The 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship is the inaugural edition of the Pan-Pacific Championship association football competition which took place on February 20 and February 23 in Honolulu, Hawaii, featuring teams from Japan's J. League, United States Major League Soccer (MLS) and the A-League of Australia and New Zealand.
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | United States |
| Dates | February 20 – February 23 |
| Teams | 4 (from 2 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Gamba Osaka (1st title) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 4 |
| Goals scored | 14 (3.5 per match) |
| Attendance | 76,430 (19,108 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Baré (5 Goals) |
| Best player(s) | Baré[1] |
2009 → | |
For the 2008 tournament, the A-League was not represented by the champion team but instead by the loser of the minor semi-final. This is due to a scheduling conflict with the Grand Final on February 24, which was moved back so as not to interfere with Australia's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.
The 2008 tournament also features Gamba Osaka of the J. League, which were the 2007 J. League Cup champion, and Major League Soccer representatives Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy, the latter reportedly chosen instead of the desired 2007 SuperLiga champion, as Pachuca declined and Galaxy were the Superliga runner-up.[2] The Galaxy's first game was versus Gamba Osaka.[3] while the Dynamo were drawn against Sydney FC.
All matches were played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Bracket
edit| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| February 20 – Honolulu (Aloha Stadium) | ||||||
| Gamba Osaka | 1 | |||||
| February 23 – Honolulu (Aloha Stadium) | ||||||
 Los Angeles Galaxy | 0 | |||||
| Gamba Osaka | 6 | |||||
| February 20 – Honolulu (Aloha Stadium) | ||||||
| Houston Dynamo | 1 | |||||
| Houston Dynamo | 3 | |||||
 Sydney FC | 0 | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| February 23 – Honolulu (Aloha Stadium) | ||||||
| Los Angeles Galaxy | 2 | |||||
| Sydney FC | 1 | |||||
Semifinals
edit| Houston Dynamo | 3–0 | Sydney FC |
|---|---|---|
De Rosario  28'Holden 29'Wondolowski 43' |
(report) |
Third-place match
editFinal
edit| Gamba Osaka | 6–1 | Houston Dynamo |
|---|---|---|
| Baré 13', 25', 59', 71' Lucas 62'Yamazaki 77' |
(report) | Clark 10' |
| Pan-Pacific Championship 2008 Winners |
|---|
 Gamba Osaka First title |
Top scorers
edit| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baré |
Gamba Osaka |
5 |
| 2 | Ely Allen |
Los Angeles Galaxy |
1 |
| Ricardo Clark |
Houston Dynamo |
1 | |
 Dwayne De Rosario |
Houston Dynamo |
1 | |
| Stuart Holden |
Houston Dynamo |
1 | |
| Brendan Renaud |
Sydney FC |
1 | |
| Lucas Severino |
Gamba Osaka |
1 | |
| Josh Tudela |
Los Angeles Galaxy |
1 | |
| Chris Wondolowski |
Houston Dynamo |
1 | |
| Masato Yamazaki |
Gamba Osaka |
1 |
Sponsors
editThe following is a list of the official sponsors of the Pan-Pacific Championship 2008.
References
edit- ^ Pan-Pacific Championship Archived February 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "ON SOCCER: Dynamo ahead of pack in more than one sense". November 29, 2007.
- ^ BBC SPORT | Football | Galaxy set for Pan-Pacific test