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Red Bulls to host Cosmos, headlining U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 matchups

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By MATT STYPULKOSKI

With the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup now in the books, U.S. Soccer has drawn the matchups for the upcoming Round of 16.

Headlining the contests is a clash between the New York Red Bulls and New York Cosmos, while the San Jose Earthquakes take on the LA Galaxy in another local derby. Elsewhere, the Philadelphia Union face off with D.C. United, Orlando City hosts the Columbus Crew and the Portland Timbers visit Real Salt Lake.

The remaining teams have been split into four, four-team pods, representing the East, South, Central and West Regions. Within each region, teams were drawn onto four seed lines, with the top seed hosting the third-seeded team and the No. 4 team traveling to the No. 2 team. The winner of the 1 vs. 3 matchup will also have the privilege of hosting the quarterfinal round in that region.

In addition, the draw also determined that the winner of the East region will host the winner of the South region in the semifinals, while the Central winner will host the West winner. The host of the final will be drawn shortly before the semifinals are played.

Specific match dates and times are expected later Thursday afternoon.

The results of the U.S. Open Cup draw are as follows:

East

1 – New York Red Bulls vs. 3 – New York Cosmos

2 – Philadelphia Union vs. 4 – D.C. United

South

1 – Chicago Fire vs. 3 – Charlotte Independence

2 – Orlando City SC vs. 4 – Columbus Crew SC

Central

1 – Sporting Kansas City vs. 3 – FC Dallas

2 – Houston Dynamo vs. 4 – Colorado Rapids

West

1 – Real Salt Lake vs. 3 – Portland Timbers

2 – San Jose Earthquakes vs. 4 – Los Angeles Galaxy

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What do you think of the Round of 16 matchups? Which teams would you like to see advance? Who has the best shot of winning the tournament?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Agree that long island cosmos and nasl will be done in a couple years, they’re not independent, they are run with middle east oil money and bribing criminals from Traffic, come on now. Support your real local club from MLS which actually is growing the game in the US.

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  2. cosmos or whoever from nasl can win the USOC one year or another, it does not matter, the better players will all gravitate to MLS growing revenue stream/popularity over time and the gap will get greater and greater then now, give it time. NASL will fold with some good hand picked franchises being moved up to MLS…

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  3. Why the Cosmos matters? Love ’em like I do or hate ’em. I suspect most fans of teams remaining in the USOC would love to go v. Cosmos.

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    • Metro original? You mean NJRB right? Go cheer for a can, champ.
      .
      #greentideworldwide
      .
      Support your local independent soccer clubs!!!

      Reply
      • What’s hilarious is that Cosmos is every bit as much of a branding exercise as RBNY. Why did this new startup club choose to take the name of a long defunct NASL team? Because they knew a few oldtimers and hipsters would flock to it.

      • Yep — “your local independent soccer club” was founded as a professional club in 1970, played in at least four different locations in two states before folding in 1985, and survived literally in name only before the name was assumed 25 years later by a different organization that was being added to — you got it — the same league. Speaking about the Cosmos as some sort of grassroots, local phenomenon that exists before and outside a league structure is, shall we say, counter-factual.

      • Same team.
        Same name.
        Same city.
        Same colors.
        New era.
        .
        Support your local independent soccer clubs.

  4. Wow, I haven’t spent much time on this blog lately but the rhetoric of the NASL supporters seems to have become very focused in strange ways. There seems to be two basic arguments 1) That people who support MLS are “bots” who simply repeat and mindlessly support the leagues decisions and teams. and 2) that supporting NASL is supporting independent soccer in America.
    As someone who just notices this now I have to say this is baffling! MLS supporters like me and my family have been in since the beginning. Before MLS we went to Washington Stars ASL games and Virginia college matches. We sat in the stands for the 94 World Cup and followed the league as it emerged. We supported the league from the beginning and have watched it grow successful over the years.
    We did not do this as mindless bots. A major characteristic of MLS fans is constant criticism of Don Garber and all incarnations of central power in the league, from confounding rules changes to bad choices in awarding expansion franchises. We fans are constantly struggling with our teams ownership’s (Metro’s fan speaking) and we are the first to criticize player and coaching choices and firings. And we are such a cantankerous bunch of whiners because we have a real stake in the success of this league. We won’t watch it fail and shrug our shoulders. We would be ashamed if it collapsed like NASL did before it.
    Furthermore the hyped up paranoia of calling people who disagree with you “Bots” and the single head in the sand slogan “Independent” reeks of the kind of dead-end political bullsh*t that you would find at a Tea Party rally.
    Gross guys! Our sport deserves a better dialogue than that.

