SuperLiga Begins on Saturday

The SuperLiga begins on Saturday when D.C. United hosts CD Guadalajara and the Houston Dynamo hosts Atlante. On Sunday, the New England Revolution host Santos and Chivas USA is home to defending champion Pachuca. The teams play a round-robin in their two groups with the top two teams advancing to the SuperLiga semifinals on July 29th and 30th. The final is August 5th. The SuperLiga was created so that United States teams could face Mexico teams in a tournament. The top prize is $1 million dollars.

“It’s more of a great opportunity to promote MLS across Central America and Mexico,” said Houston Dynamo midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. “The Mexican league has a great history, and it’s always a great privilege to match up against those type of teams.”

MLS teams are in the middle of their league schedule so the four teams taking part in SuperLiga have to play this tournament and regular league games at the same time. This can be a challenge, especially since these teams will also play later in the year in the first ever CONCACAF Champions League. “Obviously it tests your squad,” Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said.

“You have to be really careful. These games are so close together, so we have to make sure we’re not putting the players’ health at risk. There’ll be conversations throughout the tournament about how players feel. If players feel a bit fatigued, it’s not a wise thing to keep on playing them.”

The MLS teams are in the middle part of their season while the Mexican league teams are just reporting for training camp. That could give the MLS teams an advantage, although the Mexican league is thought of as the stronger league.

Last year the SuperLiga drew good crowds, especially when the Mexican teams were involved.

Group A of the SuperLiga has Chivas de Guadalajara and Atlante of the Mexican league while the two MLS teams are D.C. United and Houston. Group B has Pachuca and Santos Laguna of the Mexican League while the MLS teams are Chivas USA and New England.

Other MLS betting action on Saturday at SBGGlobal.com have the Earthquakes a slight favorite at +140 over the Rapids at +170 and Real Salt Lake is favored at +120 over the Crew at +185.

View more MLS odds with futures for the 2010 World Cup and leagues like the English Premier, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga and the French Ligue at SBGGlobal.com.