Open Cup News Reports - August 30

Coverage of the US Open Cup...

• SoundersFC.com – Match Preview: vs FC Dallas (video) [view]  
• MLSsoccer.com – USOC Preview: Fire meet familiar foes Richmond in semis [view] 
• MLSsoccer.com – USOC Preview: Sounders host FCD in semifinal clash [view]  
• MLSsoccer.com – John returns to FC Dallas to “win championships” [view] 
• Chicago-Fire.com – The Fire Report: Momentum builds after consecutive wins [view]  
• Chicago-Fire.com – Kings of the Cup (Fire Open Cup trophies photo gallery) [view] 
• SoundersFC.com – Neagle named MLS Player of the Week [view] 
• SoundersFC.com: Rave Green – Meet FC Dallas (US Open Cup edition) [view]  
• GoalWA.net – FC Dallas stands between Sounders and another USOC Final [view] 
• The Sporting News – Fire coach Klopas hopes Cup greeted with Open arms [view]  
• Chicago Sun-Times – Revived Fire ready for Richmond in US Open Cup semi [view] 
• Richmond Times-Dispatch – VCU ties aplenty in Kickers’ Cup game [view]  
• ESPN.com Chicago – Fire aim for 6th Open Cup final appearance [view]  
• Chicagoland Soccer News – A Win Away: Fire can advance to Open Cup final [view] 
• Seattle Times – Sounders FC hosts FC Dallas in US Open Cup semifinal [view] 
• The Olympian – Familiar foe meets Sounders in semis [view]
• SI.com: Inside Soccer – Five things learned in MLS Week 24 [view]  
• SB Nation: Big D Soccer – FC Dallas News Update 8/29 [view]

Open Cup News Reports - August 29

Coverage of the US Open Cup... 

• The Seattle Times: Sounders FC Blog – Sounders FC would host USOC final if it advances Tuesday [view] 
• The News Tribune: Sounders Insider – If Sounders advance, they’ll host US Open Cup final [view] 
• The Olympian – Active Sounders add to their crew [view] 
• MLive.com – Hosting scenarios for 2011 US Open Cup Final announced [view] 
• Chicago Sun-Times – Rapidly improving Fire tops champs [view] 
• The Dallas Morning News – With deal in England not finalized, FC Dallas star George John set to return [view]  
• Daily Herald – Has the Chicago Fire turned the corner? [view] 
• RichmondKickers.com – US Open Cup Semifinals Tuesday [view] 
• ChicagoFire.com – Double Knockout: Klopas, Cowlishaw on managing matches ahead of semi’s [view] 
• ChicagoFire.com – Postgame Quote Sheet (from MLS match including Open Cup comments) [view]
• MLSsoccer.com – FCD defender George John’s move to Blackburn called off [view]

Open Cup clubs unaffected by Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene created three cancellations within the Major League Soccer schedule for the weekend, but has had no effect on the upcoming US Open Cup semifinals. All three MLS clubs are in action west of the Mississippi Saturday evening. Even the fourth club, Richmond Kickers, appear to be on schedule with no word of postponements out of Orlando, Florida where they are scheduled to play in the USL Pro semifinals Saturday night.

Open Cup clubs leading way as MLS sides off to unprecedented start in Champions League

For the first time, the full potential of five participants from Major League Soccer found themselves advancing to the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League as FC Dallas, Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC all won their Preliminary Round series. They joined previously seeded Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles Galaxy in the 16-team phase of the tournament.

Nutrilite Canadian Championship 2011 winners Toronto FC advanced with a pair of 2-1 victories over Real Esteli (Nicaragua) and the 2010 US Open Cup champion Seattle Sounders rallied from a 1-0 road loss in Panama to defeat San Francisco in series overtime. US Open Cup hero Nate Jaqua scoring the series winner in the 98th minute of the 2-0 second leg result.

Current Open Cup semifinalist FC Dallas made history as the second non-Mexican club to post two shutouts in any two-leg CCL series (Preliminary or knockout stages), blanking Alianza (El Salvador) in a pair of one-goal decisions. The only other non-Mexican side to accomplish the feat previously was future MLS side Montreal Impact, which posted a 1-0 home win and scoreless draw against Real Esteli in the 2008 Preliminary Round.

Excuse our half-hiatus

Just to update everyone... If you have not noticed over the past week, we have been rather silent at TheCup.us and here on the blog. Myself and TheCup.us editor in chief / overall guru Josh Hakala are going through some significant changes.

First off, congratulations to Josh and his wife for the recent birth of twin baby girls. Unfortunately, Josh also picked this time to move into a new home and has been quite busy balancing the newborns with the packing, moving and now unpacking.

In addition, I have myself spent the better part of the past two weeks preparing for my cross-country move from Tampa, FL where I worked for United Soccer Leagues for 10 years to head back to my hometown of Spokane, WA. I officially embark from the greater Tampa area on the road trip beginning Monday morning for a trip I expect to take probably 10 days to two weeks.

Part of the reason the trip will be a little longer is I will be making a stop in a few days in Frisco, TX. While there I will be taking in the FC Dallas CONCACAF Champions League match, representing TheCup.us. I am planning to conduct a few interviews and maybe provide some behind-the-scenes photos/videos of the event and/or training while there to be featured on the website.

Look for those features as the Semifinals near. In fact, with the move back to Washington state, you can also expect me to be attending the US Open Cup match against Dallas at the end of the month in Seattle (Tukwila). I have been to a number of games in Seattle... for PDL games when I worked for the Spokane Shadow; and for USL when the Sounders hosted championship games. Surprisingly it will be my first match at Starfire, despite having been to many other stadia around the area.