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    • Playstation vs. X-Box?

      League fanboys in soccer are silly. Every league has teams of different calibers. Every player and team situation is unique.

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    • Everyone started as a mls fan. 20 years is enough time to support one league at the expense of every other independent soccer club in the country.

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    • I hear you, Crosebud. I have a similar story, though I’m old enough to have cheered for the Cosmos in the old Giants Stadium. I’m no “MLS bot” — I am consistently critical of Garber and his silly rules — but what a truly independent, decentralized structure got us was confusion, conflict, and a few thousand or a few hundred fans showing up to watch what my dad liked to call “neighborhood soccer.” MLS needs a lot of work, but reform is not destruction. Perhaps in another hundred years the morass of independent clubs and leagues that existed in the 60s (which I am also old enough to remember) would have built enough of a foundation and attracted enough investment to generate a truly top-flight professional league. But MLS started with a different, top-down model, which (many of us hope) will reform itself into a league of separate entities rather than the unwieldy single-entity structure that got it off the ground. The funny thing is that I think both camps in this debate want the same thing. I just think the (flawed) MLS model, having completely transformed the American soccer landscape, is and always has been much more likely to get us there.

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      • Stop fear mongering. It’s 2015, whole different world. You’re living in the past, and that with your antiquated view point in fact does make you a MLS bot.

  5. Frenchy, opencupfan,

    This is the first year of this level of organization. And they did have a pretty well done youtube live show explaining the draw, format, etc. it was on ussf youtube at 10 ct. Might still be there.

    The seeds were explained to be 1-requested to host r16 game and qf game and won both 2- request both and won the first 3 – requested but not selected 4 – did not request to host (we all know how much of inconvence games are for LA and the Rapids, so sorry, please lose!)

    Previous to this year it was Kinda mysterous closed doors mls style draws…

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  6. #1 seeds should play #4 seeds and NOT #1 vs #3. Why reward the second best team with a matchup vs. the lowest ranked side? Does anyone at US soccer know how to properly conduct a draw? Jeeeez.

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  7. Does anyone know how the “seeding” was done? I’m guessing just a random drawing since there doesn’t seem to be any logic to them?

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  8. Granted, I don’t follow the US Open Cup as closely as the MLS games, but have they always broken the matchups down by region at this stage in the competition?

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  9. You know Hempstead fans are secretly upset with this. Now when they get spanked by a first-choice RBNY team, they won’t be able to go on and on about the kings of NY nonsense.

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    • How do you pick which franchise to support? Me, I can never pick one McDonalds over another! Or, is your favorite franchise just assigned to by mls and you have to accept it, that way it doesn’t mess with bot programming? Seems not thinking is probably the way mls prefers it – kind of like when mlsSJ “traded” Landon Donovan to mlsLA for ZERO? And then rewarded SJ GM with a job in LA, but no one was allowed to mention it – like the SJ fans weren’t screwed? And now MLS tells you to listen to that GM as an expert on soccer! Yes, the guy that traded Landon Donovan for nothing is the MLS soccer analyst of choice!
      .
      Yep, MLS likes it when you don’t think or ask questions, jus follow their press releases and accept the soccer expertise of the guy that traded Landon Donovan for nothing. #bushleague

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      • I picked NYFC to root for last night.

        It was ALL, 100%, because of people like you. I would have rooted for the Cosmos otherwise.

      • I second that comment – and to your idiotic previous question on how we pick MLS teams. Here’s a hint, I live in Houston so I support the team from Houston. If I had lived somewhere else I probably would have chosen a team from around there. Like in any other sport in any other country.

      • you can support ManCityReserves because you don’t want to see independent club soccer in the U.S. All you want. The rest of us that want to see it will continue to support independent soccer clubs.
        .
        Now go read a mls press release so you know what to think next.

