Open Cup champ Sounders bumped forward to 2012 CCL Group Stage

Though the Seattle Sounders were unable to turn a great season into multiple championships, the club’s ability to juggle their championship Open Cup campaign with the Major League Soccer season and CONCACAF Champions League proved beneficial when the final whistle sounded for the 2011 MLS season.

By virtue of CCL qualification rules established by US Soccer and MLS, the Sounders were upgraded to automatic Group Stage entrants for the 2012-13 tournament courtesy of the Los Angeles Galaxy winning MLS Cup. The Open Cup champion and MLS Cup runner-up are slated to play in the Champions League Preliminary Round while the MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield winners are placed into the group phase.

The qualification rules use the order of finish in MLS as the determinant for the alternates should those honors be claimed by the same club. With LA winning both MLS titles, one of the group berths became available. As the runners-up for the Supporters’ Shield the Sounders were advanced onto the Group Stage with the Galaxy.

Real Salt Lake was the first beneficiary of the qualification rules, earning the berth when LA advanced to a semifinal meeting against them. It ensured that either RSL would reach the final or earn the berth via the qualification rules since their opponent had already earned a berth and they were in line per the league’s order of finish. RSL, finalists in the 2010-11 CCL, finished the season third behind the Galaxy and the Sounders, who had also already qualified via the Open Cup.

MLS Cup runners-up Houston Dynamo are the fourth entrant. They fell, 1-0, to the Galaxy Sunday on a late second half tally. It is the third entry into the CCL for the Dynamo, the first team from MLS to reach the tournament Quarterfinals. As Group Stage entrants in 2008, Houston went 2-1-3 to advance to the final eight, falling 4-1 on aggregate to eventual champion Atlante after posting a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg.
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World Cup Qualifying 2012 Dates set for CONCACAF

CONCACAF released the schedule for its third round of FIFA World Cup qualifying, setting the match-ups and dates for the 12 remaining teams split into three groups. The six-match schedule was split into three pairs of games set for June 8-12, September 7-11 and October 12-16.

The qualifying dates will have minimal impact on the 2012 US Open Cup according to the new format of the tournament reported by TheCup.us in which the event will be completed prior to August. The first pair of qualifiers, June 8 and 12, are the lone contests that fall within that window. At least the first three rounds of the US Open Cup are expected to be complete at that time, meaning that MLS participation will have commenced and some teams could already be eliminated.

Slated for a May 15 start, the first four rounds could potentially be complete prior to the first qualifiers if they are held on consecutive weeks. The 2010 tournament is the only time in recent years in which four rounds were played without a break, but the World Cup that year fell during the dates of the first two rounds in which MLS was not participating.

Although the dates for the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League have not been announced, the 2012 World Cup qualification dates fall within similar breaks in CCL group play observed in all four previous editions of the tournament. The first two CCL group games would be held before the September 7 and 11 qualifier contests. The next three CCL matches would be played before the final two qualification dates October 12 and 16, leaving one final group contest to determine the CCL Quarterfinals.

Full CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Schedule [+]
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Quarterfinals set for CCL in March

The quarterfinal schedule details for the CONCACAF Champions League have been set. The defending three-time US Open Cup champion Seattle Sounders continue their run for glory, representing the 2010 Open Cup title, on Wednesday, March 7. They will play the first leg at home versus Santos Laguna of Mexico with the return leg the following Wednesday, March 14.

The other two remaining Major League Soccer representatives, LA Galaxy and Toronto FC, will square off against one another in the other half of their semifinal bracket on the same two dates. The all-MLS affair will be the early match for the first leg as they play in Toronto. The Galaxy will host the late match the following week.

While the draw did unfortunately pair two MLS clubs into playing one another, it has created a scenario in which an MLS team will be guaranteed to reach the semifinals for a second consecutive year. And, if the Sounders win their series against two-time quarterfinalist Santos, it would ensure an MLS club reached the final for a second straight season. Real Salt Lake became the first MLS team to play in the CCL Final in April earlier this year, falling 3-2 on aggregate to unbeaten Monterrey after a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Mexico.

This is the first quarterfinal appearance for all three clubs, though the LA Galaxy have won the confederation's championship under a smaller and more simplified tournament format in 2000, which was held in Los Angeles. It is also the first time MLS has had three teams in the quarterfinals. The league set a high of two in the previous tournament, but saw RSL and the Columbus Crew, unfortunately, drawn against one another in the quarterfinals.

Full Quarterfinal Schedule [+]
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The Closet Door was Open with Testo; Privacy Surprisingly Respected

The announcement Thursday by David Testo, a professional soccer player for nearly a decade now, that he is gay turned into big news. It prompted numerous stories across Canada, where he currently resides, and the United States, making the sites of USA Today and ESPN. But perhaps the more shocking news is that he has been open about his sexuality all along, and the people around him – in a professional sports league – respected his privacy.

