Kudoes to MLS for letting every team in the Open Cup.

[Dan Loney]

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20070129&content_id=82705&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

I'm really glad the league didn't give in to temptation and allow teams to slough off this tournament. (I'd like to believe that the four teams on the hotseat DEMANDED the right to play in the Open Cup, but I remember back in the early days when the Galaxy had to be dragged kicking and screaming into this tournament. And I still think the Revolution would bolt if given a chance.)

I would have been fine with the MLS teams qualifying for the tournament via standings, USL-style. That would be one way to add a little pepper to the regular season, at least the early games. But apparently, the league is taking precious time to add play-in games to the schedule. That's more aesthetically pleasing, but more of a pain to schedule.

I'd hate to engage in hyperbole such as "MLS is the best friend the Open Cup ever had," but the league has certainly given the tournament the respect and deference it deserves, but does not have. Yet. So good for them.

Or is it "Kudos"? That seems wrong, though. Like one of the aliens on The Simpsons.

[Beau Dure]

Or is it "Kudos"? That seems wrong, though. Like one of the aliens on The Simpsons.

Your superior intelligence is no match for our puny weapons.

[Jasonma]

But apparently, the league is taking precious time to add play-in games to the schedule.

Are you sure about this? Neither of the articles I've seen about the new system has spelled this out, and I'm expecting MLS to decide that a given league game will also count for USOC qualifying, as they used to do in the early years of the league.

[Dan Loney]

From the article:

The remaining MLS squads, excluding Canadian side Toronto FC, will take part in a qualifying tournament for the right to earn the final two MLS spots.

The Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards, Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles Galaxy will all take part in the first qualifying round, with the winners facing the New York Red Bulls and Colorado Rapids for the chance to enter the tournament.

Beats me. I suppose they might just jigger the schedule to accommodate all that.

[Bill Archer]

I would have been fine with the MLS teams qualifying for the tournament via standings, USL-style. That would be one way to add a little pepper to the regular season, at least the early games. But apparently, the league is taking precious time to add play-in games to the schedule. That's more aesthetically pleasing, but more of a pain to schedule.

I'm just amused that USSF says the reason all MLS teams were not automatically included was because of "fixture congestion" and their solution is to add two extra games for the MLS teams who have to qualify to get in.

This must make some sense to someone. Or possibly not. Solving the problem of too many games by adding more games is so typically a USSF solution that it barely desrevs comment.

To me the issue is that in order to get to the so-called "First Round" (which for some MLS teams will be their third game in the tournament) PDL and Men's Amateur teams will have to beat the likes of the Thunder Bay Chill and the Vermont Voltage.

Meanwhile, two MLS teams will have to beat either New York Red Bulls or Colorado Rapids in order to get to the same starting point.

Only USSF could screw this up this badly.

[Bill Archer]

From the article:

The remaining MLS squads, excluding Canadian side Toronto FC, will take part in a qualifying tournament for the right to earn the final two MLS spots.

The Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards, Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles Galaxy will all take part in the first qualifying round, with the winners facing the New York Red Bulls and Colorado Rapids for the chance to enter the tournament.

Beats me. I suppose they might just jigger the schedule to accommodate all that.

I swear Dan, I'm going to start sending you a bill for this stuff.

From our friends at USSF:

For the first time since 2002, all eligible MLS teams will not participate in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament proper due to fixture congestion with international and club events this summer. However, each team will have the chance to qualify for the tournament. The top six MLS teams from the 2006 standings are being placed in the tournament proper, while the six remaining teams will play qualifying matches.

The Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards, Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles Galaxy will play in the first qualifying round, with the winners facing the New York Red Bulls and Colorado Rapids for a chance to qualify for the tournament.

Automatically Qualified Teams: Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, D.C. United, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution
Eligible Qualifying Teams: Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards, Real Salt Lake, Colorado Rapids, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls


http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_281653.html

So as I noted above, two things stand out:

1) To solve the "fixture congestion" problem, some MLS teams will have to play two extra games. This is the sort of Kafkaesque explanation we used to get from the Soviet Union when the barley crop failed.

2) If you're a PDL team, you have to beat the Yakima Reds or the Ogden Outlaws to get to the first round of US Open Cup. If you're the Galaxy, you have to beat NYRB. Makes perfect sense.

[kenntomasch]

I'm just amused that USSF says the reason all MLS teams were not automatically included was because of "fixture congestion" and their solution is to add two extra games for the MLS teams who have to qualify to get in.

"Congestion" doesn't necessarily mean number of fixtures. It's number of fixtures over a given time.

