England and Scottland both have the FA Cup and League Cup. US could have a League Cup with only professional clubs. (MLS, USL1, and USL2) That would currently create a 30 team cup of professional teams in the US. They could use a knockout competition format. There are no replays in this competition, so all matches ending in a draw after 90 minutes are decided by extra time and, if necessary, penalty kicks. The winner of this cup could get a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and for that reason MLS clubs would care about the competition. It would also give the USL clubs a chance since they too are professional clubs. The US Open Cup would still be competition for soccer teams on all levels in the US to compete for being the US soccer champion.
I could be wrong, but the USOC is the American equivalent to the FA Cup. I believe any team in the FA can participate, be they amateur or pro. The amatuers just don't get very far. Like I said, I could be wrong.
You're not wreng, the US Open cup is exactly that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_Hunt_U.S._Open_Cup
I like the idea, especially since MLS clubs have to qualify for the US Open Cup (which I still think is crazy). But would that put too much strain on clubs? I mean, the regular season, MLS Cup, USOC, summer national team tourneys and other friendlies and now this? That and what happens if a USL team wins it? Do we send Portland to play the real Chivas? I see that ending very poorly.
The league cup in England is a huge waste of time, the top teams play reserves, and they would be better off eliminating it. It's a poor idea for the USA, and it's not going to happen here.</thread>
About the only advantage I could see from this is the possibility of allowing all MLS and USL teams in--i.e. it would be a cup TFC, Vancouver, Montreal and Puerto Rico could play for. Otherwise it's just the US Open Cup without the magical and remote possibility of a FC Dallas v Stan's Auto and Tire Oldboys match-up
I'd say the MLS Cup played at the end of the season is the closest we have to a league cup. Except we consider the winner of that our league's champion. It's all topsy-turvy here, because we just like to be different, just because that's what being American is all about, just be different, even if it is inferior. We can't even put the loss column in the right place in the table. It's so ass-backwards when trying to figure points totals, but we have to be different, just because that's the mantra here. Just be different, even if it means having to eat trash. So we're not going to replicate anything Europe has, until we make the Supporters Shield winner our champion, and make the cup competition a cup competition, like it really is, even though we don't like to admit it is, because we just like to pretend our best team is the one that happened to get hot in a couple games at the end; so otherwise everything's out of whack for comparison's sake.
Whilst countries around the world have emulated England's league and cup formats, only Scotland and France have emulated the league cup.
I couldn't agree with you more. Chelsea looked like they were half contemplating throwing out the Carling Cup after they won it. (only half joking)
Would there really be a point to having a league cup here? MLS doesn't have time to shut down for international dates, they have mid-season friendlies, and several teams will be playing in Superliga so I doubt they could have the luxury of cramming another competition into the schedule.
I always thought that having a "league cup" would be a good compromise if/ when the league goes to a single table. By playing a playoff style competition amongst the league teams during the second half of the regular season, using either first half results or last season's results, it would satisfy the implied need for playoffs at the end of the year. This would help spread out the regular season (under the current format, they could play until early november) if they expand the number of games as the number of teams grow. Thus at the end of the season there would be a league champion (supporter's shield), league cup champion, and usoc champion. Of course, this would work best if the league goes single table and the end of season playoffs are scraped.
As the quoted post said, if you want a league cup....just look at the playoffs and pretend that's the league cup. I've said in other threads that if one wanted to they could compare the Supporters Shield* winners (regular season champions) with league championships in Europe, the MLS Cup playoffs to a league cup, and of course there's the US Open Cup... Right there you've got a possible "domestic treble" if you could win all three... Unlike the quoted post however, I don't feel anything is wrong with how we do things. Yes we do things a little different and that's just fine (not "inferior" at all). *and the Supporters Shield trophy is not meaningless...along with the MLS Cup champion, the Supporters Shield winner gets a berth in the CONCACAF Champion's Cup {which in turn gets the CCC winner a berth in the FIFA Club WC, and the CCC runner-up goes to the Copa Sudamericana [and then on to the Copa de Libertadores if they make it far enough? (and then on to the FIFA Club WC?)]}.
well you are in the wrong country go to england if you like seasons without post season playoffs to decide that Champion. or tourdements like champions league where most of the teams are not Champions and last yrs achievements are not put to test cause the league champions dont play playoffs.
sorry i disagree hecck in Europe you really dont have a definitive championship, it supposed to be Champions league but when English teams lose they down play it as not worthy the due. the MLS Cup is THE BONAFIDE Champion for the top tier in the US. like the Superbowl to the NFL the world series for major league baseball etc... my point is its a American tradition and american culture that Soccer (MLS) must adjust to. not the other way around.
A MLS league Cup is needed, Toronto FC are excluded from the US open Cup for obvious reasons, and should be involved in this years MLS superliga, but are not, maybe they should have turned it into a north american cup?
France does as well. Germany has a league cup as well, though it's a pre-season tournament involving the top 5 teams plus the cup winner from the previous season.
And the Premiership is THE BONAFIDE Championship for the top tier in England. In America you don't really have a definitive championship, it's supposed to be the Concacaf Champions Cup but when American teams lose they downplay it as not 'worthy the due' (sorry couldn't correct that one as I don't know what it means).
Billionaire investors. It's not axiomatic that Toronto be excluded from the Open Cup. A second domestic cup competition would dilute the Open Cup 'product' (if you will) and I think we'd all like to see the Open Cup grow in importance, not the opposite. It seems the priority for MLS/US Soccer should be a better Open Cup and a more compelling Concacaf Champions Cup format rather than creating additional tournaments. I'd agree with NebraskaAddick, I've always though of the MLS Cup playoffs as our League Cup too.
Yes, It is "axiomatic that Toronto be excluded from the Open Cup".....because it's the (Lamar Hunt) U.S. Open Cup. And, are you sure you agree with NebraskaAddick?....because even though he was first to mention the MLS Cup playoffs as similar to a League Cup, he was pretty damn negative about it (inferior was a word he used....denigrating that we "have to be different"). Maybe you meant my post was what you agreed with? <shrugs>
i dunno, not many people seem to really care that much about the USOC, and I can't see a League Cup getting more attention than the USOC.