HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! And that means it's time to discuss our favorite tournament, the 2011 edition of the US Open Cup. I don't mind starting the thread and of course, let's have some fun. Here are the list of clubs from MLS, NASL, & USL that have looked like they will be in this seasons tourney. MLS Columbus Crew FC Dallas Los Angeles Galaxy New York Red Bulls Real Salt Lake Seattle Sounders ????????????? (MLS Qualifiers) ????????????? (MLS Qualifiers) NASL Atlanta Silverbacks Carolina Railhawks FC Tampa Bay Miami FC/Strikers NSC Minnesota Stars USL PRO Charleston Battery Charlotte Eagles Dayton Dutch Lions FC New York Harrisburg City Islanders LA Blues Orlando City S.C. Pittsburgh Riverhounds Richmond Kickers Rochester Rhinos Wilmington Hammerheads Now of course things can change if they don't stick to the same set up like they have done the last couple of years (I admit that I hope they will make it bigger and better), but so far it looks like it will be as is. But other than that talk about those state tourneys from USASA that will attempt US Open Cup Qualification, later on in Late April/Early May for PDL Divisional Qualifying and other fun stuff.
Always good to talk about the USOC. All I hope for is some form of coverage for the majority of the games. I know it only reaffirms the fact that the tournament isn't as big as we would all like it to be, but I enjoy finding some obscure feed on the internet to watch and cheer for the little guys. The season and these tournaments can't get here soon enough! I take back the "all I hope for" and present a second hope. That is that the Crew commit a solid effort to winning the tournament. Getting so close last year and not having the champions league this year will hopefully provide enough motivation to get the job done.
i think this tournament needs to be a true open cup and include every MLS team and every professional team.
With the USL Pro schedule out, I see three midweeks (June to mid-August) where no US-based team is playing. Could these be the first three Open Cup dates? June 14-16 June 21-23 August 2-4
GIO, I was looking for midweeks with no games scheduled, to see if they could be Open Cup weeks. Every midweek in July has games scheduled. So the possible Open Cup dates would be the ones I mentioned (maybe including August 16-18, after the USL regular season ends). We will look for these same open weeks when the NASL and MLS sched's are out: June 7-9 Rochester Rhinos at River Plate Puerto Rico Dayton Dutch Lions at Harrisburg City Islanders Charleston Battery at Sevilla FC Puerto Rico June 14-16 * no games scheduled June 21-23 * no games scheduled June 28-30 Sevilla FC Puerto Rico at Orlando City July 5-7 River Plate Puerto Rico at Harrisburg City Islanders (plus Monday the 4th: Puerto Rico United at Richmond Kickers; Charlotte Eagles at FC New York) July 12-14 River Plate Puerto Rico at FC New York Wilmington Hammerheads at Charleston Battery July 19-21 Dayton Dutch Lions at Pittsburgh Riverhounds July 26-28 Harrisburg City Islanders at Dayton Dutch Lions August 2-4 * no games scheduled August 9-11 Harrisburg City Islanders at Charlotte Eagles New York at Dayton Dutch Lions Richmond Kickers at Wilmington Hammerheads Sevilla FC Puerto Rico at Los Angeles Blues Saturday, August 13 regular season ends
Is it possible to have U.S. Open Cup and USL Pro games the same midweek if USL Pro clubs playing that day have already been eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup or are not eligible for it like a Puerto Rican club?
Well after the first two rounds there will only be a few sides from NASL, USL Pro & PDL/USASA/NPSL So we shall see what's going to happen. But I would assume USL Pro sides would move some of their mid-week games for the US Open Cup.
With the Gold Cup in July this year, the Open cup may be being scheduled around it (more for MLS teams than everyone else).
WaltonFire Gold Cup is in June. From the 5th till the 25th. So July has plenty of time to fill in a round proper of the US Open Cup.
I doubt that the Gold Cup has any kind of influence on this. Last year the Open Cup was June 29-30 (round-16) and July 6-7 (q.f.), while some kind of tournament was going on in South Africa.
