This Week in US Open Cup History... Apr 9-15

[April 9, 1928] The New York Nationals and Bricklayers S.C. (Chicago) played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the National Challenge Cup final at the Polo Grounds in New York. Clem Cuthbert scored early for the Bricklayers, and Siegfried Wortmann drew the Nationals level in the 30th minute.

[April 11, 1926] Bethlehem Steel claimed the club’s sixth and final National Challenge Cup, steamrolling St. Louis' Ben Millers, 7-2, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. National Soccer Hall of Fame member Archie Stark scored a hat-trick for Bethlehem. A reported 18,000 attended the match, an American record for a soccer game, although it only lasted a month.

[April 11, 1937] In the first leg of the National Challenge Cup final, Shamrocks S.C. (St. Louis) defeat the New York Americans, 1-0. Eddie Kane scored the lone goal for the Shamrocks, who were appearing in their fifth straight Challenge Cup final - though they played under three different sponsors during the run.

[April 14, 1957] St. Louis' Kutis S.C. won the National Challenge Cup, defeating New York Hakoah in the second leg of the final, 3-1, at Zerega Oval in the Bronx.  Billy Looby, Richard Meisemann and Bob Roney scored for Kutis, giving them a 6-1 aggregate victory.

[April 15, 1928] In the second leg of the National Challenge Cup final, The New York Nationals defeated Bricklayers S.C. (Chicago) 3-0, at Soldier Field in Chicago. George Henderson scored twice in the first half, and Siegfried Wortmann added the final goal in the second half. The win marked only the third time in the 15 years since the competition began that a club from New York took home the cup.

This Week in US Open Cup History... Apr 3-8

[April 3, 1955] In a Semifinal match, Danish American SC from Los Angeles defeat Simpkins Ford from St. Louis 5-2 after extra time to become the first team from Southern California to reach the US Open Cup Final. Three weeks later, they were victorious, winning the title 2-0 over New York City's SC Eintracht at Rancho La Cienega Stadium in Los Angeles in front of 6,000 fans.
 
[April 4, 1920] Robins Dry Dock (NYC) defeated Bethlehem Steel 1-0 in the quarterfinals, denying Bethlehem a shot at winning a third straight National Challenge Cup title, and a sixth straight final appearance. With the string snapped, Bethlehem Steel would not reach the championship game again until winning it all in 1926.

[April 4, 1925] In an all-Massachusetts semifinal, the Shawsheen Indians (Andover, MA) reach the National Challenge Cup Final with a 2-1 win over Abbot Worsted (Forge Village, MA). The Indians would lift the cup that year as the first Massachusetts club outside of Fall River to win the title.

[April 5, 1931] In the first leg of the National Challenge Cup final, the Fall River Marksmen defeated Chicago's Bricklayers S.C. 6-2 at the Polo Grounds in New York, with Bert Patenaude scoring five goals for the winners. The Marksmen by this time had moved to New York, competing in the ASL as the Yankees, but retained the Marksmen name for cup play, since the club was still in Fall River, Mass. when the competition began.

[April 6, 1930] The Fall River Marksmen claim their third National Challenge Cup title in seven years, defeating Bruell Insurance 2-1 in the second leg played at Luna Park in Cleveland. Alex McNab and Bob McAuley scored for Fall River to finish the aggregate score at 9-3.

[April 7, 1929] In the second leg of the National Challenge Cup , in front of 20,000 at Dexter Park in Brooklyn, New York Hakoah defeated Madison Kennels of St. Louis, 3-0, to win the cup on 5-0 aggregate. Erno Schwarz, Max Gruenwald and Moritz Haeusler scored for Hakoah. The cup was without several of the top clubs from the northeast, since the ASL barred clubs from entering the tournament. The league was at odds with the USFA, in what was known as the "Soccer War".

[April 8, 1934] In the second of three legs in the National Challenge Cup final, at Coats Field in Pawtucket, the Pawtucket Rangers defeated Stix, Bear & Fuller 3-2. Robert McIntyre scored twice for Pawtucket, and Jimmy McAuley added the other goal. The St. Louis club won the first leg over Rangers, 4-2.

This Day in US Open Cup History... April 2

[1933] The day after losing the first leg of the semifinals 4-2 to Pawtucket Rangers, the New York Americans rebound with a 4-1 win in the second leg and advance to the final for the first time in club history. They would lose to Stix, Baer & Fuller (STL) that year 3-1 on aggregate.

