Now that we're through the holidays its time to get back to business. Hopefully KSE will make a coaching choice this week, as this debacle of an off-season can't go on much longer. More on that in a moment.

USL PDL Open Qualifying Change

According to the Kitsap Pumas (linked above) they automatically qualify for the 2012 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup since they won their division. Joining them would be the Portland Timbers U-23 side, as they were the best remaining American team.

Other qualifiers based on last year's standings in the PDL (and assuming that this is true for all PDL divisions) would be the Michigan Bucks, Chicago Fire, Des Moinse Menace, Real Colorado Foxes, Long Island Rough Riders, Reading United, MPS Portland Phoenix, New Hampshire Phantoms, Carolina Dynamo, Northern Virginia Royals, Laredo Heat, Chivas El Paso Patriots, Mississippi Brilla, Central Florida Kraze (now Orlando City U-23), Fresno Fuego, Ventura County Fusion

Now that would be 18, so I may be jumping the gun.

Freddy Field in Texas: Built on a labor of love & life celebration and with dollars earned exclusively through donation..

TSG gets a lot of impassioned pleas to help out through publicity or promotion for one cause or another.

They all resonate (The Freddy Fund, Little Feet, Soccer Without Borders, Street Soccer USA, all.

There was only one scenario where the Real Colorado Foxes could fail to make the USL's Premier Development League playoffs, the team would have to lose to Thunder Bay and Des Moines would have to sweep its final two matches.

The one scenario played out in all its painful details over the weekend.

The Real Colorado Foxes made their point and ensured a playoff spot Friday night in a game that featured six cautions and left the home team with 10 men.

Reflective of a late-season showdown between the top two teams in the Heartland Division of the Premier Development League's Central Conference, the teams had far more bookings that goal scorers.

Winning 11 out of 14 games hasn't been enough to give the Real Colorado Foxes control of the team's playoff destiny.

Instead of running away with the division, the Highlands Ranch-based side faces a two-game tie with its closest competitor and the possibility that this weekend could leave the team in first, or sitting out of the playoffs in third.

By CALEB SONNELAND

In the latest installment of the 2011 U.S. Open Cup, seven teams marched into the third round of the competition while one postponed match remains to be played to arrange matchups with eight of Major League Soccer's heavy hitters.

Drama ran rampant in North Carolina, as the Wilmington Hammerheads, having initially trailed the Charlotte Eagles, 2-0, midway through the second half, stormed from behind to take the game, 3-2, after extra time.

When the Pete Fewing led Kitsap Pumas beat the Real Colorado Foxes 3-1 tonight over in Bremerton a derby may have been born. Jeremiah christens it the "Fauntleroy Derby." As West Sound and Seattle meet to advance from the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Third Round next Tuesday over in Starfire. As noted earlier today, this is going to be a short turn around for Seattle, but at least they are at home.

The Kitsap Pumas proved to be too much for the Real Colorado Foxes, defeating the visitors from Highlands Ranch 3-1 on Tuesday night in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Cameron Hepple put the Pumas up in the 17th minute in Bremerton, Wash. Colorado's pressure, however, led to a Steve Mohn own goal in the 23rd minute.

If the Kitsap Pumas beat the Real Colorado Foxes in tonight's U.S. Open Cup second in Bremerton, they would play the Seattle Sounders at Starfire on June 28. As you may have noticed, the Sounders play the New England Revolution on June 26. You don't have to be a math wiz to see that the Sounders would have to play that match on just one day's rest.

For the first time since joining MLS in 2009, the Seattle Sounders will host their third-round U.S. Open Cup match, according to a release by the U.S. Soccer Federation. In fact, there's a good chance that every third-round match will be hosted by the eight MLS teams. The only possible match that could be at a non-MLS facility is if the Rochester Rhinos win their second-round match.

One goal was all the Real Colorado Foxes would need to beat the DV8 Defenders in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday night.

However, the Foxes got far more, adding two second half goals to three scored in the first half in a 5-0 trashing of the team from the San Francisco Bay Area at Shea Stadium in Highlands Ranch.

Sixteen teams have already been eliminated from the 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup after the first day of play, but our Pickem contestants are still going strong. Our current leader is bmvaughn who promised he'd go for the early points with a pile of lower division picks. But not as many lower division picks as Jeff Kusowski who started at the cheapest teams and kept picking until he ran out of cash.

The Real Colorado Foxes will have to work out any kinks from Friday and Saturday games in Winnipeg on the field in the next 24 hours as the team readies to face the DV8 Defenders in the first round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The Foxes earned a spot in the nation's oldest soccer tournament by winning the first four games of the club's Premier Development League season.

Normally, scoring seven goals on a two-game road trip is enough to put two marks in the win column. For the Real Colorado Foxes, it was just enough to keep the team from its first loss of the season.

The Foxes endured the long trip to Winnipeg over the weekend, and the two squads made the trip a lively one.

The Premier Development League team for Springfield carries the moniker "Demize" as part of its name. Over the weekend, the team was obliterated.

The Real Colorado Foxes came home to Shea Stadium and unleashed a two-game goal torrent on the Demize, handing the visitors a 7-1 pasting on Saturday, which made Sunday's 3-1 beating seem relatively tame.

The Real Colorado Foxes will find out on June 14 who the team will face in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup.

The Foxes, off to a 4-0 start, earned a spot in the nation's oldest soccer tournament when the Des Moines Menace suffered a surprise 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Brass on May 25.

The Foxes will find out the team's opponent and whether the team, in just its third season of existence, will get to host an Open Cup match.

Julian Donaldson's two first-half strikes proved enough for the Real Colorado Foxes as they downed the St. Louis Lions 2-1 in a game that featured three ejections.

Donaldson's brace, scored in the 8th and 44th minutes, were enough to see the Foxes through in a chippy, rainy game in St. Louis on Sunday.

The Real Colorado Foxes picked up a road win and improved to 3-0 on the young PDL season by downing the Springfield Demize 3-1.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first half, the Foxes found the net in the second half in Springfield. Colorado scored three times on Demize 'keeper Nikolas Markos.

University of Denver men's soccer sophomore defender Drew Beckie was among the Canadian Men's Olympic Team players who took on CD Chivas USA on Tuesday.

Beckie was called in for the training camp in Los Angeles and Oxnard, Calif., which runs from Feb. 23 through Friday.

"We are thrilled that Drew has been given this opportunity," DU head coach Bobby Muuss said.

The Real Colorado Foxes will have open tryouts for all those interested in playing in the upcoming USL season.

Players who have not done so can send their soccer resume through the website: http://www.rcfoxes.com/potential_player_form.htm.

If interested, players who happen to be in the region prior to this can contact the Foxes, as they may be able to arrange training opportunities for with the Reserve Team or the Development Academy squad during that time, according to the Foxes.

Ricky Hill playing for the Rowdies in 1992. Thanks to Ian Morris' excellent Rowdies' blog.

FC Tampa Bay Rowdies are looking like contenders. For the 1993 APSL title, that is.

FCTB announced today that Ricky Hill will succeed Paul Dalglish as the club's manager.