2017 U.S. Open Cup schedule

Game of the Round! Should be one for the ages! Hehehe. Obvious, this is a biased opinion.

How did you know the pairings from the 3rd Round to the 4th Round? Do they try to make the match ups as regional as possible? Is that why in the 4th Round, some MLS teams are matched up against one another (i.e. Red Bulls/NYC FC)?

Going forward, I understand the bracket is already set all the way up to the finals. How is the home field advantage decided in the 5th Round up to the final?

 

When was the last time we had margin as big as this?

 

It was the biggest U.S. Open Cup margin of victory since a First Round game on June 12, 2007 that was Atlanta Silverbacks 10-0 Azzurri (at Atlanta, I'm specifying that because Americans normally put home clubs second).

 

Michigan Bucks
1 - 2
Saint Louis FC

half-time:
(0 - 2)

match details:

13'
0 - 1
S. Sebastian Dalgaard

16'
0 - 2
S. Sebastian Dalgaard

46'
F. Francis Atuahene
1 - 2

 

FT
FC Cincinnati
1 - 0
Louisville City FC

FT
Jacksonville Armada FC
0 - 1
Charleston Battery

AET
Rochester Rhinos
2 - 1
GPS Omens

FT
Miami FC
2 - 0
Tampa Bay Rowdies

FT
North Carolina FC
4 - 1
Charlotte Independence

FT
Reading United A.C.
0 - 3
Harrisburg City Islanders

FT
Chicago FC United
0 - 1
Christos FC

 

AET
Tulsa Roughnecks FC *
0 - 0
San Antonio FC

FT
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
1 - 2
OKC Energy FC

 

Free food and beer?! It turned out to be a great pre-game celebration because congratulations to North Carolina FC on advancing to next round and I think they're gonna host the match against the Dynamo so here's to North Carolina continuing to win and host the games!

 

late scores last nite 2017 LH USOC

FT
Los Angeles Wolves
0 - 1
Orange County SC

FT
Phoenix Rising FC
1 - 2
San Francisco Deltas

FT
Sacramento Republic FC
2 - 0
Reno 1868 FC

 

Here's the latest update of my ever popular* league ELO rankings.

*not at all true

Some basic info, for those who want it:
1. These rankings use all USOC games since 1996 to determine the relative strengths of the leagues. The names used below just represent the current names of leagues at that level. In reality the leagues have changed around a lot, and what is now NASL used to be USL D-1, and the A League before it. Similarly for all the other levels.
2. There are bound to be mistakes back in the history, but the beauty of ELO rankings is that they are self-correcting over time, so the "actual strengths" probably aren't too far off from this right now, even with errors in older competitions.
3. The actual results used are as follows:
a. Game finishes in regulation with a result: goals scored
b. Game finishes after extra time with a result: goals scored
c. Game goes to penalty kicks: goals scored before the penalty kicks. The game is "recorded" as a tie.
4. A home team has its rating raised by 100, and the change in ratings for each of the teams is calculated based on the result of the game, and the relative difference between the two ratings. This means that currently, we would expect an NASL team hosting an MLS team to be slightly in favor of the MLS team, but not significantly so.
5. The average change in score for any individual game is about 7. This means that one league goes up by 7, and the other down by 7.
6. There is no way to account for the fact that many MLS teams play 'B' or 'C' sides in the first few rounds they participate. I can only base it on the teams fielded.

2017 Note: Based on earlier discussions, I will keep NASL and USL separate for this year. Once we see how sanctioning for these leagues goes, a final decision about their future representation in these numbers will be made.

Round	MLS	NASL	USL	PDL	NPSL	USASA/etc
2016	1798	1609	1575	1371	1289	1358
2017 R1	1798	1609	1575	1365	1298	1354
2017 R2	1798	1603	1608	1363	1284	1344
2017 R3	1798	1623	1606	1341	1284	1348

3 of 4 NASL teams advanced this round, all of those beating USL teams on their way, pushing NASL ahead of USL in score (just by a bit). USL is able to maintain their overall score by beating amateur teams. No PDL teams remain, 2 were eliminated by USL teams, and one by USASA team Christos FC. Christos FC is the only remaining amateur team left in the tournament. MLS teams enter next round, but unless there are a bunch of upsets, I wouldn't expect the ratings to change by all that much.

