Big time congratulations to all the teams that have won this week! USL 2 Richmond Kickers 1 - 0 LA Galaxy Harrisburg City Islanders 1 - 0 DC United USL 1 Charleston Battery 1 - 0 Houston Dynamo Good luck to the RailHawks. I hope you can add to these great results! Man, I love this tournament!
I guess I left out the Sounders. My bad. Good luck to Seattle as well. Man, I would LOVE a USL team to bring home the US Open Cup this year!
Sure it sound great, but lets be honest, the MLS teams just didn't really care enough. Especially this year. I've never seen such widespread apathy from the MLS teams.
I don't care why the MLS teams lost. It's all the same. And, to be fair to the USL sides that won, the only MLS team to actually play their reserves was Houston. Both LA and DC had first team players playing during these game. This is the way the tournament has always been played. Rarely does an MLS team start it's full A-team in this tournament. With league games sandwiching tournament games, coaches sometimes have to pick priorities, or maybe they're just a little too cocky and feel they can win with an inferior product against a lower division side. I don't care. The scoreline doesn't say who played. It just says who won.
DC and LA did not play their first team. When DC starts Jay Nolly in goal, you've just played the Reserve squad. Even RSL beat them. But its true, a win is a win. Congrats to the USL teams that took this seriously and made the MLS teams look silly. Imagine Yallop explaining who beat them to Becks this week? LOL My displeasure here is that MLS is putting nails in the coffin of USOC validity when they don't come with their A-game.
The Chicago Fire usually take this tournament seriously and I assume they will field their first team this Sunday against Carolina.
LA Galaxy's starting line-up Steve Cronin Ante Jazic Ty Harden Abel Xavier Quavas Kirk (Pete Vagenas 46') Kyle Martino (Alan Gordon 46') Kelly Gray Josh Tudela Mike Randolph (Troy Roberts 76') Gavin Glinton Edson Buddle (Landon Donovan 46') That may not be their best starting 11, but it's definitely not a reserve side. DC United's starting lineup Jay Nolly Marc Burch Bobby Boswell (Devon McTavish 45) Domenic Mediate Stephen deRoux Brian Caroll (Josh Gros 45) Clyde Simms Rod Dyachenko (Justin Moose 65) Jeff Carrolll Brad North (Mira Mupier 58) Nicholas Addlery Again, not the best 11 for DC, but I can count at least 8 or 9 regular first team players. No excuses. Is the FA Cup invalidated when Manchester United plays it's youngsters and reserves most of the tournament (which they do quite regularly)? I'm not meaning to sound argumentative. I just want to make sure these wins aren't played off because of some lame, "we didn't really care about this tournament anyway so we played our scrubs" excuse. Players want to win. Coaches want to win. LA and DC wanted to win. They just didn't.
Sorry to keep beating the drum, but LA field 5 non-starters for their match. DC has about 6 non-starters. Whatever makes you happy.
Well that's not really fair is it? To downgrade the win because they didn't field first 11... I mean, maybe just assume that DC's reserves are only as good as USL 1... They still lost to a USL 2 team! So what does that tell you? From the articles I read, it sounded to me like DC just weren't there when it came to finishing, and that's why they lost... But I'm still happy Harrisburg won... (they're my local team... w00t)
I'm pissed that MLS doesn't care about the USOC, but I am thrilled that the City Islanders and the other USL1 and USL2 advanced, especially at these MLS team's expense.
Well you would think it would be a wake-up call right? "Hello! You've just lost to a team who's mascot is a Tiki-mask with blonde hair!"
I think you are refering to the Carling Cup and really it is Aresnal that play most of their youngest players and reserves, Manchester does to an extent but you can often see star first teamers in there as well (Rooney and so on). Now United did skip the FA Cup for the WCC about 7 years ago when they were the defending title holders which caused an uproar and claims of them invalidating the FA Cup. But on another note comparing the FA Cup and the US Open Cup is not a good stance really, and I don't mean that in a Eurosnobish way because I enjoy the Open Cup and I have some friends that have played in it for pro and semi-pro/am sides. The FA Cup tends to often has a lot of meaning to a club be it a Sunday team non-league side or an EPL team, most English youth players dream of the Cup Final game winner in the 90th minute. Some teams view it as something as vital if not more vital than their EPL place (because it can let some teams into European Cups that previously wouldn't have made it in the table). I wish the Open Cup had this type of meaning to US Soccer because nothing is more fun to watch than a lower league side taking it to an upper level team in a once off match and playing as if their lives depended on it.
i think while man u plays rooney and co for the f.a. cup games it is indisputable to say they don't field a weaker team than say against chelsea, it wouldnt make sense to, likewise is true with the open cup, why would the superior sides risk injuries and valuable playing time for the youngsters when the other players can get the job done, does that make it any less shocking when they lose? no it just kicks ass for the usl.
