Houston won their SuperLiga opener on Thursday, beating Pachuca 2-1 at Robertson stadium. Joseph Ngwenya opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Jose Francisco Torres found Damian Manso for the equalizer in the 51st, and fellow US National Team player Herculez Gomez subbed in for Pachuca in the 57th. But it would be Houston getting the late winner, with Ngwenya scoring again in the 85th.
“We have three games in a short period of time and, if this heat keeps up, to go with the same 11 Thursday, Sunday and Wednesday is probably too much," Houston coach Dominic Kinnear told MLSSoccer. "We will probably mix and match and everyone will probably see some time. We want to win, but along the way you can’t just say, ‘Here’s our team,’ and run them out again."
It was the same score, but the MLS club on the wrong end with Chivas USA dropping their opener 2-1 to Puebla at the Home Depot Center. Puebla was up 6 minutes in when Andres Olivera scored and doubled that in the 62nd trough Alvaro Gonzalez. Chivas USA got a goal back in the 85th when Michael Umana scored.
“We came here looking to start the tournament off right," Puebla midfielder Felipe Ayala said. "Thank God we found the win, even though the game became somewhat complicated for us after they scored their goal. They were a tough rival that never gave up and, towards the end, they had us against the wall. Fortunately, we fulfilled our objective.”
