for scrutiny. The Woolard one worked, the Banner and Mapp ones clearly did not. In their place, obviously Pappa and Nyarko would have been better choices to take a PK, hands down.
The PK issue can easily be forgotten when returning to league play. But hopefully for the Fire’s sake they can capitalize on the offensive end. They will need to when they face MLS-leading Houston on Sunday.
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