To me, this is a great illustration of how progressive and open-minded the sport has become in the United States and Canada. As the former long-time director of public relations at United Soccer Leagues, where he has played for Richmond Kickers (2003), Vancouver Whitecaps (2006-07) and Montreal Impact (2007-present), I have to say that there were the usual rumors and stories about W-League players (not surprising given the unfortunate innuendo surrounding women’s sports), but there was never, ever anything about a player in one of our men’s leagues being gay.

That says a lot about the quality of person that Testo is and is a great statement about the people that surrounded him. In a world obsessed with the sexuality of its celebrities and sports stars, he basically lived a somewhat openly gay life with his teammates and coaches and it never became a news story until he himself took overt action yesterday to make it a headline.

While it is unfortunate, and despicable, that gay slurs were used during play by opposing players on a few occasions (according to this LaPresse report quoting former coach Marc Dos Santos, who estimates 60-80% of the players in the league knew Testo’s orientation), I think it is a far greater representation of the sport in this country that not a single player – teammate or opponent – threw Testo’s personal life into the limelight by talking to the media. In this day and age of electronic media, social app addiction and online anonymity, Testo played nine seasons of professional soccer without the news of his sexuality leaving the locker room and becoming a public discussion. That is an incredible display of respect and restraint.

"David Testo's declaration is in fact very personal," Joey Saputo, owner of the MLS-bound Impact said in a statement. "We knew David's orientation prior to him joining our club from Vancouver in 2007.”  Regarding the non-disclosure of the on-field incidents club executive VP Richard Legendre said they all met and since Testo’s orientation was private, the club chose to respect that and did not disclose the incidents, which is likely why Dos Santos did not speak about them until Testo’s announcement.

Former teammate Patrick Leduc, in a special column for LaPresse said (translated) “Let the record (show). We knew David's sexual orientation on arrival and it had no negative effect on his relationship with the team or group performance. I have heard sports commentators claim that the coming out of an athlete could endanger the stability of the locker room. This is not (the case), at least not in the Impact. David is a professional who has greatly helped the cause of the club.”

It is not as though Testo is fringe player either. He has been a standout in the second division flight since his rookie season in Richmond in 2003, winning championships and earning numerous team and league honors. He earned a second chance at playing in MLS after going undrafted, playing for the Columbus Crew (2004-05). He was with the Impact when they won the Canadian Championship in 2008 and played in the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, where he helped lead Montreal to its historic run to the competition’s quarterfinal stage.

Unforunately, despite the respect shown by those around him, Testo still felt burdened by the situation, clearly showing emotion visually in the video interview he did with Radio-Canada. "Living the life of a professional athlete and being gay is incredibly hard," Testo said in the interview with French-language Radio-Canada. "It's like carrying around a secret, you know, and carrying around luggage and just never being allowed to be yourself." [short video - full video]

Unless Montreal re-signs Testo to play for in its MLS debut season in 2012, his actual luggage will have to hit the road once again as he searches for a new team. He was one of a handful of players on the team with 20+ games played last season and will undoubtedly be an impactful signing for anyone next year. Hopefully, he finds that new home soon, and without a storm of discontent from the community. 

MLS & USSF Establishing Long-Term Calendar?

With our report on TheCup.us Wednesday regarding the structural changes most likely upcoming for the 2012 US Open Cup and beyond, I was paying particular attention to Thursday's 'Best XI / State of the League' conference call with MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Although the topic itself was largely brushed over as he focused on league-specific scheduling and calendar issues, a few things did stand out in regards to long-term strategic planning for MLS and the US Open Cup.

Garber mentioned that the league is working on establishing a broad list of schedule dates over a multi-year period. To me it sounds like the league's competition committee is looking beyond the next season and trying to establish a mostly-fixed calendar for the league's season along with the competitions of the two federations and CONCACAF.

That is something long overdue, but until the recent growth and success in the US Open Cup (and Canadian Championship) and Champions League, it has been very difficult to accomplish. Now that the league, those competitions and the non-MLS clubs seem to be settling in, a master calendar seems to be emerging. The new schedule adaptations to the US Open Cup are a modification that appears to be making that the case the process is underway.

With clubs like the Seattle Sounders, FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake openly and actually taking all competitions seriously, the overlapping calendar of non-league competitions has made things difficult on the clubs and players (see the schedule flow chart pdf). With the CCL Group Phase lingering toward the end of the MLS regular season, it was important for the league to open the midweek windows occupied by the Open Cup semifinals and final that have fallen within the range of the CCL group games. By moving the Open Cup up, the league's elite teams will be able to provide more rest for its top players.