[1938] This year, it was the New York Americans who were on the rotten end of a second leg comeback. St. Mary's Celtic (NYC) trailed 2-1 after the first leg, but took the second leg 3-0 to advance to the final, by a 4-2 aggregate score, denying New York a chance to repeat as cup champions. St. Mary's would lose the final to Chicago's Sparta Garden City 6-2 on aggregate.

[1927] As far as we know, there is nothing significant about the Providence Clamdiggers defeating J & P Coats 3-2 in a battle of Rhode Island clubs in the opening round of the 1927 National Challenge Cup.  We just think Clamdiggers is a unique team name. The Clamdiggers only qualified for the cup three times in their history (1926, 1927, 1928).

[1932] After the first leg of the National Challenge Cup final drew 3-3, New Bedford Whalers win the title with a 5-2 second leg thumping of Stix, Baer & Fuller (8-5 aggregate). Tec White, Werner Nilsen, Billy Gonsalves, Bill McPherson, and Tom Florie all scored for the Whalers who played both legs of the final in front of Stix, Baer & Fuller's home fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. More than 7,000 fans attended both games which were played a week apart.

This Day in US Open Cup History... April 1

[1923] In the the National Challenge Cup final, Paterson F.C. and Scullin Steel of St. Louis played to a 2-2 draw. Scullin held a 2-0 lead early in the second half, but Paterson fought back. John Heninsley scored the game tying goal with just six minutes remaining. Paterson were later awarded the cup when Scullin where unable to meet for a replay of the match due to injuries and players fulfilling baseball contracts.

[1934] In the first leg of the National Challenge Cup final at St. Louis, Stix, Bear & Fuller, of St. Louis, defeated Pawtucket Rangers 4-2.  Hall of Famers Alex McNab, Billy Gonsalves and Werner Nilsen scored goals for the winners.

Today in US Open Cup history... March 31

[1957] Exactly 28 years after their first appearance in a National Challenge Cup final, New York Hakoah fell to Kutis, of St. Louis, 3-0 in the first leg of the final in St. Louis. William Looby and Hall of Famer Harry Keough scored for Kutis, with the third score from an own goal. Keough is the father of soccer broadcaster Ty Keough.

[1929] New York Hakoah defeated Madison Kennels of St. Louis 2-0, in the first leg of the National Challenge Cup final at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Josef Eisenhoffer and Siegfried Wortmann scored for Hakoah.

Today in US Open Cup history... March 30

[1942] One of the more controversial chapters of U.S. Open Cup history was finally laid to rest on March 30. It all started on March 1, when Sparta Ogden Dairy (Chicago) and Chrysler S.C. (Detroit) played to a 3-3 draw after extra time in Chicago for a berth in the Western Semifinals.

The teams met two weeks later in Detroit for the replay, and played to a 2-2 draw, again after extra time. After the first thirty minutes of extra time, referee Jack Wilson ordered another thirty minutes as he was  under orders from the USFA that the match was to produce a winner.

Sparta refused to continue playing, and Wilson awarded the match to Chrysler by forfeit. Chrysler and their supporters thought it was a ploy to avoid losing the match, since they figured the Sparta players were getting tired, and would concede the winning goal.

Sparta filed a protest, stating that since Chrysler were not forced to play an extra thirty minutes in the first match, they had no reason to do so in the replay. The USFA sided with Sparta, and ordered a replay for March 29.

Chrysler then made a request to push back the replay date, arguing that since they had learned of the date a mere four days before, they needed time to get their players off of WWII defense jobs. When the USFA secretary James Armstrong declared in a telegram that a failure to show for the match would "mean forfeiture of the game and also result in further drastic action," Chrysler decided to disband and withdraw from all soccer competitions.

Three days later the Detroit club reconsidered their stance and offered to play the match on April 5, but the USFA ruled that it was too late.

[1924] In front of 14,000 fans at High School Field in St. Louis, the Fall River Marksman defeated Vesper Buick (St. Louis) 4-2 in the National Challenge Cup final. Twice Fall River took the lead only to see Vesper tie the score. It wasn't until Johnny Ried's second half goal that Fall River would take the lead for good, with Harold Brittan scoring in the final minute to put the game away.

[1930] Fall River Marksmen defeat Bruell Insurance of Cleveland 7-2 in the first leg of the National Challenge Cup final at the Polo Grounds in New York. Jimmy McAuley & Werner Nilsen each had hat tricks for Fall River.