Speaking of Man United, look who they lost to in the Carling Cup this past season. I actually felt my immune system weaken from that result.
Well the Railhawks just beat the Chicago Fire starters pretty much. To be fair, this occurs elsewhere as well, such as the FA Cup. It's just that when the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea do it, it is against third or fourth division sides like Rochdale or Milton Keynes who are around the 80th-best sides in their country, a much bigger gap than between MLS (say Chicago is 10th) and USL-1 (say Carolina are 20th) for example. So they can field their reserves cause their reserves should win easily. I hope we still have a final with at least one MLS team. You can't have miracles, which make for great drama in today's sports world, without a giant in the final. I think one of Dallas, New England, Colorado, or Chivas will still make it to the final (3 of those have never won a trophy of any kind in their history) and all will be well with the US Open Cup on that front. Richmond Kickers @ Carolina Railhawks FC Dallas @ Charleston Battery Colorado Rapids @ Seattle Sounders or CD Chivas USA Harrisburg City Islanders @ New England Revolution
I really don't get why people keep talking about how MLS doesn't care and didn't put in their A teams...Guess what they always do that and USL always loses. This year they aren't. The only way this tourny will become something is for the USl teams to win. Eventually MLS will have no choice but to bring their A game. After a few USl champs the MLS would have a nightmare situation a second viable league to compete for D1 status.
Come on guys, its great the USL teams are winning, but most MLS teams are still not taking this seriously and they are definitely not playing the A teams. When you are DC United and you play Jay Nolly in goal, you just sent the B team.
You have no idea about MLS if you think that DC fielded 8 or 9 starters. There are exactly TWO regular starters in that lineup ......... Boswell and Brian Carroll. Two. Not 8 or 9. Sure, it's great for the USL team to win. But trying to take out of it that MLS teams are cocky and that the level of play between the USL and MLS is roughly equal, based upon these games, is just about as dumb as dumb can be. 3 of the teams that lost, Houston, DC and LA, all played reserve teams, but not because they were cocky ........ but because they all have Superliga games coming up. Plus, DC has Copa Sudamericana, while the Galaxy have a handful of extra "Beckham" games to play. They simply can't afford to keep playing first teams again and again and again. the wins for USL are nice, but again, the inferences that you have drawn from the wins are silly.
Relax, bro. I know it hurts to lose. Please understand my meaning. First team does not equal starters. It means players that see time with the senior side in regular season MLS matches, and with that in mind, there are about 8 'first teamers' in that DC side. Second, I never implied that USL was equal with MLS. That would be silly. I merely implied that these USL sides earned their victories over superior opponents by beating them fair and square. It was the USL teams that won, rather than the MLS teams that lost because they didn't care, which may or may not be true. Like I said earlier...the players wanted to win and the coaches wanted to win. They were just outplayed on the day. Here. MLS is better than USL. DC United is better than the Richmond Kickers. Is that better? It doesn't change the result.
Anytime. When I see an article with good points that I agree with, I figure I should share the wealth.
I think the USL is better than the MLS and this trend will only continue. These MLS teams are an overhyped joke and they play with no heart. All the heart is in the USL right now. All of the MLS teams that lost played a mixture of reserves and their best guys, including Galaxy who played many starters including Landon for an entire half against USL2 Richmond. Yet they could not score, they don't have the stomach. Most of the teams right now appear to be in turmoil and it shows. How can the MLS take itself seriously if they can't compete with what they believe is an "Inferior" league? Are they going to make excuses because they played their backup goalie and a few reserve players? Haha, what a joke! We should have sent the USL to the SuperLiga this year, at least they would have put it all on the line and given a good match.