The field and format for the 2018 U.S. Open Cup was finalized this week, and three notable clubs are absent from the list of participants.
The three teams remaining in the NASL despite the cancellation of the 2018 season, the New York Cosmos, Miami FC, and the Jacksonville Armada, were not included in the field of 94 teams competing for the U.S. Open Cup title.
Last year, Miami FC made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the tournament before falling to FC Cincinnati. They also won the Spring and Fall seasons of the NASL while the Cosmos lost the playoff final to the defunct San Francisco Deltas.
Cosmos owner and NASL chairman Rocco Commisso has filed another grievance with the United States Soccer Federation over their exclusion from the field.
“I strongly believe that the NASL clubs being excluded from the 2018 USOC is against the spirit of an open tournament and is an unjust decision based on the following factors,” Commisso said in a letter to U.S. Soccer.
He then listed everything his club has done to ensure participation in the tournament in 2018. His list includes the Cosmos completing their entry paperwork and submitting their entry fee, the inclusion of the USL’s expansion teams and the NASL sides that jumped to that league for this season, and the fact that the Miami FC and the Armada are fielding teams in the NPSL this year.
Miami FC’s CEO Sean Flynn echoed the Cosmos’ statement.
“It is a sad and troubling day for The Miami FC and its fans,” Flynn said in a club issued statement. “The notion that the USSF would deny this club and other NASL clubs re-entry to the historic U.S. Open Cup is maddening and inexcusable. The USSF’s efforts to essentially relegate a league into extinction, and then deny those remaining clubs the opportunity to compete in this tournament, clearly shows that the system is broken and is operating outside of FIFA’s rules. Our path to ultimately compete in FIFA’s Club World Cup is now blocked by our own federation, a path that professional clubs in every other FIFA member country around the globe has access to.”
Commisso is demanding the federation take one of three possible actions. He wants them to either remove the USL expansion sides and NASL defectors from the tournament, getting rid of the second teams operated by the Portland Timbers, Oklahoma City Energy and New York Red Bulls, or and other resolution that would allow the Cosmos, Armada, and Miami FC to compete in the tournament.
this stinks. so what reason did ussoccer give for excluding them?
If those three teams are not even playing in a league, how are they supposed to prepare for the open cup competition? Are they going to pay players to play a couple of games only?
I am not saying they should necessarily be excluded. I just don’t know how they would manage the logistics.
Surely there are examples of teams who changed leagues before, either up from PDL, up from one of the higher divisions to MLS, or sideways from NASL to USL. What happens to them for USOC?
I see some tension in the way it’s set up between whether “leagues” take slots or “teams.” If NASL had slots but doesn’t exist and you weren’t in NPSL to earn those last season, maybe you fall into a black hole of sorts.
Now, if slots go to teams, I’d say if the corporate entities are continuous and the team is just playing in another league, they have earned their participation and should be allowed to play. It is akin to what happens in relegation. I want to say there are some “Wigan” type examples where a team wins FA Cup while getting relegated and they go to Europe while dropping a division.
Now, f the old corporate entity is being liquidated, shouldn’t get to have it both ways. You don’t get to wipe out debts and act like a new team and then lay claim to the history including just last season. Otherwise teams could fold for cynical financial reasons only to reopen next season and lay claim to anything they earned. Shouldn’t, because the premise is that old team disappeared. Basically the “Rangers” deal from Scotland a few years back when they went bankrupt. We’ll let you in the league but you start over from the bottom like a new team and don’t retain the old team’s honors and division.
nice of you to ask 2008 Sounders played in USOC.
Lost to Ozzie Alonso and Charleston< I think in the semis, then signed Ozzie and the rest is MLS history.
They really shouldn’t be excluding the NASL teams.
The league is dead, it’s on life support anyway, why be jerks about it?
How much damage are some teams that don’t even have a regular season to play going to do playing in it?
Trying to legislate them out is petty and looks like what it is, a monopolistic rubout of a former competitor.
They aren’t NASL teams, they are NPSL teams. Only teams in the top three divisions get auto bids. Fourth tier and below is subject to qualification or some other selection criteria. For 2018, 19 NPSL teams were selected, including teams from New York and Miami. If they wanted to play in the USOC, maybe they should have joined USL. Better luck next year!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Lamar_Hunt_U.S._Open_Cup_qualification
that is true and why they are not included in this year’s Open Cup.
but they bring up a good point, how NPSL should be getting more bids than PDL. my solution every league that is not professional (currently everything lower than USL) should qualify via local Opens.
I don think there really is a league there, but I 100% agree. Why exclude?
it is an Open Cup, not a close to your League Making Money for Qualifying Cup.