The Seattle Sounders' road to a fourth consecutive U.S. Open Cup title may very well end up going through their archrivals.
Should the Sounders and Portland Timbers each win next week's third-round Open Cup matches, the two will square off at Jeld-Wen Field in a must-see fourth-round clash. That is just one of the possibilities to emerge from the potential fourth-round pairings and host sites that U.S. Soccer released on Wednesday.
A Texas derby between FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo and a SuperClasico rematch between Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy could also be in the cards for the fourth round, provided that the MLS teams all advance past their lower-tier competition.
Here are all of the fourth-round pairings for the U.S. Open Cup:
U.S. OPEN CUP FOURTH-ROUND PAIRINGS
- Seattle Sounders/Atlanta Silverbacks vs. Portland Timbers/Cal FC
- New England Revolution/Harrisburg City Islanders vs. New York Red Bulls/Charleston Battery
- Chivas USA/Ventura County Fusion vs. Los Angeles Galaxy/Carolina RailHawks
- Real Salt Lake/Minnesota Stars vs. San Jose Earthquakes/Fort Lauderdale Strikers
- Colorado Rapids/Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Sporting Kansas City/Orlando City SC
- Houston Dynamo/San Antonio Scorpions vs. FC Dallas/Charlotte Eagles
- Columbus Crew/Dayton Dutch Lions vs. Chicago Fire/Michigan Bucks
- D.C. United/Richmond Kickers vs. Philadelphia Union/Rochester Rhinos
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Which potential matchups do you have your eye on?
Share your thoughts below.
+1 GD over a USL squad in two US Open Cup games. Well….
Anytime someone describes a Chivas USA vs Galaxy match as a “Superclasico”, I can’t help but wonder… WHY?
hurts just the same .. don’t it.
As a Sounder’s fan for longer than most have lived, I don’t agree with the Atlanta ownerships decision to sell the game.
I don’t begrudge the Sounder’s for trying either.
I am torn on whether it was the “right” thing to do with everything factored in.
Arthur Blank pretty much has an ATL MLS deal in the bag with the new stadium plans, etc. There is room for more than one Southeast MLS team. It may take a couple years, but us former Silverbacks fans are looking forward to it.
Have an MLS team, sorry.
And that’s why if we ever have a team in the Southeast it will probably be in the Carolina’s.
Must be nice to have responsible owners.
…. as a USL squad.
It sold out 5 hours after tix went on sale. Theyre rushing to open the new stand behind the parking lot side net to sell those tickets too. Its gonna be a mad house.
Excited to have tix to LA at Carolina next Tuesday. Keeping my fingers crossed for the upset.
Go $ilverbuck$!! Sleazy ingrate hucksters!! Seriously. Go. Go to Tijuana or somewhere and spend that greedbag of dirty cash on cheap hookers and bad cocaine. (I can recommend a few places.) And when you get back, and the hangover wears off, don’t expect your lackey fans to be waiting around for you screw heads. No, we’ll be licking our wounds, as the doomed often find themselves doing…licking our wounds and waiting around for that downtown MLS team. It may sound boring, but it beats hanging out with a pack of drooling ravenous hyenas like yourselves. Oh Jesus…the bats are here again. Gotta go!
and you still lost
Orlando sounds like a solid club to pull a win.
Disagree. Derbies are a great idea. No one cares about USOC except for a few soccer hipsters. Getting the local rivalry angle going will only increase interest.
Possible but not likely:
Florida derby: orlando vs tampa , usl vs nasl.
That would be interesting – my understanding is that tampa has been avoiding this I 4 derby. Looks bad to lose to tier 3, i guess
I’m sure Boris has already cashed the check. No need in even trying.
Well I did have my eye on the Silverbacks/Sounders game until Boris the slimeball sold it out from under us. Hey Boris, you are DUMB AS A TREE STUMP if you think this will pay off in the long run. Your ticket agents used Open Cup home games as a selling point to season ticket buyers. Here’s an idea, sell the team to an owner with half a brain.
Part of me wonders if Seattle and ATL fans lobbied their front offices hard enough…could we get deal undone in the next 24 hours?
Then another part of me doesn’t give a damn anymore.
They’re not a USL squad this time around. The 2010 match up went to PKs.
Well done.
i think having to play rivals will make matches easier to sell to fans and hopefully increase attendance.
ha, ha. Yes!
Guzan leaving Villa:
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2786007,00.html
http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=9144
Note that Villa article says he was released. Yanks article says he chose not to renew.
The geographical nature of pairings probably has as much to do with keeping travel costs down for smaller clubs as anything else.
Crew at Fire potential just a few days after the match this coming weekend? Yeaaaaaaahhhh bbbboooooooiiiiiiii!
They’ll just go down and beat them like they did in the 2009 and 2010 USOCs.
Isn’t that something how if all mls clubs win they will face a close/geographical rival, come on make the draw magical don’t lay the path out for all mls clubs!
Wonder how the Sounders will buy their way out of that one?