The Union's 2012 US Open Cup Campaign [R]

So after watching the Union fall apart in the final minutes AGAIN!!! My friend said that "it's okay y'all will get it together for playoffs."

After hitting him with my best Jim Mora impression, we started talking about the start of the U.S. Open Cup.

Long story short, I started pondering...even if we finish at the bottom, if somehow we made a great open cup run and won the cup, as well as the Champions League bid, would you be willing to ignore the sh**y season in exchange for a chance to play in the Big Tourney like Toronto did?

NO....it's painful going to watch this team play right now (I will give you that Sat was the only exciting game so far) but they need to change coaches, stabilize and start winning some league games before worrying about anything else

And its people like this that make the USOC seem unimportant. Sure i want an MLS Cup but a trophy is trophy and i want to see us win some hardware. Not only do i want to see them suceed in the USOC and win it but if they do good there im sure it will give them the extra boost and motivation they need in league games.

If we win the cup? Hell yeah! That would be more trophies than PCNJ has ever won!

Can this team even win a game in that tournament?

Lets not kid our selves, we're probably going out to Harriburg in first round....

They may be able to take advantage of the first couple rounds playing a lower division side, and possibly an MLS side with mostly their reserves. If they throw a strong lineup out there they could make a run. I agree, the season is on the verge of becoming a wash. A cup is a cup, and a cup that the Pink Cows still lack.

Another question is will they make a strong push to try and host a game? I'm sure the Schalke friendly attendance doesn't help that cause.

I thought I read somewhere that they only have to give money back to USSF for the open cup if they sell above a certain amount of tickets? I could be wrong there.

A crowd of 7,000 + would be good for an Open Cup match though. If they sold tickets for say.........15-25$, and maybe put a cap on attendance at say 9,000. That way they wouldn't have to open all of the Parking lots, keep the suites closed for the match, and open limited concessions to save on costs. Sometimes less is more. Plus the Open Cup matches start during a period where we don't have any Home Matches until June 16, so a Cup match would fill a void.............and IF they can continue their improved play and maybe win the next two matches it would generate interest.

I figure this thread could serve as a US Open Cup Catch all thread. I hope im not the only one but im really excited about the tournament. After reading about our affilates Reading United first round match today, the New York based Greek American AA has a former Union by the name of Christian Arieta

While I wouldn't go so far as to say a U.S. Open Cup will make up for a garbage performance in league play, I would like to see the team make a commitment to playing well in the Open contests. Look at Seattle, which made the U.S. Open Cup a priority, and IMO, it's translated into CCL berths and, I think, helped them reach the point they're at now within MLS as far as being near the top of league and in the mix for the MLS Cup.

Hopefully this will be different this year as the open cup matches occur during the International break (I believe). The past two season's the matches were played on Tuesday's after a league match and preceding a league match, so fixture congestion likely factored into the lineup decisions. Although last season they fielded a strong lineup and lost on PK's to DC. Our first season, lets be honest we didn't have the depth to field a strong lineup 2 days after a league match. So hopefully all things considered, this season will see a better result in the USOC!

Id love for us to take the cup seriously and make a run. A cup is a cup.

Ill be at the fc sonic Lehigh valley - long island rough riders 1st round match tonight. Winner of it plays harrisburg next week.

I'm sure I'm in the minority but I'm much more interested in a USOC game than a friendly against Schalke.... or any other team for that matter.... especially if the tickets are at a lower price point. USOC has meaning a value... friendlies do not.

My first live (semi)pro soccer match was a USOC with Ocean City v. Real Maryland and it got me hooked... (funny enough JT Noone actually played in that game)

Agreed.
I have never paid to go to a Union friendly that wasn't included in my season ticket package.
But I have travelled to our away USOC matches in Newark and Baltimore (which were also on week nights). I will definitely pay to see a home USOC match if we get one.

I can't agree more. The USOC does have meaning and I would much rather see a USOC match then a meaningless friendly.

According to the US Open Cup twitter feed, the third round draw placing the MLS teams should be Wednesday or Thursday. Third round will be on May 29th.

There isn't an [R] tag on this thread, so I won't disclose the results of our Reading affiliate in their first round match... but if you're interested you can find the full 1st round results here.
The second round (May 22nd) matchups in this bracket also include the results of the random draw to select home team (team shown on top is host site). As member of the USL Pro league, Harrisburg City Islanders had a bye in the first round but you can see their 2nd round opponent and game location on the bracket too.

http://thecup.us/2012-us-open-cup-bracket/

So the U are affiliated with both Harrisburg AND Reading?

The 2012 us open cup third round draw is supposed to be later today or early tomorrow. We will find our two possible opponents and see if we get a home game for this one.

they take a 15% cut it you get $100,000 gross at the gate. Plus from round 3 there is a $12,000 advanced hosting fee (but the hosts are chosen in a blind draw until the semis) round 4 has a $18,000 hosting fee and the quarters has a $25,000 hosting fee. The semis and final will be done by the sealed bid process like they have done in previous years.

http://thecup.us/more-details-revealed-on-new-us-open-cup-hosting-process/

Dills, time for a new thread. Hopefully, this year's thread will stretch past 2 1/2 pages.

can you also merge the stuff from "alternative to a bad season" thread? there was some good US open cup talk in there

Anyone attending to the Islanders USOC match on 5/22?

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