Incentivizing the US Open Cup for casual fans

The Seattle Sounders have made the US Open Cup a must-see competition for fans to attend. Now, the Philadelphia Union may be onto something else that could help bolster support for the event when they make their tournament debut later this spring.

The club has a “Loyalty Rewards” program that awards season ticket holders for just about everything. Obviously, the main portion of the points distributed to fans is for match attendance, but the system also rewards fans for watching road games and attending additional team-related events in the community. The best feature in the program is the variety of points awarded for home matches, rewarding fans that attend games that are midweek and/or against less popular opponents with more points than weekend fixtures against the most popular sides.

Reward fans who support both | @FCDallas Facebook

Though the story does not specifically mention US Open Cup contests, one would have to expect that if the Union play host to a game in the tournament, its fans would be able to receive a high value in points for going to the midweek contest against what is likely to be a lower division opponent.

Since the club has not qualified for the tournament in its brief history and has a fervent fan base, one would assume that the club would draw well regardless of the presence of the rewards system. However; for the good of the tournament, it is great that a program like this is in place in Philadelphia and being explored by many other teams around the league.

If it is not obvious at this point, I clearly like this program. And, I am glad to hear there is vast interest in it being duplicated around the league, and around the world.

My hope: that it is expanded to a co-operational, multi-national program led by MLS, the USSF and the CSA that includes the lower divisions, the women’s game and, most importantly, communities that do not have professional clubs. There are a lot of casual fans that I think could be converted into more loyal supporters of the game if there was a reason not to shrug off attending a lower division game or international friendly in their own back yard – there are certainly enough empty seats available.

There is no reason why loyal Sounders fans should not also be rewarded for being league fans that watch all MLS matches or attend a game between Chivas USA and FC Dallas at the HDC while in California for a Disney adventure with the kids. Season ticket holders for Toronto FC that attend every game should be able to buy discounted CSA match tickets and people who buy tickets to youth national team friendlies should earn credit toward their favorite pro club.

Sometimes players are forced to choose between club or country – there is no reason why fans should have to do the same.

At the very least, Major League Soccer should develop a league-wide program to drive support of the game nationwide instead of just a handful of the biggest cities. It would certainly be a great way of gauging potential expansion support as well as developing the soccer culture in places that need a boost.

MLS sides open CCL Quarterfinal play

CONCACAF Champions League resumed this week with Quarterfinals of the 2011-12 edition of the confederation's club championship. All three remaining MLS entrants were in action Wednesday night with reigning three-time US Open Cup champion Seattle Sounders winning, 2-1, at home versus Mexico's Santos Laguna and the Nutrilite Canadian Championship winners Toronto FC playing to a 2-2 draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Playing in the tournament courtesy of winning the 2010 edition of the US Open Cup, the Sounders led at the half, 1-0, courtesy of David Estrada despite four starters arriving late due to traffic congestion. Former USL First Division Sounder and US international Herculez Gomez tallied in the second half to equalize the contest only to see Brad Evans struck in the 63rd for a 2-1 lead heading into the second leg.

Toronto FC, however, were unable to hold onto their lead in the earlier of the two contests. Up 2-0 early on goals from Ryan Johnson and Luis Silva in the first 17 minutes, the Canadian club could not hold onto the advantage as the Galaxy roared back. Landon Donovan found Sean Franklin, who whipped a cross to Mike Magee in the 22nd minute. Donovan later struck for the equalizer himself with two minutes remaining.

On the other side of the bracket, defending CCL champion Monterrey won 3-1 on the road versus fellow Mexican side Morelia Tuesday evening. The final first leg quarterfinal contest is Thursday evening as Mexico's Pumas travels to El Salvador to play Metapan.

New York Inter-Giuliana & the 1976 CONCACAF Championship

CONCACAF.com has launched a new series called 'CONCACAF Retro.' As a site dedicated largely to documenting the past, we will feature this series at TheCup.us on Facebook, Twitter and - when there is related US Open Cup information - here on this blog.

Check out this story: CD Aguila captures 1976 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

Related Open Cup History

Entrants as the 1975 US Open Cup runners-up, New York Inter-Giuliana were the sixth club to represent the tournament, ending a four-year absence since 1970 champion Elizabeth SC played in the 1971 event.

