Tuesday, August 12, 2008

US Open Cup Semis tonight


The disregarded stepchild of US soccer competitions plays its semifinal matches tonight. It features a couple of pretty good matches, as well as the promise that one USL-1 team will reach the finals.

After the jump, some stolen graphics detailing the games. Or you can just jump to USOpenCup.com and look at their ads.

The big problem tonight is that some genius decided that it would be best if the games ran at the same time. Both games, therefore, have a 7.30 EDT start.

DC United v. New England Revolution
Given recent runs, this should be an easy win for New England. Matt Reis, in particular, has been on fire for the Revs. The teams should also be energized by Kick-Medic hawker Taylor Twellman's return from sabbatical/injury/whatever. DC United were beaten 4-1 by the New York Fuckin' Red Bulls. Not a good sign. You can listen to the game here, or here .




Charleston Battery v. Seattle Sounders
The more intriguing match up tonight, if only because it assures a USL-1 team in the final which brings the possibility of the first non-MLS champ since 1999. Charleston started out brightly in the league, but have since slumped to third in the table. Seattle, on the other hand, started out kind of slow this season, but have picked it up to now place fourth in the table. The two teams have met twice in the past month, with the home team taking each game 1-0. It is certainly to Charleston's advantage that the game will be in the muggy confines of Blackbaud Stadium. You can watch the game online here.


The date and location of the competition final depends on tonight's winners. A quick breakdown is
DC-Charleston; RFK; September 3
DC-Seattle; Qwest; September 3
NE-Charleston; Blackbaud; September 22
NE-Seattle; Qwest; September 15

9 comments:

The Fan's Attic said...

Go Charleston! Down with Seattle!

BackBergtt said...

i dont really follow the mls (sorry bout it) but it seems like there are an overabundance of tournaments going on. why dont they just focus on the league? and why schedule anything during the olympics?

Email us at said...

overabundance of tournaments? You mean like the Carling Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Cup and Champions League, plus Euro championships, Cup of African Nations, World Cup, Olympics, CONCACAF, Gold Cup, etc.?

BackBergtt said...

carling cup? never heard of that, is that one that matters or just one that people hold on to when they have no other reason to live?

theres an overabundance of tournaments everywhere obviously, the difference being that epl teams have the quality and depth to play games on a few days rest (or on the same day if youre a fifa designer, what the fuck EA). just seems the mls is kind of running itself ragged, i dont know, i see games and have no idea if theyre league games or some cup game against a bunch of peruvian villagers

Unknown said...

It's simple. The Open Cup = The FA Cup

Email us at said...

That may be my favorite EA glitch. "Hey, where'd this game come from? Why's my squad tired?"

ohhhhhh right.

Email us at said...

and btw, Mike, you're right in the sense that MLS is trying to fling stuff at the wall, in terms of entering clubs in international tourneys to create legitimacy, but the Open Cup shouldn't be lumped in with SuperLiga or Champion's Cup. Much like the FA Cup, this does well for US Soccer as a whole, and for MLS to not participate would be idiocy.

BackBergtt said...

sorry keith, i wasnt meaning to suggest this one is unnecassary or anything, after looking it up it appears to be the most worthwhile one for us soccer on the whole, and thats cool. i just meant in general they (mls) seem to have alot of peripheral things going on

Jacob said...

Battery-United in the final. 9/3 at RFK.