This is particularly important considering situations like Seattle and Los Angeles Galaxy, who are repeat CCL participants and could be virtually playing multiple competitions all campaign long. The knockout championship stage rounds of the CCL are in the spring followed by the bulk of US Open Cup in early summer. The CCL Preliminary Round for the next tournament pops up in the heat of the summer with the group phase coming shortly thereafter.

The other item that came up was the discussion of the league's competition committee itself. From a US Open Cup perspective it may be interesting to note the tournament-friendly composition of the group.

Clark Hunt (Dallas/Columbus) - The son of the tournament's namesake... Sunil Gulati (New England) - President of US Soccer... Adrian Hanauer (Seattle) - Sounders are one of the leading proponents of USOC... Andrew Hauptman (Chicago) - Fire are one of the leading proponents of USOC... Greg Kerfoot (Vancouver) - Whitecaps are an advocate for counterpart Canadian Championship... Todd Durbin - MLS. Nelson Rodriguez - MLS

While the group obviously has to take its lead from the whole of the ownership around the league, it is a good sign for the US Open Cup, and the league, that the men at the table for the discussion of the external competitions are among those who treat the events with gravitas. It is particularly great that two - Hanauer and Kerfoot - have experienced the tournaments from the lower division viewpoint as well.
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Extreme Makeover – Open Cup Edition: What It All Means

While the reported changes likely upcoming for the 2012 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup and future editions of the tournament will create a simpler competition calendar for Major League Soccer, it will certainly be a paradigm shift for the amateur levels of the sport.

Major League Soccer

For MLS, there are two main changes. The first is that it will mark the first time since 2006 that all of its clubs have competed in the event, marking an end to its internal qualification process used since 2007. In 2006, however, the league had 12 clubs based in the United States to the 16 it now has.

The second change is in the schedule. With the change in the confederation’s club championship to the new CONCACAF Champions League, club competition schedules have grown in complexity, burden and exertion. Seattle, Los Angeles and Dallas – for example – were all balancing the US Open Cup, CCL and the race for the Supporters’ Shield at the same time. They also had to manage the loss of players for international duty, primarily for the Gold Cup. Whilst the Open Cup and CCL are midweek contests, the travel demands to hot and humid nations in the vast confederation make the off days just as demanding as game days.

Bumping the Open Cup up earlier and concluding the competition before August greatly streamlines the MLS calendar. The Open Cup would begin for MLS clubs approximately two months into their campaigns. If MLS again lightens its schedule during heavy international dates, teams will be able to manage the additional Open Cup matches while players are away. Last year, the CCL Preliminary Round was held the last week of July and first of August with the Group Phase beginning two weeks later. The six group matches were spread mostly throughout August and September, wrapping up after a three-week layoff mid-October, just prior to the final weekend of the league season. This year, the Open Cup champion Sounders had only two midweek dates off from the time they began the Preliminary Round of the CCL July 26 to the Open Cup Championship October 4 – a span of nine weeks.

But what does this mean for the lower divisions?

USL Pro & NASL (pending sanctioning)

For the pro leagues, this would also reduce congestion prior to the postseason, which begin earlier than MLS. Teams who are fortunate to find success in the Open Cup will not be penalized with having to sacrifice their race for a playoff berth or the ability to win a league championship in favor of trying to make Open Cup history. 

PDL, NPSL & USASA

The amateur flight, however, is not so fortunate. For nearly all of the Modern Pro Era (95-present), the amateur leagues and organizations have had until approximately June 1st to determine the qualified teams for the berths allotted to each. That proved workable in the USASA regional qualifying calendar with the four regions holding their respective tournaments in the month leading up to the deadline. For the PDL, and newly added via direct berths NPSL, it meant at least a month of league play could be fit in, allowing the leagues to determine in their own fashion how to determine berths.

For USASA regional and state associations, moving Open Cup qualifying events is no small task. Regional competitions are often held in conjunction with other tournaments, possibly affecting the entire slate of events within the system in a given region. That is not an easy process to manage changes given the fairly independent nature of the state associations and their own varied qualifying processes to determine entrants for the regional events.

While the leagues will not have to change their schedules, one of the great byproducts of that previous June 1 deadline has been the longstanding system utilized by the PDL. Four matches doubled as qualification contests with the winners from the conference or division, depending on number of berths available, advancing to the tournament in what were essentially must-win matches. It created a dynamic start to the season and delivered berths on recent merit to clubs that had proven a capability to play under pressure.

