The Best Tournament in the US that Nobody Knows About, OR: Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Time!

It is summer in the US. What does it mean? It means Tournament Time! (Or Schedule Congestion Time, for you glass-half-empty types.) CONCACAF Champions League starts soon and SuperLiga is underway. And my favorite US tournament, the 95-year-old Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, heads into Round 3 this week.

The US Open Cup is very similar to the British FA Cup, in that it can be won by clubs of any level, from amateur up to MLS. This round, Round 3, is significant because up to now it’s been all about qualifying to be one of the final eight lower-division teams that get to play the MLS sides. This round is where MLS gets involved.

(And if you’ve been following the tournament peripherally, you’re thinking, “Wait. My MLS side has already played a couple of US Open Cup games.” Not true. What we’ve seen so far in MLS are “play-in” games among the teams that didn’t qualify last year to go directly into this year’s tournament. Any MLS sides now playing either qualified last year or have made it through this year’s play-in stage and are in the actual tournament.)

If you’re not familiar with the US soccer structure, the hierarchy goes something like this:

MLS
USL-1
USL-2
PDL
Other USASA teams. (I’d say “amateur” teams here, but most PDL sides are also unpaid.)

What this means is that at this point it’s expected that the MLS challengers will be USL-1 sides. For a USL-2 or a PDL side to make it this far is quite an accomplishment. In this Round 3 we have two USL-2 sides — Harrisburg City Islanders and Wilmington Hammerheads — and one PDL side, Ocean City Barons, still in the mix. So good for them.

On the other hand, it’s not at all unusual for the lower-level sides to advance beyond Round 3, because MLS teams don’t always take this tournament seriously. It’s very rare for MLS teams to play their regular starters this early in the competition, especially since the top-tier teams from last year tend to also be involved in other extra-curriculars like SuperLiga or CONCACAF Champions League.

The general feeling in MLS is that US Open Cup is a time to avoid injury to the best players and to give the non-starters a chance to prove themselves. Lower-level sides know this and tend to give these games 100%. Last year the USL-1 sides Charleston Battery and Seattle Sounders advanced to the semis, and the Battery made it all the way to the final before falling to current champs DC United. The only time a USL side has won since MLS came into existence, though, was when the Rochester Raging Rhinos (best team name ever, btw) beat the Colorado Rapids in 1999.

But the powers that be are still hoping that the top teams will take the tournament more seriously from the get-go, so they have now made a win in the US Open Cup an automatic qualifier for the next CONCACAF Champions League.

We’ll see this week how that works out.

And if you’d like an entertaining snapshot of US Soccer history, be sure to stop by the Wikipedia page for the tournament and take a look at the names of past winners and runners up. Do team names like “Brooklyn St. Mary’s Celtic,” “Brooklyn Hispano,” “Detroit Chrysler,” “Bricklayers and Masons” and “Bethlehem Steel” give us a glimpse into a different time or what?

This week’s Round 3 pairings and broadcasts, courtesy of the US Open Cup website.

U.S. Open Cup Third Round

June 30, 2009

Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) at New England Revolution (MLS)
Veterans Stadium – New Britain, CT | 7 p.m.
Broadcast: Audio (Revolutionsoccer.net)

Ocean City Barons (PDL) at D.C. United (MLS)
Maryland Soccerplex – Boyds, MD | 7:30 p.m.
DCU Broadcast: English & Spanish language radio
OCB Broadcast: TBA

Chicago Fire (MLS) at Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2)
Legion Stadium – Wilmington, NC | 7 p.m.
Broadcast: None

Chivas USA (MLS) at Charleston Battery (USL-1)
Blackbaud Stadium – Charleston, SC | 7:30 p.m.
Broadcast: USLLive.com

Columbus Crew (MLS) at Rochester Rhinos (USL-1)
Marina Auto Stadium – Rochester, NY | 7 p.m.
Broadcast: TBA (No USLLive.com)

Kansas City Wizards (MLS) at Minnesota Thunder (USL-1)
National Sports Center – Blaine, MN | 8:05 p.m.
Broadcast: USLLive.com

July 1, 2009

Houston Dynamo (MLS) at Austin Aztex (USL-1)
Nelson Field – Austin, TX | 8:30 p.m.
Broadcast: USLLive.com

Seattle Sounders F.C. (MLS) at Portland Timbers (USL-1)
PGE Park – Portland, OR | 10 p.m.
Broadcast: USLLive.com

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Category: World Football