2004 Lhusoc (r)

Discussion in 'US Open Cup' started by chn71, Oct 15, 2003.

  1. chn71

    chn71 Member

    Jul 23, 2000
    Elyria, Oh
    Just as the 2003 cup ends, the 2004 LHUSOC is about to begin.....

    http://www.mdcvsa.org/nationalcup.html

    The qualifying tournament for the USASA clubs in DC/Virginia is scheduled to begin on the weekend of November 1-2, with the draw to be held sometime between Oct. 20-22.
     
  2. GIO17

    GIO17 Member

    Nov 29, 1998
    AH "BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!" :)

    Let's go and do this thing again Next year.
     
  3. chn71

    chn71 Member

    Jul 23, 2000
    Elyria, Oh
    Yes, I can't wait to begin the 2004 USASA Open Cup Qualifying Results Scavenger Hunt!

    speaking of such....

    DC/Virginia USASA qualifying
    First Round
    Dynamos FC v. FC Beserkers
    LCC International v. Virginia United
    Matches are to be playes on or before Nov. 16

    Dynamos FC advanced to the Region I qualifiers last year

    Also, the Illinois website has the draw posted for their USASA Amateur & O-30 cup qualifiers, so I figure the Open Cup draw should be up there soon as well.
     
  4. nyrmetros

    nyrmetros Member

    Feb 7, 2004
    Will any of these crucial games be on tv?
    LOL :)
     
  5. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    YeeHAW!

    I LOVE it! Year-round soccer in the US!

    Thank you so much for remembering that it starts this early!

    I seem to remember that Massachusetts started theirs around this time as well, but were a LOT harder to track down.
     
  6. GIO17

    GIO17 Member

    Nov 29, 1998
    Chn71. Isn't that already the Semi-Finals and the Final round to qualify for the Region I tourny on the DC/Virginia website?

    Just curious if you can find that out.
     
  7. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    As a first little assist, I found the new List of State Associations page on the new USASA website. Rhode Island is still and forever a dead link, but New Mexico now has a website, and a few of the others are looking a little better.

    It might just be a solid starting point for seeking out info this year.
     
  8. chn71

    chn71 Member

    Jul 23, 2000
    Elyria, Oh
    Yeah, they only had four teams enter, which was the same amount as last year. I referred to it as the first round instead of semi-finals since calling a round "semi-finals" makes it sound like there where previous rounds.

    I have to dig up the e-mail addy I had for the manager of Green Brian Rebels of Mass., perhaps they have an idea when Mass. qualifying starts.
     
  9. chn71

    chn71 Member

    Jul 23, 2000
    Elyria, Oh
  10. chn71

    chn71 Member

    Jul 23, 2000
    Elyria, Oh
    First two teams for the Region I finals are set

    DC/Virginia
    First Round
    Nov. 16 Dymanos FC 3-1 FC Beserkers
    Nov. 16 LCC International 3-1 Virginia United
    Final
    Nov. 23 LCC International 3-2 Dynamos FC

    Massachusetts
    Nov. 23 Boston Olympiakos 4-2 Green Brian Rebels

    Deadline for clubs to enter the Maryland qualifiers was Dec. 6, so they should be posting the draw sometime soon.
     
  11. GIO17

    GIO17 Member

    Nov 29, 1998
    It's going to be interesting what the A-League is going to do for Qualifying because they are down three clubs from the Western Conference as the Cincinnati Riverhawks, Indiana Blast have moved down to the PSL & I believe that the El Paso Patriots have shutdown. All there is left in the West is Portland, Seattle, Milwaukee & Minnesota.

    I know I'm probably going ahead of myself at the moment who knows if anyone is going to get promoted to A-League but still I think there should be some form of promotion or expansion clubs to help fill it up. And I'm sorry. No we should not allow Calgary, Vancouver or the new Edmonton club to be a part of the US Open Cup Qualifying.

    Hopefully something will happen.
     
  12. jschulz

    jschulz New Member

    Jul 22, 2003
    Soldier Field
    If they do qualifing(sp) like last year then Portland and Seattle play for one spot and Minnesota and Milwaukee got for the other.