That drama will very likely be lost now. With collegiate players, who make up the majority of PDL and NPSL rosters, unavailable until May 1, the same date as the proposed new deadline, the two leagues will undoubtedly resort to handing out berths based on the previous season’s performance – the exact qualifying method MLS has been using for six of eight entrants since 2007.

With the Open Cup First Round slated to now be May 15, there is still very slight hope we could see some early season drama in the PDL.

Here is what I would like to see in PDL Qualifying:

With the expansion of the amateur pool doubling to 32, it is possible the PDL’s allotment of berths will at least double based on the league’s size and success over the years, along with the off-field standards most can meet in comparison to the USASA sides. With that doubled number being 16, it would not be hard to fathom an extra two slots (18) to make it a balanced tally of two per division.

It’s easy to assign those to berths to the top two in the table from the year before, but that would basically just be the playoff teams, adding little in exchange for the loss of intrigue from the opening of the season. It would also expand the gaps between the elite sides and the others as having Open Cup berths in hand will drastically alter the player recruiting landscape throughout the league, reducing parity. The top two teams would attract better players with the allure of facing professional clubs, possibly MLS, and cement themselves as the better teams for the whole of the season, increasing the odds of finishing in the top two once again – the same cycle seen in collegiate sports.

One of the longstanding issues in the PDL has been increasing the depth of the playoff chase within divisions beyond the top two or three teams in the final weeks. The Open Cup berths could be the answer

If USL could get an exemption from US Soccer to hold a special Qualification Match Window of May 1-4 (Tue-Fri), the league could expand the qualification pool to four per division and hold playoff matches with at least 11 days to spare before the First Round. The First Round scenarios would still be fully known and prepared for as the division champions play the fourth seed while the second and third seeds square off in the other match. With those seeds and matchups predetermined, the league can easily arrange the matches as part of the league schedule, doubling them up as they have before, or add them in as special independent contests.

The most important thing is that it would expand the late-season intrigue from the usual depth of 2-3 teams to 4-6, in some instances keeping nearly the entire division in competition at the close of the campaign. It would keep a taste of the early-season drama in the league’s profile, and would also serve as a filter to ensure the teams entering the tournament have some recent merit to there resume – an important element considering the high amount of player turnover in the PDL from the close of the previous season nine months prior.
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Update: Chasing the Majors

The 2011 Majors are nearing a third champion.

The Seattle Sounders won their third consecutive US Open Cup, claiming the first of the year. Not long after the LA Galaxy captured the Supporters’ Shield as the Major League Soccer regular season champion.

On Sunday the Galaxy kept their bid for a double, possibly a treble, alive by reaching the Final of the MLS Cup playoffs. Their opponent for the third Major of the year will be the Houston Dynamo.

The Galaxy and the Sounders are both still also alive for the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League title, having advanced to the Quarterfinals, which will resume in the early spring. The Canadian champion Toronto FC, yet to reach MLS Cup playoffs, are also still alive for their own version of a double, moving on from the CCL group stage over FC Dallas.

The 2012 Majors...

CCL Qualifiers

The four US entrants for the next edition of the CCL are set. As Open Cup and Supporters’ Shield winners, both the Sounders and Galaxy will return to the event once again. The Dynamo are technically the fourth team to join the fray as one of the two MLS Cup finalists, which advance to the regional championship. With LA having already qualified, that spot was already determined midweek as it fell to Real Salt Lake, third-place finishers in the regular season courtesy of runners-up Seattle also having advanced. RSL would have been guaranteed a spot regardless of its playoff outcome Sunday.

It is only the second time in the last eight years in which the Supporters' Shield winner has reached the MLS Cup Final. It happened five times in the first eight years of the league's existence. In contrast, the US Open Cup champion reached the MLS Cup Final three of the last eight years, the same tally as the first eight years.

US Open Cup

Though rumors/reports are saying that the format may change with more, if not all, MLS teams participating in the tournament next year, here is a look at the top six from the 2011 MLS season that would be pre-qualified for the 2012 tournament if the same qualification process is followed as has been the case since 2007.

1 – LA Galaxy, 2 – Seattle Sounders, 3 – Real Salt Lake, 4 – FC Dallas, 5 – Sporting KC, 6 – Colorado Rapids

It would mark the first appearance since 2007 for Colorado, the only club among the six that did not participate in the tournament this year.
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TheCup.us 2011 Sounders & Keller Wallpapers

The 2011 US Open Cup Final was the first tournament championship game TheCup.us has had an official presence at beyond having a local correspondent. In honor of the Sounder's historic achievement and the retirement of Kasey Keller, whose Sounders career has been highlighted by the 3-Peat, we have designed a pair of wallpapers to commemorate the eventful campaign.

Seattle Sounders (1600 x 1200)

Kasey Keller (1600 x 1200)

(all photos by Gerald Barnhart)