Anyways, Jeremiah Oshan over at SBNation (cheap plug on my part), had a great post yesterday about how to improve the USOC. All points are great and are things I’ve been telling people for years now.

For one the removal of the bid process. Its keeping teams like RSL (who had a nice 8k crowd for their USOC game this past week, more than any other MLS side I might add) from hosting the next round.

What’s involved in the bidding process you ask? Well, at the start of the tournament each team is given a multi-page document that lays out the basics such as stadium size and jersey colors. Along with that is a bid form that includes information like expected attendance, whether or not the game will be on radio or televised and, most controversially, how much money the team is willing to guarantee the federation. This is where all kinds of potential shenanigans can happen.

SB Nation has learned the bids for third-round games are often at least in the tens of thousands of dollars, and bids in the later rounds can be substantially more. The kicker? Even MLS teams don’t know how much the other teams are bidding and never learn. For teams that actually want to win the tournament — and more and more teams seem to be figuring out that at the very least this is the path of least resistance to the CONCACAF Champions League — there are really no limits to how much they might be willing to spend.

Oshan next talks about the structure and how to include more teams. I’ve been saying for ages that the MLS qualifying round needs to be removed. Its amazing how the USSF keeps going with this kind of qualification for this tournament.

The USSF should embrace this unique feature by expanding the tournament in order to allow all 16 U.S.-based MLS teams automatic entry. That this already doesn’t happen is, perhaps, the hardest aspect of the tournament to understand. As it currently stands, the tournament consists of 40 teams — eight from MLS and 32 from various other leagues. Rather than eliminating spots that currently go to these lower leagues, simply add eight spots in the tournament.

Again, it isn’t that hard to make an 48 team bracket. Base things on region if you must, hell, even make it semi-NCAA tournament like. It would improve the game across the board and promote the big guys vs. the little guys even more. People love a good underdog but would still be fine when the tournament still saw the final eight teams being mostly MLS like we normally see today.

Oshan also talks about getting TV and a permanent venue for the final match. Both are a must in my book.

MLS qualifying bracket. (Photo via TheCup.US)

Love or hate the MLS qualifying, last night the two games proved to be good ones in the US Open Cup. All four MLS sides involved put out mostly starters instead of going with the heavy reserves for this game like the Colorado Rapids did a few days ago in their loss to the Chicago Fire.

Rookie CJ Sapong continues to impress his club as he scored the game’s only goal to drive Sporting Kansas City on to the next round of qualifying. What was more impressive was the Sporting defense, who held Houston scoreless in this one after giving up eight goals in their first three MLS contest this season.

This further fuels my thoughts from earlier that Houston may not be all that great this season after all.

D.C. United rode the quality keeping of academy standout Bill Hamid in a penalty kick win over Philadelphia. Both teams traded goals in regulation and then again in overtime before heading to kicks. Impressive stuff out of Hamid in the shootout too, while he only stopped one, he was able to correctly guess the direction of each kick by Philly. You don’t see too many keepers guess the right way in shootouts.

D.C. moves on to face the New England Revolution next, with the winner of that to play Sporting Kansas City. Chicago is awaiting the winner of the San Jose/Portland contest that is still yet to be played.

During a conference call with reporters today, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati revealed the timing of the NASL’s one-year sanctioning made it impossible for the league’s teams to compete in the country’s longest continuously running championship. He also ruled out the possibility of some kind of play-in mechanism.

What makes the news rather shocking is the fact that there are only five teams to deal with here for the NASL in the USOC. Given the fact that there are 11 USL-Pro teams that are eligible for the USOC, it makes this news a bit of a head-scratcher. You’d think an even 16 clubs from the two divisions would be easier to deal with than an odd number of clubs from the 3rd division league.

No word has been given yet on how the USOC will be structured this year to make up for the five NASL clubs missing from the brackets. I still believe the tournament needs a major restructuring anyways and now could be the perfect time to do it.

What do you make of the NASL not being allowed to play in the USOC this year? Do you think it won’t matter considering how well MLS clubs do in this tournament?

Time to ditch the MLS qualifying bracket in the US Open Cup.

I’ve had this thought bubbling for a while. How on earth can we improve the US Open Cup? I know I’ve mentioned it in the past and today seemed like a good day to bring it back up. With the changes that have gone on in US Soccer over the last year or so with the NASL-USL split and the ever growing MLS it seems like a perfect time to revamp the Cup.

I’ve always been interested and eager to see the US Open Cup have a format similar to the FA Cup in England. I think having the little guys like the PDL and USASA teams involved early on with the MLS, NASL and USL-Pro teams will make for a better competition. The FA Cup has a crazy qualification system but it works in my mind as it gets the smaller clubs involved early with the big boys.

So how exactly would the US Open Cup change? Right now the MLS qualifying rounds make no sense to me. Having only half of the league’s teams involved in the final bracket seems pointless really as it gives most MLS clubs a reason not to take this thing serious. By removing that qualifying round for MLS club and expanding out the bracket we’d see possibly more teams take the tournament serious like Seattle, D.C., and a few others have in the past.

My thought is to keep the PDL and USASA qualifications the same but reduce the number that get in from those two groups to 14 clubs (last year 17 qualified). Those teams will play in the first round bracket against USL-Pro and NASL clubs. Keeping it fairly local should reduce travel costs as well. The winners face a MLS side in the second round.

In other words the bracket would be broken down in four regions of 12 clubs. Four MLS sides would get buys into the second round and face winners of the other games. In all its a 48 team bracket (note this provides that the USL-Pro does get a team in San Antonio this year like its been rumored). Of course this will be tweaked with MLS expands further in the US with New York or even other cities but for arguments sake we’ll stick with the 48 team bracket (same goes for USL-Pro and NASL expanding as well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it).

