Photo by ISIphotos.com
It took a dozen years but D.C. United finally added a second U.S. Open Cup trophy to its loaded trophy case.
The four-time MLS Cup champions downed USL side Charleston Battery 2-1 in the U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday night, giving D.C. its first championship trophy since 2004.
The win helped salvage some pride for MLS, which saw two of its teams eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday night while the USL Montreal Impact advanced to the group stages.
Here are some other stories to get your day going:
Islanders advance
The USL Puerto Rico Islanders pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament, scoring two late goals to pull out a 2-1 victory and 3-2 series aggregate victory against Costa Rican power Alajuense on Wednesday night in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
The Islanders trailed 1-0 in the 87th minute and looked to be on the way out before a pair of late goals helped them join Montreal in the CONCACAF Champions League group stages, the same number of teams MLS has after New England and Chivas USA were eliminated on Tuesday.
USA up to 28th in FIFA World Rankings
World Cup qualifying wins against Barbados and Guatemala have helped the U.S. men’s national team climb three spots to 28th in the latest FIFA World Rankings, released on Wednesday. The Americans sit four spots behind Mexico, which enjoyed an eight-place jump in the rankings to 24th. Mexico’s jump was the biggest in the top 50.
Spain held on to the top spot in the rankings, while Italy moved ahead of Germany for second place.
Belgium tumbled out of the Top 50, dropping nine spots to No. 55.
That’s all for now. I will be checking back in later this morning with the Fantasy MLS Corner as well as some other MLS-related posts so be sure to check in throughout the day.
So what do you think of D.C. winning the U.S. Open Cup? Shocked to see Puerto Rico advance in the Champions League? Stunned to see two USL teams advance out of the qualifying round while two MLS teams fell?
Share your thoughts below.