NYIG faced a Canadian foe in the 1976-77 CONCACAF Championship's opening round, the First Round in the North American Zone. They fell 3-2 in the first leg and again, 2-1, in the return leg for a 5-3 aggregate series loss to Toronto Italia. Toronto, though, would withdraw before playing Mexico's Leon in the NAZ Final, sending the Mexicans onto the tournament semifinals and the dramatic conclusion in which an on-field-fight ended the series.

The club was slated to make a second consecutive appearance in the confederation's championship a year later also as Open Cup finalists. However, the team withdrew from the tournament in which they were slated to play Club America in the North American Zone Final as there were no entrants from Canada. Club America would win that tournament as chronicled in this CONCACAF Retro story: Club America wins first two international titles in 1978
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Backe-tracking On the Open Cup

When New York Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe told New York Post writer Brian Lewis that his club was going to try to win it all this year, including the US Open Cup, many around the metropolis and the nation met it with disbelief. But maybe, just maybe, the coach learned something from last year’s occurrence and is approaching 2012 with a better plan of attack.

If there were any doubts out there, he tried to put them to rest, reiterating Monday on MLSsoccer.com’s Extra Time Radio podcast what he told Lewis.

“We will have much better depth, there’s no question about it. We will have at least 18-20 (solid) players, good footballers,’’ Backe said to Lewis in early February. “Also, now with the new schedule this season, not playing that many games during FIFA dates, we can definitely have a priority with the Open Cup.

“I say we should try to go for it all; the Open Cup, the Shield, the MLS Cup. We have a very good squad this year.’’

That was the shocking statement that incited chuckles. It was hard to believe he would actually say that given his apathetic approach to the quarterfinal against the Fire in which he sent Mike Petke, the third in command, to coach a squad of nearly all reserves in Chicago. While many teams in the past had given half-hearted efforts with reserve players in the lineup, arguably none had so blatantly snubbed the tournament.

Even the post-game report for the team’s site from the league contest before the Open Cup fixture openly flaunted Backe’s lack of concern for the game with the following:

Not a Priority – After the match, attention turned to Tuesday night, when the Red Bulls play the Chicago Fire in the U.S. Open Cup. Backe said that it will be mainly reserves and substitutes in the Starting XI for the quarterfinal match.

“I think we just travel with probably, if were a little bit lucky with no injuries, 13 outfield players and two goalies,” Backe said the story’s writer Kristian Dyer. “And it has to be two of these guys who played today probably as a starter has to be involved in the Cup game on Tuesday.”

The news of Backe’s decision was met with much derision at the time, prompting local writer M.L. Conroy of Once a Metro to say the following: "On Backe's current list of priorities, winning the US Open Cup would seem to rank somewhere behind re-arranging his sock drawer." 

And it was not just in New York that the moves were met with discontent. Apparently the Chicago Fire players took the news as a slap in the face as well.

Soccer By Ives writer Anthony Zilis said that “though Chicago coach Frank Klopas didn't offer any comment on the matter, the Fire players definitely had it on their minds.”

"We took it personally," Fire midfielder Patrick Nyarko said after the game. "Before the game we talked about punishing this team, beating them 5-0."

Backe still says that the issue last season was the high number of international fixtures that pulled away many of his players, leaving him with little depth. The plan was to rest his starters, who had played in a 5-0 win over Toronto and 1-0 loss to DC, both at home, on July 6 and 9, respectively, prior to the July 12 Open Cup match. In hindsight it did not prove to make much difference as the club went without a win in their next seven league fixtures (0-2-5) after the 4-0 exit from the US Open Cup, leaving them in danger of not qualifying for the postseason. They would earn the final berth, ironically, over Open Cup finalist Chicago by three points.

On Extra Time, Backe discussed the club’s proactive efforts to build more depth into the roster, telling them they looked much more at USL players for more experience playing competitive soccer to give them better depth. He equated the better depth to better training and thusly better game performances.

Backe also expressed his pleasure over the new format of the MLS schedule that will see his team playing more games against conference opponents, meaning less travel, and a lighter schedule on the international front.

Then came the all-important question: What are his goals – did he want to aim for the Supporters’ Shield or MLS Cup?

And, believe it or not, Backe actually voluntarily led off talking about competing for the US Open Cup.

“I think we will look even for the open cup this year because of the schedule we have and the travels. And suddenly we can definitely try to have that as a priority -  the open cup too. I think we would like to go for all of it. I think we just, I think we have still enough talented group to be up there and to compete for the cup shield or the MLS cup. Of course, normally you don’t just win everything, but we need to win something this year -  one of these three cups.”