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MLS teams begin U.S. Open Cup play with third-round matchups

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MLS teams enter the U.S. Open Cup's third round Tuesday night, and while plenty of regional bouts headline the night's slate, the non-regional ones carry some of the top story lines.

The Seattle Sounders begin a third straight Open Cup title defense at home on Wednesday night against the NASL's Atlanta Silverbacks. Atlanta was supposed to host the match, but the teams came to an agreement, with Seattle making an offer that Atlanta accepted to move the match to the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash.

U.S. youth national team defender Gale Agbossoumonde and his Carolina RailHawks will get tested by the Los Angeles Galaxy, who have to make the cross-country trek for the match. The other MLS team with the roughest travel for the third round is Colorado, as the Rapids face the Tampa Bay Rowdies down in Florida.

Elsewhere, the two defending champions from the lower tiers of U.S. Soccer, Orlando City SC (USL Pro) and the Minnesota Stars (NASL) have tough matchups against Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake, respectively. Also, the three remaining amateur sides will look to keep their shock runs going, with Cal FC going up against the Portland Timbers, Michigan Bucks facing the Chicago Fire and Ventura County Fusion taking aim Chivas USA. 

Here are all of the third-round matchups along with the pairings for the following round:

U.S. OPEN CUP THIRD ROUND (all times Eastern)

Richmond Kickers vs. D.C. United, 7 p.m.

Carolina RailHawks vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, 7 p.m.

Harrisburg City Islanders vs. New England Revolution, 7 p.m.

Michigan Bucks vs. Chicago Fire, 7:30 p.m.

Columbus Crew vs. Dayton Dutch Lions, 7:30 p.m.

Philadelphia Union vs. Rochester Rhinos, 7:30 p.m.

Charleston Battery vs. New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.

Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Colorado Rapids, 7:30 p.m.

FC Dallas vs. Charlotte Eagles, 8:30 p.m.

Sporting Kansas City vs. Orlando City SC, 8:30 p.m.

San Antonio Scorpions vs. Houston Dynamo, 8:30 p.m.

Real Salt Lake vs. Minnesota Stars FC, 9 p.m.

Seattle Sounders vs. Atlanta Silverbacks, 10 p.m. (Wednesday)

Ventura County Fusion vs. Chivas USA, 10 p.m.

San Jose Earthquakes vs. Fort Lauderdale Strikers, 10:30 p.m.

Portland Timbers vs. Cal FC, 10:30 p.m. (Wednesday)

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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Are you heading out to any Open Cup matches tonight? Which MLS teams do you see getting knocked off in the third round? Can you see any of the amateur sides advancing to the next round?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Sorry I screwed up the spelling of Ty’s last name – it’s Shipalane. I was working from a cell phone while holding a toddler. But I’m pretty sure there weren’t 23409587234 people out there hitting ‘refresh’ every few minutes looking for updates from me.

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  2. I’d like to thank the Chicago fans for coming to Pontiac tonight and making a contribution to the local economy. Better luck next year!

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  3. Lade with a gorgeous goal to put RB up 3-0. Not a very pretty game from RB but the scoreline shows that NY only needs a few chances to punish a team.

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  4. 82d minutes, and Garey (who’d just come on for Schilchawski) was 1-on-1 w/ former Crew teammate Gaudette and he hits it wide.

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  5. 1-1 in 76th minutes. Ty Shiplane scores for CAR.
    Bryan Jordan for LA arrested for indecent exposure when Shiplane shook him out of his jock, and Gaudette just flat missed the shot.

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  6. 66th minute – 2 LA players collide with Gaudette on a corner kick. Somehow a foul is called on CAR, despite no ‘Hawks player nearby.
    That plus 2 blown offsides calls (1 each way) and Noonan whining any time anyone looks at him crosseyed, and its not been the bext night for refs

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  7. 39th minute, Railhawks defense forgets there’s a back side to the field.
    Barrett to Noonan for a simple side-foot goal. 1-0 Galaxy

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  8. LA has Barrett & Noonan up front. 18 minutes in and Barrett’s already missed 2 inside the 6yd box.
    LA back line holding up, but a lot of Railhawks pressure.

    For those of you that remember me helping cover The Crew for Ives about 4-5 years ago, there’s a bunch of ex-CLB players tonight: Noonan & Gaudette for LA (and Edsel on the bench) and Cory Elenio for CAR.

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  9. If this was last year, I’d like Carolina’s chances. But w/ only 4 guys back from last year, the ‘Hawks have been crap all year

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  10. Will try to drop a few updates from Railhawks-Galaxy, assuming the rain holds off. We’ve got the toddler with us, so rain = evacuation.

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  11. Agreed. The Bucks have as good a record in the Cup as any PDL team. I’ll be heading out to that game tonight. It should be great fun.

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  12. Heading out to the Sporting game tonight, which the team has announced will be on steamed on their YouTube account.

    This game has me really worried Orlando is as quality as you will find in the US from a non-MLS team. If Sporting handles this just like an MLS game they should be fine, but if they play a mainly reserve team (which I think they will do) it will be a dog fight.

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  13. When MLS teams buy home field from minor league teams it ends up working well for both teams because they’re (the minor league clubs) being compensated for lost ticket sales etc. plus more which in the ends will financially help keep those teams be successful in their own league. In many cases the USL teams know they face an uphill battle when playing deeper and better MLS squads.

    Minor league teams are choosing to sell these games for their own reasons.

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  14. Nice the article only mentioned Seattle doing it. May want to check out Portland and RSL as well.

    It takes two to agree to the switch.

    Only time I will give credit to Portland for being the first to do something.

    Blame US soccer for setting the rules.

    Love how if every MLS team wins, generally speaking it sets up for a rivalry game.

    You don’t think US soccer is going for a money grab.

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  15. It’s weak, but they’re not alone. RSL and several others did too.

    I’d like to point out that LA did not pay off the Railhawks. Given the way LA has been playing, it’s going to be a legit challenge.

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  16. Didn’t Portland also pay to host the match (then turned out they didn’t need to)? And RSL paid to host the match as well, I’m pretty sure.

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  17. Nice. The Sounders paid off the Silverbacks to move the match to Seattle. No wonder no one takes the Open Cup seriously.

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