The 99th Lamar Hunt US Open Cup will sport a new format this season which will included all 1st, 2nd and 3rd division pro men's teams in the US. It has also changed the rules to allow teams in the first 4 rounds of the competition a 50% chance to host the event if they [...]

The U.S. Soccer Federation yesterday announced an expanded Open Cup format and schedule, one that will incorporate all MLS and lower division teams in a newly and hopefully more condensed way. In essence, the changes allow the Lamar Hunt U.S. ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

The U.S. Soccer Federation yesterday announced an expanded Open Cup format and schedule, one that will incorporate all MLS and lower division teams in a newly and hopefully more condensed way. In essence, the changes allow the Lamar Hunt U.S. ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Five years ago the New England Revolution won their first major title: the 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Since then, the team's participation in the 98-year-old tournament has been less than memorable.

The Revs fell in the semifinals in 2008, lost in the third round in 2009 and failed to qualify for the competition the past two seasons.

U.S. Soccer Communications
The 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup begins May 15, and with the 99th edition comes a multitude of changes. For lower-division teams, the most significant is the random selection process for determining home teams from the first round through the quarterfinals.
In previous years, all teams pursued this opportunity through a bidding process.

The United States Soccer Federation announced significant changes for the US Open Cup. The 2012 tournament will be larger than in previous years, and the organizers are bringing an end to Major League Soccer having an advantage in hosting games late in the tournament. The following is from the US Soccer press release announcing the 2012 format: 2012 Lamar Hunt U.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will much different than any of its predecessors.

U.S. Soccer announced a number of changes for the 99th edition of the tournament. Those changes include a 64-team field (the largest in the modern era), a random selection process for determining home teams from the opening round until the quarterfinals, and the inclusion of all professional teams from the top three divisions, meaning the MLS qualifying bracket is no more.

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.

Seattle Sounders players vote to recognize their vision of the MVP and Defender of the Year. This differs slightly from recognition given by Sounder at Heart in that here there are awards for Offensive, Defensive and Young Players of a given season. Still there is a certain overlap.

Osvaldo Alonso's performance in 2011 earned him recognition from both his teammates and readers here.

In the Championship Match of the Pennsylvania Open Cup, to be contested this Sunday, December 11, 2011, 2:00pm, West Chester United will host Salone FC. The Cup winner will represent Eastern Pennsylvania in regional play this spring for a berth in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The match will be contested on the turf field next to the Chester County Government Services Center, 601 Westtown Road, West Chester PA.

Every year at the Development Academy Showcases, scouts from all over the world come to get a look at some of the country's most talented players. There were more than 300 scouts from Major League Soccer teams, colleges and foreign clubs at the 2010 Winter Showcase in Phoenix, Ariz. U.S. Soccer employs its own armada of scouts, with a total of 65 being used throughout the country to help identify and mentor the top youth talent.

Ilya Ksenidi (West Allis Hale/UW-Green Bay) scored late in extra time and was one of five Croatian Eagles players to convert during penalty kicks as they got past the Milwaukee Kickers 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the Wisconsin Open Cup final Sunday at Croatian Park in Franklin.

Not surprised to see the announcement that New England Revolution have fired head coach Steve Nicol. At the press conference after the Columbus game, Nicol had the look of a coach who knew his time was up.

Nicol leaves the Revolution after 10 seasons, a league record for tenure with a single club.

Steve Nicol did a lot in New England but the last couple years weren't enough. (Getty Images)

This is news we have to say we saw coming a long time ago. The writing was pretty much on the wall last year, if not the year before that, and it most certainly came full circle this season. The New England Revolution announced today that they have mutually parted ways with long-time manager Steve Nicol.

Mohammed Sethi (Mequon Homestead) scored in the 90th minute, lifting Croatian Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Bavarian SC in the semifinal match of the Wisconsin Open Cup on Sunday afternoon at Croatian Park in Franklin.

The Croatians advance to play the Milwaukee Kickers in the state final next Sunday at Uihlein Soccer Park.

Preview: For those reading this (and that'd be you right now), this post is about more than semantics in calling our sport "soccer" instead of "football". It is about defining our own history with the sport and our own identity within the global game.


In the last few weeks we've been reading David Wangerin's (author of "Soccer in a Football World") "Distant Corners" which chronicles the emergence of soccer in the United States.

