The Wizards will begin their US Open Cup campaign early again this year after failing to make the MLS playoffs last year. Today the "draw" was held for who would host who in the first qualifying round. With the Wizards being the 6th best team to miss the playoffs, they'll be taking on the Colorado Rapids, the 3rd best team to miss the playoffs. As the higher seed, the Rapids got to call the coin flip for who would be hosting the game. The Rapids' Sports Director, Paul Bravo, made the call, heads, but lost. The result gave the Wizards the right to host the game. Should the Wizards take out the Rapids, they will then play one of three teams, New England, New York, or Philadelphia in the final qualifier to get into the US Open Cup proper.
Personally I don't like this set up. All the teams in the USA's top division should get into the tournament proper without having to go through a qualifying process. Even if it means putting those 9 clubs in a round earlier than the rest of the teams. That's just one of my problems with the tournament. The other is the process with which the home team is chosen. That process being that teams bid for the right to host. For example, DC United has not had to leave the DC metro area for a qualifier the past 2 years because of the bidding process. I'd rather the competition go to a blind draw for tournament similar to the FA Cup, and if teams don't want to host they can make that known before the draw. It just seems to cheapen the competition to me.
See the draw below.
agreed..
ReplyDeleteI never knew it was done like this
Yeah this is a bit silly. It should be every team in MLS qualifies automatically, w/last year's winner and runner-up getting byes for one week or something.
ReplyDeleteWith this teams are playing wildly varying amounts of games.
just wanted to add that I hope what goes around comes around in regard to that Duck'n Futchman De Jong.
ReplyDeleteInternatinoal games are making MLS refs look good lately