You can still do mid-week games for these and keep it fairly local to reduce travel costs. You’d likely see better games throughout it as well. It may add an extra game or two for some who already have a busy schedule but seeing all MLS teams in the bracket will make it better in the long run.

The big question comes to when you’d play these rounds. I’d honestly love to see this tournament get finished up before the end of the summer. Of course there have been other ideas out there like doing this around the time that the MLS season wraps up or even having some of the qualifying rounds for non-playoff MLS teams happen during the playoffs.

Of course a lot has to change besides just overall format of the tournament for every MLS club to get serious about this tournament. Its possible with the upcoming roster expansion and reserve division coming back into the fold that we’ll see this tournament get truly competitive for MLS sides.

So what do you think of the US Open Cup going to a 48-team bracket? Think it would work? Would it be better off if all MLS clubs were involved in the bracket instead of going through a qualifying round like they do now? Let’s hear your take.

Interesting quote from LA boss Bruce Arena on the timing of the US Open Cup games after his Galaxy lost last night in the quarterfinals to the Seattle Sounders FC.

“No, to me these games don’t make sense. Essentially it was a reserve game tonight. I think the timing of this competition isn’t right for MLS teams; it’s a difficult time to try and play these games. I think if see both teams, obviously both want to win, the competition is water down due to the fact that each team is juggling players and see who you want to play and who you don’t want to play. For us tonight there were valuable minutes for some players and others not so good.”

Several MLS clubs have said similar things over the years about the timing of the USOC in their schedule. For teams like the Galaxy who have a loaded schedule due to the CONCACAF Champions League, the regular MLS slate, friendlies scheduled in the summer and then this tournament you can see why they complain like this.

Sure these comments wouldn’t come out after a win though but I do agree with the timing of this tournament being a bit off still. They’ve adjusted it in the past to not go as long as it used to but I’d still argue that this needs to be something that should be pushed up earlier in the year.

My wonder too is that do teams even make money on this tournament any more? I know its the oldest tournament that we have for soccer in the States but I’m getting more of a sense that it really needs revamped to make it more meaningful.

This was probably one of the more entertaining US Open Cup finals that I’ve seen in the past couple years. Maybe it was because of the DC fans making RFK a fortress or maybe it was because you had a USL club in the final for the first time in a few years.

With the win, DC becomes the first MLS club to qualify for the 2009/10 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Below is some highlights of the game as well as some photos of DC and the trophy.

Here is a little mojo to get you Black-and-Red fans in the mood for tonight’s US Open Cup final in RFK Stadium. I will have more in a bit on this game but I wanted to start out with this video that a reader emailed in this morning!

The only MLS side that could host is DC, that is if D.C. United and Charleston advance. In that case, the game would be Sept. 3 at RFK Stadium (7:30 ET). Otherwise…..

DCU at Seattle, Sept. 3, 11 p.m. ET.

New England at Seattle, Sept. 15, 10 p.m.

New England at Charleston, Sept. 22, 7 p.m. ET.

This is all pretty interesting. The fact that a USL club could be hosting the title game is pretty big for both Charleston and Seattle. You know Seattle is hoping to make their mark on this tournament and head to the CONCACAF Champions League next year with this win. Yeah that will also be their first year in MLS so even bigger if they do.

Same could be said for Charleston, except they won’t be getting the “promotion” to MLS anytime soon, but a US Open Cup win never looks bad no matter what division you are in.

Do you all think this will make it tougher on the MLS sides (DC or New England) to win if they are playing in Seattle or Charleston? I think it adds some more interest the tournament for sure.

Lately, Fox Soccer Channel is scheduled to show the final live.

AND, the semifinals are next week (more coverage then too):

New England at DCU and Seattle at Charleston.

Onionsack brings the point:

Since MLS started in 1996 there has NEVER been a season in which one of Chicago, DC, or LA has NOT won a major domestic trophy.

1996 – DC (MLS Cup, US Open Cup)
1997 – DC (MLS Cup)
1998 – Chicago (MLS Cup, US Open Cup) LA – (SS)
1999 – DC (MLS Cup, SS)
2000 – Chicago (US Open Cup)
2001 – LA (US Open Cup)
2002 – LA (MLS Cup, SS)
2003 – Chicago (US Open Cup)
2004 – DC (MLS Cup)
2005 – LA (MLS Cup, US Open Cup)
2006 – DC (SS), Chicago (US Open Cup)
2007 – DC (SS)

2008- ?

Of course it helps that all three have been in MLS Cups for the most part of the league’s history and that the Fire have been a pretty dominate side in the US Open Cup since their first season back in 1998.

Is this the year it ends though? DC moved on last night to keep the US Open Cup bid alive, all are somewhat still in the mix for both the Supporter’s Shield and MLS Cup at this point.

I always find points and stats like these to be very interesting. I am going to try to spend part of the day if I can coming up with some other stats to throw out your way, particularly how clubs have ended up each year at the midway point and put it into context for this year’s season.

Surprised by these stats? Its not saying these are the league’s ‘super clubs’ or anything like that but they certainly have the biggest trophy cases of any clubs in the league!

Blanco and Burch were both red-carded for violent conduct.

The league is looking into this matter and apparently the on the field issues aren’t the only thing from this. Apparently according to sources, Blanco also headbutted a DC United official on his way out of the game. No photos or video of that yet but still it sounds like a sticky situation for the Mexican star. To me it sounds like emotions are boiling over due to his club’s recent form.

You be the judge.

Here is a video where you can see Blanco punch at Simms at about 28 seconds and then slow-mo at around 40 seconds. Towards the end you can also see Blanco head back towards Simms.