Seeing as how we don't have any idea yet exactly when these "extra games" will be played, I figure as long as they're early and not in the mid-June to early-August period when seemingly everything is converging, it actually is a bit of a solution.

And if, as it appears from at least one article I've seen, they're going to make an effort to schedule the Galaxy to get to every other MLS market once after August 1, the league schedule might be slightly heavier towards the end of the season.

In which case, you could play these qualifying games as early as April and get them out of the way. I've yet to hear anyone complain that they play too many games in April.

And, oh, by the way - MLS teams play two fewer regular-season games this season anyway. So giving them potentially two more back in the USOC clogs up what, exactly?

[SankaCofie]

For the first time since 2002, all eligible MLS teams will not participate in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament proper due to fixture congestion with international and club events this summer.

The "fixture congestion" that has you so vexed is mainly the concern of the qualified clubs.. the only team who will have to qualify for the USOC who has any "club events" (read tournaments) is the LA Galaxymanchesterunitedbeckhams.

The other five: Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards, Real Salt Lake, Colorado Rapids, and New York Red Bulls won't have the superliga or concacafchampionscup to worry about.

Although they might lose a few players for the Gold Cup and Copa America.

[Bill Archer]

You both are, I think, missing my point, although SC seems to be in the ballpark:

Nothing whatever has changed for the teams which will have "congestion" problems. For them the USOC will be exactly as it's always been, ie. they will enter in the third round against second round winners.

As you rightly point out, Columbus, KC, RSL et. al. don't have "congestion" problems, because they won't be in the superliga or concacaf stuff.

So no, giving those teams extra games doesn't unduly burden them particularly if, as kenn supposes, their matches are held very early.

But again, I would ask how giving Columbus and RSL a couple extra games - in April or any other time - does anything to relieve "fixture congestion" for DC, Dallas, New England, etc.?

Maybe I'm not seeing some larger picture here.

[Dan Loney]

2) If you're a PDL team, you have to beat the Yakima Reds or the Ogden Outlaws to get to the first round of US Open Cup. If you're the Galaxy, you have to beat NYRB. Makes perfect sense.And if you're a USL-1 team, you have to beat other USL-1 teams. It might be silly, but it's been silly for over ten years now in that respect. You're going to have to beat the mighty Colorado Rapids, or beat the team that beat the Rapids, at some point anyway. Might as well do it early.

EDIT - of course the Galaxy can always start their tryout rejects in the Open Cup pre-qualifier, thus ensuring they won't have fixture congestion. That would be reprehensible.

I don't think it's the quantity of fixture congestion, but the quality. The reason MLS has taken a while to release a full schedule, despite all the soccer-specific stadia, is because as of January 11 it became a lot more desirable to have Los Angeles visit sometime toward the end of the season. Getting as much of the Galaxy's Open Cup run out of the way before then becomes desirable, because if Yakima gets a Beckham home game while New York doesn't, heads will roll. Better to make sure that, on the off chance that the Galaxy do decide on another Open Cup run, they do it against MLS teams.

The path of least resistance would have been to cut the Galaxy, Salt Lake, Columbus and Kansas City out entirely. The league didn't take that option, so I stand by my kudos. (I looked it up. It was "kudos." Both look wrong, in my opinion. I should get a thesaurus.)

[Bill Archer]

Well I was going to mention something about how Dan Quayle was called a retard for putting "-oe" at the end of a word (which was of course on the card they gave him) but Dan Loney puts "-oe" at the end of a word and it only makes him more loveable. Or something.

But I decided that was just too snark, and since Dan gave me a shirt once, I should try to be nicer.

I'm afraid though that I just can't go along with the "Leave four MLS teams out and make sure the Orange County Blue Star gets in" meme. An Open Cup, by definition, ought to at least give an outside chance to teams which are clearly among the best 12 teams in the country.

That's not to say that, unless Sigi can find some Pixie dust really soon that the Crew is a sure thing over the Sioux Falls Spitfire, but on any given day they for sure can give them a run for their soybeans.

[kenntomasch]

An Open Cup, by definition, ought to at least give an outside chance to teams which are clearly among the best 12 teams in the country.

How do the 12 (ostensibly) best teams in the country not have a chance to participate in the 2007 US Open Cup?

They're just not all in by fiat. Some of them have to earn it. It's a meritocracy on some level, and I'm okay with that.

[Jasonma]

I don't think it's the quantity of fixture congestion, but the quality. The reason MLS has taken a while to release a full schedule, despite all the soccer-specific stadia, is because as of January 11 it became a lot more desirable to have Los Angeles visit sometime toward the end of the season. Getting as much of the Galaxy's Open Cup run out of the way before then becomes desirable, because if Yakima gets a Beckham home game while New York doesn't, heads will roll. Better to make sure that, on the off chance that the Galaxy do decide on another Open Cup run, they do it against MLS teams.