    In the East Charsleton would qualify for being champions. That would leave 5 US based teams in the East to qualify. That would be Interesting to see what Format is used.
     
  13. SJJ

    SJJ Member

    Sep 20, 1999
    Royal Oak, MI, USA
    Club:
    Michigan Bucks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was almost going to wonder if qualifying may be out, if you take MLS (10), A-League (10), PSL (12), PDL (8), USASA (4). [Interesting that the United States has exactly 32 pro teams.] First round would be the 12 amateur teams versus the PSL, winners join the 20 MLS/AL teams in a round of 32. (I know I've expanded the LHUSOC to 44 teams, may be a bit much.)

    To get to 32, how about MLS (10), A-League (6), PSL (4), PDL (8), USASA (4).
     
  14. GIO17

    GIO17 Member

    Nov 29, 1998
    So SJJ what you are saying is that in the PDL the top two in the table automatically move on from Qualifying into the 1st round? Two clubs per Conference move ahead? Not a bad idea. I wouldn't mind it. Makes it more fare I guess than top four and two 2nd place best finishes.

    I think what the A-League should do is combine all the clubs and make one table for Qualifying. See if the four Western clubs can try to putin two or three clubs into the mix.

    PSL clubs. That's a tough decision I guess. But we shall see what US Soccer is gonna do.
     
  15. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Actually, this looks perfect!

    The number of teams involved isn't really relevant. What matters more is whether MLS will schedule the breaks in, and keeping the number of rounds to a minimum.

    This schedule you've proposed actually REDUCES the number of rounds. It brings in all MLS teams at the point where last year it only brought in a couple. MLS should have no trouble scheduling around that.

    The only question I see is whether to stretch out the number of rounds so that the tournament runs as long. In '03, until the quarterfinals there was around 3 weeks between rounds. The arrangment you've proposed allows them to put a full month between rounds.

    I honestly don't see any problems with what you've suggested. I've been wanting to see more PDL teams in for some time, since there's so many of them.

    'Course, they'll probably do something much more complex, like what GIO suggested over on the other thread that he's trying to move this discussion to;)
     
  16. GIO17

    GIO17 Member

    Nov 29, 1998
    I'll move my post in here.

    Actually I should have written it in this thread, but I was so happy of this idea I made a new one.
    --------------------------------------------------

    Everyone bare with me. I think I just had a brain storm. And I'm going to use SJJ's idea in the 2004 LHUSOC thread as well.

    O.k. Here it is. I hope everyone will like it if not make up one for your own.

    USASA will have their annual 4 Region winners.

    PDL will have winners and runners up in all four conferences in Qualifying

    PSL has 12 clubs this season so allow all of them to compete in Qualifying

    A-League will have five groups ( 3 in the East & 2 in the West) for Goal Aggregate Qualifying

    MLS all 10 clubs qualify.

    O.k. here it goes. Round 1 will have the Regional champions of the USASA against the PDL's four 2nd place finishers of all four conferences. The four PDL Conference winners will get a bye into the 2nd Round.

    2nd round will have 8 out of the 12 PSL clubs who qualified with the four PDL clubs. Winners of the 1st round will join those clubs from PDL & PSL in the 2nd round.

    3rd Round will have the A-League champion (Charleston Battery), two MLS clubs (Columbus & Dallas finished last in their conferences in 2003) and the A-League clubs that qualified for the remaining 5 spots, will be drawn with Round 2 winners.

    4th round will be the remaining 8 MLS clubs against the 3rd round winners.

    Then Quarters, Semis & US Open Cup Final.

    So there is my idea. If anyone else thinks of something different go ahead, but I truly believe that this can be a good tournament for 2004 and maybe US Soccer will use it. If not at least I was trying to think of something.
     
  17. ChuckA

    ChuckA New Member

    Apr 4, 2002
    Atlanta, GA
    Does Puerto Rico fit into the equation at all?

    I am just curious. They are a territory of the US. But, I think I read that they had their own federation.

