2008 U.S. Open Cup [R]

from what Ive been told by the Battery FO is that all four teams place a sealed enveloped bid before the semis take place. The two teams that dont advance will have their envelops torn up and the match will go to the highest of the final two teams. There will be no rebid for the final, so I imagine that no decision has been made yet.

 

The interesting thing about bidding for this year's final is that all 4 teams know for certain whether they'd be hosting an MLS team or not. If an MLS team wins the right to host the final, they'll definitely have a USL-1 team coming to the stadium. If one of the USL teams is hosting, then they can definitely look forward to a visit from an MLS team.


With all the extra soccer going on in DC and NE (Superliga last month, and now the Champions League upcoming), I wouldn't be surprised if they put in a low bid knowing that a USL-1 team would be the opponent in the final. It's going to be tough to get a crowd in either of those 2 places. Meanwhile, the USL teams ought to be able to sell a lot of tickets for a USOC final against an MLS team. (Although maybe the thought of seeing an MLS team in Seattle no longer holds the luster it used to.)

 

Yeah, we should just lose ALL of our matches so we don't have to worry about playing in all these pesky tournaments....

Kind of like....RedBull NY a.k.a. The Superclub!

 

If you look closely to the FC website, you will see that there is a sentence that states, " (Schedule Subject to Change) "

I see both Joe Public FC & New England Revolution working this one out. Especially since the Revs are in the process of a Quadruple Trophy season.

 

Steven Goff has a paragraph about when the Open Cup final will be.

 

Sounds like we won't hear about the final until after the semifinals are played. The two teams (and maybe even FSC) will need to work together to find an acceptable date that doesn't lead to too much more fixture congestion.

On the plus side, that'll give the host an extra week or two to sell tickets to the final. This could be one of those rare occasions where a date rescheduling actually leads to a bigger crowd.

 

The USOC will announce who will host the final, today. According to Prost Amerika, http://www.prostamerika.com/Sounders2008.html, this was confirmed by a spokesman for the USSF.

 

Seattle will host the Final if they advance.

http://www.prostamerika.com/Sounders2008.html

 

You could have just done this and saved everybody the trouble of clicking the link:

"The US Soccer Federation today announced the potential venues for the US Open Cup Final. If Seattle beat Charleston Battery on August 12th, the final will be coming to QWest Field no matter who provides the opposition. If DC United win, the final will be heading to QWest Field on September 3rd (kick off 8pm). If New England are victorious, QWest Field will see the final on September 15th. Kick off would be at 7pm. Charleston Battery would host New England on the 22nd but would have to travel to the nation's capital on September 3rd to play DC."

 

http://ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_8683525.html

Links are good.

 

Here's another one...http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=561146&sec=us&root=us&cc=5901

 

Well, this is actually an interesting final, for once.

 

This year: "Go Battery!"

Next year: "Go MLS!"*


*=I reserve the right to change that sentiment should FC Dallas make the Final.

 

I figure I'll wear my Charleston Battery Ted Chronopolous jersey while watching the final Sept. 3.

 

And United win this one by a score of 2-1 to capture the Lamar Hunt trophy for a second time.