It sounds like the Crew, FSL, KC, NYRB, and Rapids are all being forced down this road because of LA. And Bill had it right, DC, NE, Houston, and Dallas, who all have to worry about fixture congestion due to their other tournaments, are unchanged. So lets call this what this really is, shall we?

The LA needs a break USOC qualifying scheme

[kenntomasch]

So they just started thinking about this on January 11, you mean?

[ToMhIlL]

It's a step in the right direction, to actually have the dates sorted out well before anyone even kicks a ball this season. The USSF does deserve credit for that. Is it too much to assume that Toronto and some of the non-qualifying teams will be on the ESPN game the Thursday following Open Cup Tuesdays?

Ideally, it would have been nice to have the first round consist of 40 lower-league teams playing and the 20 winners being drawn against all 12 US-bsed MLS teams at the round of 32. It would have made it a lot easier than what they are doing and would give more opportunities for the Wilmington Hammerheads of the world to have a cup run.

[MasterShake29]

It's a step in the right direction, to actually have the dates sorted out well before anyone even kicks a ball this season. The USSF does deserve credit for that. Is it too much to assume that Toronto and some of the non-qualifying teams will be on the ESPN game the Thursday following Open Cup Tuesdays?

That would require flexible scheduling, so I'm not sure how they handle that.

[kenntomasch]

Looks like standalone games and they'll be before Memorial Day:


Major League Soccer Introduces Qualification Procedure for 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

NEW YORK (Tuesday, January 30, 2007) – Major League Soccer today announced details regarding qualification for the 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Only eight MLS teams will enter the U.S. Open Cup during tournament play, but all 12 U.S.-based teams will be eligible to enter and win the tournament when it kicks off in June.

“With the substantial number of international club and national team competitions this year and an odd number of MLS teams, 2007 presents some extraordinary scheduling challenges for MLS," said MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis. “We are nevertheless pleased to have found a solution that allows all of our eligible teams the opportunity to participate in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The introduction of a pre-qualification procedure allows us to schedule these games away from the mainstream of the U.S. Open Cup competition and into MLS’s less-busy early months and will provide some intense competition for the two available places in the tournament proper.”

In past years the eight MLS teams that advanced to the previous season’s MLS Cup playoffs automatically qualified for the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16. This year the MLS teams that finished in the top three of each conference in 2006 will automatically qualify for the Round of 16 (D.C. United, New England Revolution, Chicago Fire, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Chivas USA), and the final two berths will be determined by a play-in among the other six U.S.-based MLS teams. All play-in games will occur before May 28; venues and dates will be announced by the teams in the near future.

The four teams that did not make the 2006 MLS Cup Playoffs (Los Angeles Galaxy, Real Salt Lake , Kansas City Wizards, Columbus Crew) will compete in play-in games as follow:

Game A Los Angeles at Columbus (Date TBD)
Game B Kansas City at Real Salt Lake (Date TBD)

Should LA advance, LA (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game

Should Columbus advance, New York will host the second round game

Should KC advance, KC (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game

Should RSL advance, Colorado will host the second round game

[MasterShake29]

Looks like standalone games and they'll be before Memorial Day:
Game A Los Angeles at Columbus (Date TBD)
Game B Kansas City at Real Salt Lake (Date TBD)

Should LA advance, LA (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game

Should Columbus advance, New York will host the second round game

Should KC advance, KC (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game

Should RSL advance, Colorado will host the second round game

Interesting, the play in games aren't regional and New York might actually host a USOC game for the first time in 3 or 4 years.

[SankaCofie]

It sounds like the Crew, FSL, KC, NYRB, and Rapids are all being forced down this road because of LA. And Bill had it right, DC, NE, Houston, and Dallas, who all have to worry about fixture congestion due to their other tournaments, are unchanged. So lets call this what this really is, shall we?

The LA needs a break USOC qualifying scheme

I was going to say something to this effect but I thought it might seem paranoid. And I don't want the government agencies that are watching my every move to think that i'm paranoid.

[Jasonma]

Game A Los Angeles at Columbus (Date TBD)
Game B Kansas City at Real Salt Lake (Date TBD)

Should LA advance, LA (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game

Should Columbus advance, New York will host the second round game

Should KC advance, KC (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game

Should RSL advance, Colorado will host the second round game

The least they could have done was guarenteed NYRB and Colorado the hosting of the second game. Particularly Colorado now that they control their own stadium.