 

Thanks, it might be interesting to see if there has been any trend over the last 5 years...a question I have...
has the NPSL and USL had any improving head to head results vs. the PDL and NASL?

 

I don't currently have any sort of accounting of head to head results. I do have a chart of sorts of their historical ratings.

NPSL has overall been declining in rating since 2012, but that could just be an overall correction effect. Since all leagues started at 1500 rating, and NPSL didn't have significant numbers of teams in the competition until the last several years, their quite likely wasn't a reflection of their actual place/skill until recently. They've been hovering pretty close to 1300 rating for the last 3 years.

PDL has overall stayed quite consistent over the last 5 years, with a rating in the upper 1300s. The only exception to this is the year NPSL and USASA added a bunch of teams.

USL has had a very slight (if any) upward trend over the last 5 years, while NASL has had a very slight (if any) downward trend over the same period. The change between these two is the most likely of any of the above to have any real weight behind it, in my opinion. Though I do feel it important to repeat that any such trend is a very minor one. The two leagues haven't ever really been particularly far apart.

Of the most interest to me is the widening gap between MLS and the rest of the pack. For the last two years (2015 and 2016), MLS has had their largest gap in ratings between them and the next highest league.

 

I remember when MLS was just starting up, the local clubs had their 'Open' games televised in their local TV markets. Today, with so many new channels and 'sequels' to both local and national sports channels (i.e. MSG 2, YES, NESN, ESPN2, FS2, Fox Dallas, Fox Arizona, The Ocho: ESPN 8. I just can't get enough of it.) not to mention countless repeats of matches in all these channels, you would think they would televise these matches... at least in tape delay.

 

My mistake... I was definitely over generalizing then. Back then I was a D.C. United fan and because of their initial success, their cup matches were televised even over here in NY and because it was NY, I remember they televised MetroStars' cup matches as well. Maybe it was just these few clubs and I was assuming all cities and towns were like this as well.

 

I was at the game, Sounders used 5 S2 players and Timbers used 9 T2 players. Neither team took the game very seriously. Disappointing.

 

Here's the latest update of my ever popular* league ELO rankings.

*not at all true

Some basic info, for those who want it:
1. These rankings use all USOC games since 1996 to determine the relative strengths of the leagues. The names used below just represent the current names of leagues at that level. In reality the leagues have changed around a lot, and what is now NASL used to be USL D-1, and the A League before it. Similarly for all the other levels.
2. There are bound to be mistakes back in the history, but the beauty of ELO rankings is that they are self-correcting over time, so the "actual strengths" probably aren't too far off from this right now, even with errors in older competitions.
3. The actual results used are as follows:
a. Game finishes in regulation with a result: goals scored
b. Game finishes after extra time with a result: goals scored
c. Game goes to penalty kicks: goals scored before the penalty kicks. The game is "recorded" as a tie.
4. A home team has its rating raised by 100, and the change in ratings for each of the teams is calculated based on the result of the game, and the relative difference between the two ratings. This means that currently, we would expect an NASL team hosting an MLS team to be slightly in favor of the MLS team, but not significantly so.
5. The average change in score for any individual game is about 7. This means that one league goes up by 7, and the other down by 7.
6. There is no way to account for the fact that many MLS teams play 'B' or 'C' sides in the first few rounds they participate. I can only base it on the teams fielded.

2017 Note: Based on earlier discussions, I will keep NASL and USL separate for this year. Once we see how sanctioning for these leagues goes, a final decision about their future representation in these numbers will be made.

Round	MLS	NASL	USL	PDL	NPSL	USASA/etc
2016	1798	1609	1575	1371	1289	1358
2017 R1	1798	1609	1575	1365	1298	1354
2017 R2	1798	1603	1608	1363	1284	1344
2017 R3	1798	1623	1606	1341	1284	1348
2017 R4	1787	1632	1609	1341	1284	1347

2 USL teams, and 1 NASL team survive the round. Most of the change this round is from Miami FC winning in Orlando. PDL, NPSL, and USASA ratings will remain the same throughout the remainder of the tournament.