Two Major League Soccer-specific spots in the U.S. Open Cup remain up for grabs, and the qualifying path for the 10 teams vying for those spots has been set.
Chivas USA, D.C. United, the Philadelphia Union and Portland Timbers will all have to win three games to gain entry, while the Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo, Chicago Fire, San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City and New England Revolution will only have to win two. Here's the qualifying slate, although dates, times and locations are all TBA:
First Round: Portland Timbers vs. Chivas USA; D.C. United vs. Philadelphia Union
Second Round: Portland/Chivas vs San Jose; D.C./Philadelphia vs. New England; Colorado vs. Chicago; Houston vs. Sporting KC
Third Round: Portland/Chivas/San Jose vs. Colorado/Chicago; D.C./Philadelphia/N.E. vs. Houston/SKC
Who do you see gaining entry? Wish the set-up was different?
Share your thoughts below.
-1. If you want your path to the final to be easier, do better in the regular season.
Ideally I’d like to see the Union in the Cup, but that doesn’t seem too likely, considering we probably won’t take the qualifying stages seriously.
As a Union fan, I have to say that facing DC away, then New England at home, and finally either Houston or KC is about as easy a draw as you can ask for. Go Union!
Who runs the US Open Cup, SUM, MLS, USSF, little of each? Whoever it is, they do a wonderfully poor job.
+ 1.
These games, which obviously don’t mean much to most teams, are good chances for reserves to get game minutes. It’s not like teams are rolling out their starting XI until very late in the tournament (if ever).
This setup is exactly why nobody (with the exception of Seattle) takes the tournament seriously.
Why do we have to go through qualifying? Just take the best teams from last season that aren’t already going to Champions League. For as much as MLS talks about trying to reduce scheduling congestion, THIS DOESN’T HELP. Or, do what USL-2 used to do and use the early regular season results as qualification.
But come on, don’t make them play more games that no one can see on TV and no one wants to attend.
It would be nice if ALL the teams went into the US Open Cup and just have these teams go in earlier on then the other MLS teams. Though, it probably allows some of the lower level teams to get farther, which is fun too.