So far it's playing out like this.... Pairings for round 3 were released: Pairing 1 Boston City FC/GPS Omens Rochester Rhinos/FC Motown Pairing 2 Ocean City Nor'easters/Harrisburg City Islanders Reading United AC/New York Cosmos Pairing 3 Carolina Dynamo/North Carolina FC Charlotte Eagles/Charlotte Independence Pairing 4 Atlanta Silverbacks/Charleston Battery Miami United FC/Jacksonville Armada Pairing 5 Miami FC/South Florida Surf Tampa Bay Rowdies/Jacksonville Armada U23 Pairing 6 Chicago FC United/Grand Rapids FC/Pittsburgh Riverhounds Richmond Kickers/Christos FC Pairing 7 FC Cincinnati/AC Cleveland Tartan Devils Oak Avalon/Louisville City FC Pairing 8 FC Wichita/Saint Louis FC Michigan Bucks/Indy Eleven Pairing 9 Houston Dutch Lions FC/San Antonio FC Tulsa Roughnecks FC/OKC Energy U23 Pairing 10 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC/FC Tucson OKC Energy FC/Moreno Valley Fútbol Club Pairing 11 Fresno Fuego/Phoenix Rising FC San Francisco Deltas/Burlingame Dragons FC Pairing 12 FC Golden State Force/Orange County FC LA Wolves FC/Chula Vista FC Pairing 13 OSA FC/Reno 1868 FC Sacramento Republic FC/Anahuac FC Definitely still want the winner of Ocean City/Harrisburg to beat out the winner of Cosmos/Reading. FC Motown beating Rochester and going on to beat the Boston/GPS winner would be good too. Richmond/Christos making it round 4 wouldn't hurt either because they would gravitate towards DCU leaving the Carolina pod open for someone. The other "out there" chance would maybe be Pittsburgh if they go for the cross-PA thing, since the Cincy/Cleveland/Louisville/Tartan pod is most likely going to Columbus.
No matter what, the organizers will still find a way for us to have to go to that awful Maryland Soccerplex.
Reading beating the Cosmos is a big boost for the Union... I don't think we'd be paired with them because of the affiliation, but I like Harrisburg's odds of beating them more than the Cosmos. My predicted pairings at this point: Rochester/GPS winner - Revs Reading/Harrisburg winner - Union if Islanders, RBNY or NYC if Reading. NCFC/Charlotte winner - DC if Christos loses, if Christos wins could be a wildcard. (potential Union pairing) Jacksonville/Charleston winner - Atlanta Miami/TB winner - Orlando Chicago FC/Christos winner - Fire if Chicago, DC if Christos. Cincy/Louisville winner - Columbus Michigain/St. Louis winner - Kansas City if St. Louis or Chicago if Michigan and CFC loses, Minnesota if CFC and Michigan wins. Tulsa/San Antonio winner - Houston or Dallas OKC/Colorado Springs winner - Houston or Dallas if OKC, Rapids if Switchbacks Phoenix/San Fran winner - Rapids or Salt Lake if Phoenix, San Jose if SF LA Wolves/OC Winner - Galaxy Sacramento/Reno - San Jose if Sac wins and Deltas lose or Portland/Seattle Reno wins or if Deltas win. Long story short: Root for Harrisburg and Christos and hope for yet another Union/Islanders USOC match... or maybe if we are lucky things get spiced up and we play either Charlotte or NCFC. Worst case scenario, Christos lose and Reading wins.... if that happens I think we'll get either NYCFC or the Red Bulls.
Looks like either Reading or Harrisburg. Hosting coin flip at 12:30. #yawn Here are the #USOC2017 Fourth Round matchup designations.👇🏽Coin flips to determine hosting scenarios will occur today at 12:30 p.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/1Eu2pCTO1N— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) May 18, 2017
Okay, so I guess I don't know what I'm talking about (although most of my predictions were right)... this is good news actually, I didn't think they'd want us to play Reading. I'll take it. MLS teams facing each other: Minnesota v. Kansas City NYCFC v. Red Bulls Timbers v. Sounders not going to complain about that.
Crap, 50/50 shot I'm flying back from Houston that night, but there's only a 10% chance of that happening.
Agreed, but we live in a huge country and the majority of the clubs in the competition are smaller Semi-Pro and amateur teams that couldn't afford the travel costs to fly across the country. Also, is it realistic to ask the amateur guys with day jobs to take off from work in the middle of the week on short notice, fly across the country for a night game, and be expected to perform against a USL or MLS team? As another poster said, doing it this way is the only realistic way to have the competition include of the smaller teams that make it what it is.
US Soccer is sitting on about $100 million in surplus this year. Though they probably need that to bribe FIFA for the 2026 WC.
Orlando and Columbus have already lost their games tonight. Atlanta, Houston, and LA are also in close contests. Huge if the Union could get three tough competitors out of the running on their side of the country if Charleston holds their lead. Round of 16 draw at 10am. Best guess for the pods: LA Galaxy San Jose Republic FC Seattle Colorado Houston Dallas SKC Atlanta Miami FC FC Cincinnati Chicago NYRB NE Revs Philly DC
The #USOC2017 Fourth Round is complete! Here are the regional groupings for Thursday’s Round of 16 Draw...— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) June 15, 2017
Interesting that we play the three other teams in our grouping as our next three MLS matches (all home). Pretty good odds that we play DC or NE in consecutive games.