It's going to be Chi. Fire vs. Charleston Battery in the Final. The beasley boys going head to head proffesionally for the first time. The Fire will win of course. Where is the final being played this year???
I picked KC to win it even though I know LA and Columbus are probably better sides. LA will be exhausted with their road trip they're on and competing in the Concacaf Cup and Peace Cup will wear them out. The Crew also played four more extra games then everybody else in the Champions Cup and no team has repeated in the Open Cup in a long time.
VB Mariners all the way ... How long has it been since Roy Lassiter, Dante Washington and Roland Aguilera all appeared in the same bigsoccer.com thread?
FWSCKEEPER: Just to let you know. The Charleston Battery are not in the US Open Cup this year. Virginia Beach Mariners won the 2nd leg and defeated the Battery on goal differential. 1st time that I have seen it. Amazing.
none of those teams in the poll...The MetroStars are the hottest team in the nation right now and are continuing to dominate. They will bring home their first trophy.
Like you're speculating here, I'll do the same. By the time the 3rd round and mid-July rolls around, the U.S. will be in the Gold Cup. I do believe Arena has stated the Gold Cup is more important than the Confederations Cup. But, if Howard and/or Mathis are in the Confed Cup roster they could be excluded from the Gold Cup roster. I could see Arena taking close to two different squads. Now, if you're referring to one or both being transferred, then yes, they could both be gone. The better bet would be Howard, unless Mathis keeps scoring. In any event, MetroStars would need to worry more about the 4th round, not the 3rd. At this moment they would be my pick to win the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. But, keep an eye on Los Angeles Galaxy. Their results thus far only mean they can't win on the road. Once they get into a groove from playing home games - assuming they can win - they'll be much better as the MLS season rolls along.
Kansas City. I just have this feeling that they're explosive offense may just pull it off. There will definitely not be a repeat of last year's Open Cup debacle with Rochester (or was it Milwaukee?) Either way, I think Kansas City has a potent enough offense and enough drive to just pull it out (unless they start Bo in goal.)
As a huge A-League and Rhinos fans, i will say there is no A-League club that will even make it to the final four this year. Virginia Beach is very good, but compared to MLS clubs their defense will not hold up against a solid MLS attack. Rhinos are also good, but compared to MLS, we will have real hard times scoring 1 or 2 goals vs a MLS defense. Our offense isn't that good, MLS teams have enough skill to score 1 or 2 goals against our defense which is solid, but our offense will have trouple scoring on MLS clubs.
I am seriously looking forward to see how they do against El Paso. I've heard their GM on the SoccerFanatics radio show a couple of times and he's a real gentlemen and a class act. By all accounts Fresno usually quashes the competition they face and now that they're stepping up a level or two it'll be interesting to see how they do. Also, if they win, I might get to go see them play at the HDC v. the Galaxy and I could root them on.