      • Against all odds, you have made me want to defend every last detail about MLS and its model. Your mantra about “independent soccer clubs,” like your compatriot’s ceaseless references to NASL “making strides,” cannot hide the fact that NASL total attendance is barely one-tenth of MLS total attendance. Go win your championships in Fort Lauderdale or wherever and snatch a win or two in the USOC every year. Then go back to Hempstead and wonder why US soccer is not the same as it was in 1975, or 1935.

      • You already support MLS nonsense instead of the independent soccer clubs all over this country trying to make it work everyday. You’re no great loss, just irritating that you feign n interest in the success of anything but the McWendys offered to you.
        .
        Independent burger joints are better!
        .
        Stop blaming me for your blind support of mls

      • I live 20 minutes from StubHub Center and I love the Galaxy. Maybe it’s just coincidence that Don Garber hand-selected me as a Galaxy fan?

      • So, you pick the McWendys closest to you? Sounds reasonable, they’re all the same crap anyway.

    • I get the impression this is exactly the matchup they would want.

      1.) It gives them a chance to watch the game. RBA is local. Their nearest NASL opponent is Carolina. Plus RBA is awesome
      2.) It’s more fun when it’s local. C’mon. You get that, right?
      3.) TV. There’s a chance this could be on normal TV

      Reply
  10. RBNY has a real attack far beyond what NYCFC can put together.
    The Cosmos only chance would be to get Roversio and Senna back on the field.

    For those of you who don’t watch NASL, Roversio might be one of the top five CBs in America. He should really be playing in MLS. Weirdly, he’s never been available for any of these NY Open Cup matches.

    Anything less than a full Cosmos side will lose by two goals

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    • Yeah they’ll need all hands on deck. I rewatched the match today, the Cosmos defense definitely looked shaky. I’m not sure Roversio is top 5, but he’s an upgrade to their lineup. I thought the Cosmos attack played really well, Fernandez, Moffat, and Restrepo handled the midfield nicely. They’re a fun team to watch, should be plenty of fireworks in two weeks.

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  11. Well this all started as a local NJ/NY blog so you have to understand why there is a greater focus on soccer storylines from here.

    Frankly, LA/SJ is a great rivalry…no arguments there, but these MLS/NASL RB/NYCFC/Cosmos games have all been pretty epic around here so forgive us for our excitement.

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  12. I understand this is SBI, and the NY/NJ thing is strong, but this round is full of great matchups.

    I would say the best matchup is El Clasico of SJ/LA, then NYRB/NYC. Orlando and C-bus hate each other. Philly/DC are I-95 rivals.

    The only way it could have been better is Houston/Dallas.

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      • Actually I think you’ll find that 40k plus (more when they open the whole stadium) show up in Seattle for those derbies (and every other game) and they’d show up that strong in Portland too if their stadium was big enough. 40k is about 10 times the crowd at the average game in Hempstead btw.

  13. Stop calling everything a stupid DERBY.
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    It’s only a DERBY if they are from the same CITY!
    .
    Oh yeah, this whole draw is dumb. This is not an open competition this way.
    .
    #greentideworldwide – Cosmos!
    .
    Go! Charlotte!
    .
    Support your local independent soccer club!

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      • SanJose and LA are not local. Did you learn geography from a mls press release? MLS has many strange rules, but are you now swallowing a new understanding of geography as well? MLS bot academy now teaches geography?
        .
        My apologies to the author, didn’t mean to single this article out in particular, but been seeing this word, DERBY, thrown around too much just for the sake of stupid marketing.

    • bottlecaps is right about the definition of a derby. Also, I assume this is an attempted jibe at RBNY for having their stadium in NJ. But Cosmos are in Hempstead, which is also not NYC so kind of an odd statement.

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      • You’re wrong, as usual. No problem calling Cosmos-NJRB game a derby, the problem is USSF forces an actual soccer club to play a McWendys franchise. USSF is supposed to protect US soccer, not promote one league at the expense of all the independent clubs in the country.

