I knew it! It does pain me though, just a little, that a slightly above average Bigsoccer poster would not have made that incredibly meaningless error.
I will say that the teams' attitudes can make a bigger difference than the players on the field. When the Burn played Virginia Beach in the third round, the Mariners fought and showed fire and guts, like they really wanted to win the game more than anything else. This was their shot at glory and they played like it. And until the whistle blew at the end of 90 minutes, they were a dangerous team. You didn't ever get the impression that the 2-0 lead that the Burn had was all that safe. But last night, the Burn played the Rapids, who I know have better players than the Mariners, and it was completely different. You could tell that they didn't really want to be there, and aside from a couple of golden opportunities, they didn't really show much. After the Burn went up 2-0, it was almost like they were just killing time until they could get on the bus and fly back to Denver. After the Burn scored again to make it 3-0, the Rapids gave up any semblance of playing soccer and were apparently more interested in taking cheap shots at a league opponent, since any red card suspensions earned wouldn't have to be served until the 2005 Open Cup.
This leads me to wonder -- how will LA Chivas approach the Open Cup? Actually, since this has been up a bit, I'll edit it -- I meant to say "It'll be interesting to see how LA Chivas approach the OC next year."
[sarcasm]Headline - "Dirty Scummy Mexican Team Wins American Trophy That Nobody Cares ABout" [/sarcasm]
Off topic: It used to not bother me, but if I see one more ESPN talking head make a comment about about how 'an actual goal was scored in a soccer match' or sound generally annoyed at having to read a soccer highlight, I may just have to punch somebody in the mouth, preferrably the aforementioned talking head. Sorry...that just irks me.
That will be interesting re: Chivas and the LHUSOC (as opposed to The OC, the quality Fox TV program on which the Chivas owner may or may not have an opinion). Will they choose to participate at all? Will the league try to force them to play in the tournament? What if they win the treble within the first year or two of their existence? If Galvan Rey shoots at an open goal in the middle of the woods, does it still miss? So many things to consider...
If they're an MLS team, I assume they'll be eligible and will participate. Their predominant ethnicity will make them no different from other teams that have played in the Open Cup recently like Wisla from the Chicago area and the Milwaukee Bavarians (who have some guys who aren't Bavarian, obviously, but you get the idea) or the Greek-Americans, whatever. The Open Cup is, and should be, open. Whether Chivas will take it seriously since their fan base of choice is more used to Cup competitions being important, or if they want to stick it to the Gringos, I don't know. It may be they'll concentrate on the MLS season first and foremost, like most teams.
I don't think Chivas fans are used to cup competitions being important. Mexico has no such competition.
But they are, on a whole, more familiar with the concept than their USian counterparts. Mexico has had cup competitions in the past (as recently as the 90's, IIRC), but, like much of Latin America, it didn't really stick.
2-0 richmond another upset in the making. wow four a-league and four MLS teams in the quarters this years tourney has gotten a little more interesting.
And it's a final: 2-1 Richmond. So the A-League goes 4-2 in this round against MLS and 4-4 overall so far (2 A-League teams lost to MLS competition in the previous round).
See, when I said it wouldn't be interesting if it was all-MLS in the later rounds, I got ripped by some jagov from overseas.
Yes, but in his defense, he is a jack-off Amazing job by the A-League squads. Is this a case of: a) Some sort of MSL B-Team/A-League pairty; b) A-League playing up a notch c) MLS squads not giving a squat.
D) All of the above. Mostly b and c, but frankly, in any given year the A-League teams have had a shot if they came to play. I noticed that the Rapids didn't start some of their bigger starters for this game and it hurt them against Dallas. Also, venue matters (unless you're playing KC - then you're just going to get your butt handed to you...)
I agree. This year, MLS teams can't afford to rest all their best starters and beat the A-League teams, because probably 2/3 of an A-League starting lineup could play or has played in MLS. Next year, after expansion and possibly reserve teams, MLS will roll in USOC. In fact, DC looks like it played their whole first line starting lineup, save Rimando - which cost them dearly. They played a better lineup than Dallas will see on Saturday. Is the USOC run over for Dallas then? I sure hope not. I would sacrifice a couple regular season wins to knock KC out of the Cup, and maybe go on and win it. I hope Clarke takes it seriously, they seemed to the way they came out in the second half and destroyed the crapids.
So you're saying there's 264 MLS-quality players in the A-League? (2/3 of 11 x 16) I'm not sure that's right. I don't know, I haven't looked at the numbers. But I'm skeptical that there's 264.
OK, maybe not 2/3 of a starting lineup for every team in the A-League. But for those four A-League teams left in the USOC, and a couple elminated already, sure. I'm not saying those guys would start on a MLS squad, but they could spot-start, sub, or make a reserve squad. If MLS adds reserve squads, they are going to have to come up with something like 150-plus players. Right now, A-League quality overall is not MLS quality. But as they proved this week, they can win on any given day. And the way some MLS teams have stumbled through the first half of the season (my Burn included), these four A-League teams left could hold their own in MLS right now.
When does the Open Cup schedule come out? It seems like poor planning that teams have a slew of games and then one more thrown in. I realize that three separate entities are involved, but could they attempt to communicate to better the tournament even the merest degree? Or do they at this clustermuck is the result? The MLS teams are seem to care about the league over the cup as has been shown (although the A-League teams maybe more inspired by the financial reward then the MLS clubs). Or maybe is it just presumption on the part of the MLS coaches. It looked like the most starters played in the Dallas-Colorado game, where neither team would presume victory. I will flog myself for typing MSL, even by mistake. At least I didn't call it "the MSL"
They set the dates for this year's tournament on January 29. The problem, kind of, is USASA qualifying. The amateur teams can't really get their qualifying over much before Memorial Day. Then they have to get six rounds and then the final in, while trying to avoid too much fixture congestion in the summer months and into the fall. It's not happened yet, but if a PDL team was to keep winning past the point where their college players were due back on campus, I don't know what they'd do. I don't know what else they could do, really. I tried to think of this the other day - a way that you could say "all 10 MLS teams (or 12 next year) are going to come into the US Open Cup in the same spot, and they're all going to play at home on this particular Saturday (to help attendance by pre-scheduling)," but you can't do that, either. Who are they going to play? Teams that likely have their own league fixtures already set up, most of which are already on weekends? I have absolutely no solutions in mind, unless the Pope jacks around with the calendar again and somehow gives us more dates to work with. If you have a plan, I'm all ears. Because I'm fairly sure everybody has racked their brains as well.