My mistake. I looked quick at the schedule, and it was one of those "I saw what I was expecting" things.
The NASL schedule also has these three midweeks with no American team playing, so these may be Open Cup weeks. Of course, the NASL has a few more midweeks open, also, with them having fewer teams in their league.
Very true. That's why they have to make room for Canadian Qualifying & Caribbean Qualifying for CONCACAF Champions League as well. You know I'm only assuming that the NASL probably knows the dates of the Rounds Proper for this years open cup as they already announced their schedule. But not to change direction here, sadly USSF took away the D2 sanctioning from the NASL. So as of right now the 2011 US Open Cup is in trouble. Five clubs are at the moment not allowed into Round 1 Proper unless the NASL finds a way to get that sanctioning back, then everything is fine.
Now that there are 16 American MLS teams, I think MLS should enter in the round of 32, not the round of 16. I don't think it makes sense to have to play all these qualifiers to whittle 10 teams down to 2 when we can just introduce MLS teams a round earlier.
It rewards the top 6 from the year before by having them playing less games than the bottom 10. Bottom 10 teams are required to play at least one game, like MLS teams, but have to play more if they are going to actually compete.
Yes, I'm aware that it rewards the top 6, but I don't like that. MLS already has playoffs where you get entry based on league position. A knockout national cup competition shouldn't take that into account. In the early days of MLS, not every MLS team participated in the U.S. Open Cup. There was a brief period where MLS had 12 teams and all 12 entered into the round of 32. Then there was a period where 8 teams got entry in the round of 16 and the rest entered at the round of 32. It has only been since 2007 that the MLS has held a qualification tournament for the final 2 spots. To me, this is what needs to change. Red Bulls last year played 3 games just to qualify. Ideally, yes, I'd like to see all 16 MLS teams enter in the round of 32. But if MLS wants to reward teams for league position, I'd rather see 8 MLS teams enter at the round of 32 and then 8 enter in the round of 16.
Always dangerous to make assumptions (especially when it comes to anything involving MLS or US Soccer), but if MLS uses a similar format to last year, we should see something like this: six automatic 3rd round teams: LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, NY Red Bulls, Dallas, Columbus, Seattle First Qualifying Round matchups: Portland v Philadelphia DC United v Chivas USA Second Qualifying Round: Colorado v DC/Chivas winner San Jose v Portland/Philly winner Kansas City v New England Houston v Chicago Third Qualifying Round: SJ/Por/Phi v KC/NE Hou/Chi v Col/DC/Chv
Not to burst your bubble here, but they use to do that before they changed it to it's current format. That's why it use to be four rounds instead of three.
As I said: "Then there was a period where 8 teams got entry in the round of 16 and the rest entered at the round of 32." As you can see, I was already well aware that they used to have that format. Thanks for informing me. I will now inform you that you should learn to read. I was stating that it's my preference that if we can't have MLS teams all enter at the round of 16, I'd like to go back to that format. I'm not saying it's going to happen or that it's a new idea. I just don't like the play in games.
With the MLS Scheduel already out and looking at the other schedules in the NASL-USL Pro-CCL Group stages, I think I have narrowed out the possible dates for all rounds proper I believe September won't be involved with all the dates used for CCL & World Cup Qualifying. So here is my opinion of which dates are available. Round 1: June 14 Round 2: June 28 Round 3: July 12 QF's: August 9th, Semis: August 30th Final: October 4th Just an opinion, please chime in with yours.
That's what I figured as well and with USASA state tournaments still going on as in the past, I'm guessing we're looking at the same format from last year, excpet for how MLS clubs will get down to eight teams. The midweek around 5/18 also has no US MLS teams playing (as well as nothing going on internationally) so maybe that's a final date for MLS qualifying.
I heard in another thread that the delay in sanctioning of the NASL has prevented those teams from participating this year. Is this true?