Will Houston get San Jose's spot in the U.S.O.C. (i.e., get a one round bye like other 2005 MLS playoff teams), or will it be taken by either Kansas City (best overall) or Real Salt Lake (5th in West), with Houston treated as an expansion team? In my opinion the latter is the preferrable option.
Right now Matt I think we have to assume that the Ex-Quakes/Houston club will get the 4th round spot. Since Richmond moved down to USL-2nd Division the Atlanta Silverbacks took their 3rd round spot and the expansion FC Miami of USL-1st Division are in the 2nd round.
I think it is safe to assume Houston will get SJ's spot. They may not be the same team in location and name, but they are in players and coaches and I can't see it any other way.
I agree this scenario is the most likely, but I think the other way would be nice. Starting in the USOC as an expansion team, together with a shield that incorporates "2006" somewhere (whatever the name of the team winds up being) would be a good step toward showing that this Houston team is indeed totally new and that San Jose Earthquakes are merely on hiatus instead of dead.
By the way, do we have confirmation that the 2006 USOC will follow the same format as the 2005 version? Being greedy, I've always hoped that they would expand it to include more teams. Especially more PDL teams.
At the moment Cleazer we don't know, but I will tell you that if you click this link http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/home/115111.html You will see that in the Eastern Conference & Southern Coference there will be three divisions of 5 clubs. Central & Western Conference will be two divisions, so we will have to wait and see what happens. I already sent an e-mail to the PDL committiee to possibly have divisional play count for qualifying for the East & South, then the top three in each division will be fighting for two spots. Best record of the three automatically goes to the 1st round while the other two play a home 'n' home goal aggregate against each other. Of course Ottawa in the New England Division can't play in the US Open Cup so when their four American division opponents play them, Points won or lost will count for the American opponents only. Since the schedule for the USL-1st & 2nd Division are already announced I'm guessing that damned percentage thing again is going to be used.