    I think that the entire MLS and A-League should enter the tournament at the same time. Then, use what ever numbers it takes to get the tournament symetrical.
     
  18. JG

    JG Member+

    Jun 27, 1999
  19. Kevin Lindstrom

    Oct 28, 2003
    Dallas, TX
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think they're out bc of having their own fed.

    As to the other comment about the Canadian teams - no, they have no place in the USOC. Canada has the Voyagers Cup.
     
  20. monster

    monster Member

    Oct 19, 1999
    Hanover, PA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  21. SJJ

    SJJ Member

    Sep 20, 1999
    Royal Oak, MI, USA
    Club:
    Michigan Bucks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, I never said how to get the eight PDL clubs, but I guess it's OK to take two from each conference. The only problem is that the conferences are unbalanced: Central (18), Eastern (15), Southern (13), Western (9). [That's why last year, with six teams, the Central and East got the two extra bids.]

    You could take the two Colorado teams from the Central and put them in the West for qualifying purposes, which would balance out the regions a little bit more.

    (Off the topic, if you want to combine the 11 MPSL teams into the West qualifying, that would be worthy of two full bids. Right now, MPSL teams try to qualify through the USASA route.)

    But I guess I'm just quibbling with numbers. (I'm even guessing that the PDL can get eight bids.)

    One last thing about PDL qualifying: it's getting too based on which teams you draw in qualifying. Playing only four qualifying games in an 18-team conference leaves a lot to the schedule-maker: you could blast a minnow to get full points. The USL tried to negate this somewhat by applying a max-of-3 in goals for-against-difference in the tie-breakers.

    I'd like to devise some kind of group-based qualifying for the PDL, where you play everyone in your group. For example, have four- or five-team groups (which would cut 55 teams to about 13 or 14), then have some play-off round: Central (4 or 5 groups), Eastern (4), Southern (3), Western (2).
     
  22. NORML

    NORML Member+

    Aug 9, 2002
    Lake Wobegon, MN
    Club:
    NSC Minnesota Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The initial A-league matches have been set.

    2004 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Qualification Pairings/Schedule

    Richmond v Virginia Beach
    Fri, April 30 @ Richmond; Sat, May 1 @ Virginia Beach

    Portland v Seattle
    Sat, May 1 @ Portland; Sat, May 15 @ Seattle

    Atlanta v Charleston
    Sat, May 8 @ Atlanta; Sat, May 15 @ Charleston

    Rochester v Syracuse
    Fri, May 14 @ Syracuse; Sat, May 22 @ Rochester

    Milwaukee v Minnesota
    Fri, May 21 @ Minnesota; Sat, May 22 @ Milwaukee

    http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/66998.html

    Should be some great games. The western conference matches were already gonna be exciting, but now adding Open Cup to them will be crazy.
     
  23. JBG - Bribe Taker

    Mar 17, 2000
    Mt. Pleasant, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    But, to add to the confusion, here's how the A-League qualifying REALLY works:

    From the USL Home Office: http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/66998.html

    Which means Charleston and Minnesota are automatically through to the next round anyway. Only Atlanta and Milwaukee are really fighting for a berth in these 2 matchups. And if Charleston and Minnesota win their aggregate series, then spots open up. And if my logic is correct, it seems inevitable that 3 teams will lose their series and still get in.

    Try explaining that to the unwashed masses.
     
  24. GIO17

    GIO17 Member

    Nov 29, 1998
    Well all I can say is as crazy as it sounds about the A-League Qualifying, at least one part is out. Now we have to wait for US Soccer to announce the whole format.

    If I was Minnesota & Charleston. I would lose the aggregate because either way they will automatically join in the 2004 USOC.

    Not saying it will happen, but I would think that they wouldn't have a problem with it. No one wants to back into qualifying for a place in the USOC, but still at least those two have it easy.
     
  25. JBG - Bribe Taker

    Mar 17, 2000
    Mt. Pleasant, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    All the A-League USOC qualifiers also double as regular season matches so no one will be sand bagging it, which is a good thing.
     

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