In this day and age of technology, we'll still be around... just not as active as usual.
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Sounders drop Champions League opener

The defending US Open Cup champion Seattle Sounders fell 1-0 in Panama Tuesday evening despite controlling the run of play against San Francisco, coming out on the wrong side of the contest decided by a Roberto Brown penalty kick in the first half.

Seattle’s domination of possession, however, presented very few quality chances with Osvaldo Alonso shooting high from 24 yards six minutes in as they looked to convert from long range. One good opportunity from closer distance did arise, though, in the 13th minute when Erik Friberg sent a ball into the area only to see Fredy Montero head the ball just wide.

A ball played into the box to Brown was challenged by Jeff Parke, who fell on the play and inadvertently handled the ball, giving the home side a penalty in the 28th minute. The former Montreal Impact striker, who tallied four goals in his stint with the club in the 2008-09 event, stepped to the spot and buried it inside the right post past Kasey Keller, who had started the play that led to the penalty with distribution directly to a San Francisco player.

2011-12 CCL Kicks off Tuesday

The fourth edition of the CONCACAF Champions League begins Tuesday evening with the first two Preliminary Round matches of the eight series set to determining the other half of the group stage entrants for the 2011-12 competition. Reigning two-time US Open Cup champion and representative Seattle Sounders will kick things off in the opening match in their second CCL appearance while fellow current and upcoming US Open Cup semifinal opponent FC Dallas begins its debut CCL campaign Thursday.

Here is a look at the eight series that will be played over the course of the next two weeks.

2011 Open Cup clubs vying for PDL Playoffs

Heading into the final weekend of the season, six of the 10 clubs that participated in the 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup have already locked up tickets to the Premier Development League postseason. Three of the other four have the opportunity to claim a berth this weekend with action beginning Friday evening.

Breakdown by Conference…

USASA National Cups conclude in Kentucky

UPDATE: On Friday, the NY Pancyprian Freedoms dominated in a 6-0 victory over Chicago's AAC Eagles to advance to the championship while the LA's Doxa Italia needed extra time to edge Houston's ASC New Stars, 3-2. Doxa went the distance in the championship as well, taking the defending champions to overtime in a match that finished 2-2 Sunday. The Freedoms would raise the trophy a second straight year with a 5-4 decision in the tiebreaker. In the Amateur Cup, the club RWB Adria, regulars in the US Open Cup, saw its entrant win 3-1 Friday against Mass Premier Soccer before claiming the championship 3-2 Sunday. The Carolina RailHawks captured the U23 title with a pair of four-goal victories. The Women's Cup tournament saw St Louis JB Marine capture the championship in another contest that went to overtime, downing Utah's Sparta United WSC, 2-1. Other Events +

It is down to the Final Four in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. This weekend, six sets of Final Four determine champions in the USASA National Cups in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Four men’s tournaments will determine champions in the Open, Amateur, Over-30 and U23 brackets while the Women’s Cup and Women’s U23 tournaments also crown champions.

The USASA Men’s Open event is the conclusion of the tournament that determined the eight USASA entrants for the US Open Cup that began in June. The four Regional Champions will gather at the Lovers Lane Soccer Complex for the Semifinals Friday, July 15.

The defending champion New York Pancyprian Freedoms are looking to repeat, and were the only side of the eight USASA entrants to advance to the Second Round of the US Open Cup. The Freedoms defeated the NPSL Brooklyn Italians 2-1 in the First Round and were eliminated via penalties by the USL Pro FC New York after a scoreless draw, missing out on a Third Round meeting with the New York Red Bulls.

The other three vying for the title are the AAC Eagles of Chicago, ASC New Stars from Houston and Doxa Italia from LA. AAC Eagles were knocked out of the Open Cup by the NPSL Madison 56ers and ASC New Stars by USL Pro Orlando City by the same 4-0 scoreline. Doxa Italia were bounced 3-1 by the PDL Ventura County Fusion. The Daily Breeze recently featured Doxa Italia’s rebirth in a feature story [view]. You can also check out 2011 edition of TheCup.us annual Meet the USASA features in which the site profile’s the organization’s entries [view].

Names in the other tournaments may also be familiar to US Open Cup followers. Mass Premier Soccer, RWB Adria and Legends FC are among the field in the Amateur bracket. FC New York United and the Carolina RailHawks are in the U23 event.

Here is more information on the 2011 USASA National Cups, including links to the schedule/result pages for each of the six events being held this weekend [view].
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Open Cup News Reports - Quarter LA v Seattle

Coverage of the US Open Cup... Post-Game: LA Galaxy at Seattle Sounders

• Seattle Times – Sounders FC beats Galaxy 3-1 in US Open Cup quarterfinal [view]  
• Seattle Times: Sounders FC Blog – Sounders FC 3, LA Galaxy 1, Open Cup quotes and stats [view]
• ESPN LA – Galaxy: Sounders end Open Cup hopes [view]  
• LA Times – Galaxy loses to Seattle, 3-1, in US Open Cup [view] 
• LA Soccer News – Over and Out [view]  
• Daily News – US Open Cup run for Galaxy done after 3-1 loss to Seattle in quarterfinal [view]  
• Soccer America – Jaqua leads Sounders into semifinals [view] 
• MLSsoccer.com – Galaxy reeling after another USOC defeat at Seattle [view]  
• MLSsoccer.com – Veteran Jaqua continues to be Seattle’s talisman [view]  
• MLSsoccer.com – Kick Off: Seattle have Galaxy’s number in Open Cup [view] 
• SoundersFC.com – Jaqua Lifts Sounders to Semis [view] 
• SoundersFC.com – Match Recap: vs Galaxy (video) [view]  
• MLSsoccer.com – The Daily, July 14 (video) [view]

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