      • I love how NASL supporters act like their league, run with an actual criminals money, is some grassroots Utopian ideal the USSF should put all its resources into. Leagues with franchises and big money owners like MLS/USL (and yes, actually the NASL too, with its criminals in charge) are the only short term way to cut the gap between US soccer and the rest of the world. Unless you have a way to generate 125+ years of “real grassroots natural growth” like the rest of the world already had the opportunity to do, I suggest you drop the pretentious BS

      • Cliff Notes version for NASL fans:

        The Cosmos are a McFranchise and your entire league is composed of McFranchises.

      • West Ham & Millwall is a derby. Arsenal & Tottenham is Derby. Fulham & Chelsea is a derby. Chelsea & Tottenham is not a derby. Their rivals. If you can’t walk to the game and / or you have to take a train, it’s not a derby, its a rivalry

        Arsenal & Tottenham = derby

        Chelsea & Arsenal = London Rivalry

        West Brom & Wolverhampton = West Midlands derby

        West Brom & Birmingham = Midlands Rivalry, if even.

      • Thanks mate!
        .
        But be careful, there are MLS bots lurking on the Internet and they attack anything that doesn’t conform to MLS press releases.

      • Totally absurd and made up definition. Sounds like you’ve never been to London but I don’t think too many people would walk from Chelsea to Arsenal for instance. Sure, it’s possible but quite a hike.

        So there are virtually no derbies even in England, a country the size of NY State that has 92 professional clubs. And there are certainly none in the US. That’s a strange post even by your standards.

      • I meant to say few would walk from Spurs to Arsenal but it’s equally absurd to say Chelsea-Arsenal isn’t a derby. Also, apparently you’ve never been to West Brom or Wolves because that’s a heck of a walk between them!

      • Not absurd. And I at least remember two annoyed English commentators pointed out exactly that. Once Warren Barton & once some guy on ESPN

        Because realistically, they are being loose with the term for marketing reasons. It’s just the nature.

        And LOL at the idea of San Jose and LA, or Sacramento for that matter, being a derby. Chivas and Galaxy were hardly a derby because of the distance between the two stadiums.

      • And the point your making about not being able to walk from Chelsea to Arsenal is exactly the point I was making, hence it’s not a derby!

        If teams from the opposite ends of the English Mid-Lands don’t even consider each other rivals, then clearly ANY two teams in MLS can’t be considered a derby.

        A derby is tradition. It’s the walk of two rival supporters to and fro each others stadiums claiming the rights of the area when once they’ve won and getting up the next day to talk sh*t to their mates and family who are fans of the rival team.

        You really don’t understand if you don’t agree with what the latter part of what I’ve said.

      • You can’t walk from West Brom to Wolves – I’ve been to both and they are pretty far away from each other. It’s also a pretty far walk from the emirates to White Hart Lane – I guess it’s not a real derby either.

        The idea you have to walk to the other stadium is ridiculous. Even in England most people don’t even walk to their own team’s home ground.

        All of these NY games are derbies. LAG- Chivas was apparently the ultimate derby then. No need to even walk to the other ground since they shared!

        I’ve never been to Glasgow but it’s apparently 6 miles from Ibrox to Celtic Park – not a derby!

        Over 10 miles from Boca Juniors to River Plate – not a derby. Sorry, just a rivalry!

        After these posts I almost prefer the posts where you call me names and make false accusations about me.

  14. Can’t script it any better than that! Should be a fun round, and I’d bet RBA is a sellout for this one. I also wonder if the Cosmos can bring on Herc before this one (if thats allowed). It should be an exciting game, but judging by the last round, Cosmos could have a really hard time with BWP.

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    • I will definitely go to this game, but I am willing to bet anything that it will not be a sell-out. I think that 10k tops in actuall attendance.

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    • It won’t be a sellout. The club literally does nothing to market these games. In fact, the Atlanta game wasn’t even listed on the team’s schedule on their website until a day or two before. And Cosmos only have about 3k fans total so even if they all come it’ll still be a tiny crowd.

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      • True, but he will have a different midfield this time for service. It should be a good game. Personally I’ll be pulling for the Cosmos (I go for underdogs) and I think they’ll have plenty of chances.

        I also noticed this is slated for July 1, so Cosmos have a two week break while Red Bull play three games over the same time, including three days before, so maybe it will be a mixed squad for Red Bull.

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