The draw for the 2012 Wisconsin Open Cup was held Tuesday night, with the Milwaukee Kickers getting a bye into the final.

The Croatian Eagles will play host to Bavarian SC later this month for the right to face the Kickers for the title. If Bavarians advance, they will host the final; if the Croatians prevail, the Kickers will be the host.

Sebastian Grazzini -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Chicago Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas was been cautious from the get-go when the team brought in midfielder Sebastian Grazzini.
Klopas limited Grazzini's minutes at the start to integrate him with the team by midseason.

Photo by Stephen Brashear/ISIphotos.com

By JASON MITCHELL

More than the usual smattering of Rave Green gear sprinkled the streets of downtown Seattle Wednesday. A plane circled high above Lake Union in the late afternoon, trailing a 3,000 square-foot Sounders FC scarf visible from downtown to the city of Bellevue across Lake Washington.

There's a little problem with our format here of providing a quick recap and then a post that is just the data, an attempt to remove the emotion and review the game based on that alone. When a team makes history the emotion is a major part of it. The rush from the glory of victory is still there.

For the record, the scene at CenturyLink Field on Wednesday was everything you'd want, a cauldron of mean green, awash in Open Cup frenzy. And also for the record, Seattle is a deserving Open Cup champ, a club that takes the competition seriously and now has solid historical evidence to prove it. (The Sounders won their third consecutive Open Cup crown, the first side in 40 years to do so.

The Seattle Sounders won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title for the third consecutive time Tuesday night by defeating the Chicago Fire 2-0, to the delight of the huge crowd at their CenturyLink home field. The Sounders made Open Cup history by becoming only the fourth club in the nearly 100 years of the [.

Sean Johnson -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
The Chicago Fire spent a large portion of Tuesday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup simply attempting to endure Seattle Sounders FC's frequent attacks and possession.
It was only a matter of time before the Sounders would strike, and Fredy Montero provided the winner in the 77th minute to lead Seattle to a 2-0 win over the Fire in front of an Open Cup-record crowd of 35,615 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

Seattle had an answer for the few riddles Chicago threw at it. The Fire could have given up 3 or 4 goals as the Sounders hit the post twice on offense. That isn't to say Sean Johnson had a poor night. In fact, he made six saves overall including some lightning fast reflex moves we have come to expect but are still extraordinary.

By JASON MITCHELL

SEATTLE, WA - New York Greek American in the late 1960s. A St. Louis brewery side in the 1930s. The Seattle Sounders. After the Sounders topped the Chicago Fire 2-0 Tuesday night before a raucous, record-breaking crowd, those are the lone teams to three-peat in the 98-year history of the Lamar Hunt U.

(formerly "How I Learned to Love the Bomb" by Television Personalities)
By guest editor Dang.
dN
Oh the joyous and crazy things I have seen at the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup I have seen a home town hero hoist the cup after scoring the winning goal in extra-time.
dN
Kings of the Cup: Chicago Fire US Open Cup Victory, 1998 (video)
dN
I've seen Hristo Stoichkov proudly lift the Dewars Cup.

Frank Klopas -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
Chicago Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas will be a part of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in a different light this Tuesday when his Fire take on two-time defending champion Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field.
Klopas capped off the Fire's inaugural 1998 MLS season with the game-winning goal during Chicago's Open Cup win over the Columbus Crew.

Monday, October 3rd 8PM EDT – 5PM PDT Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final Preview Guests: Frank Klopas General Manager & Head Coach of the Chicago Fire Arlo White Play-By-Play Voice of the Seattle Sounders NASL Playoff Segment: Re-Capping the ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

The Seattle Sounders host the Chicago Fire Tuesday evening at Seattle's CenturyLink Field at 10:00 pm EDT in the final of the 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel. In this history making finale, the Sounders look to join the Cup elite by earning their third consecutive U.

Dominic Oduro -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas certainly was not conceding Saturday's game against the Houston Dynamo. But with Tuesday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Seattle Sounders FC and a recent 3-0 win at Real Salt Lake three days prior, Klopas decided to put several of Chicago's key cogs on the bench to start out.

Dominic Oduro -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
The Chicago Fire do not have any time to savor one of their biggest victories of the season at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.
Chicago heads into Saturday three points behind the New York Red Bulls, who currently hold the final wild card spot with 39 points.

Gonzalo Segares -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Fire have found a rare winning stretch, so the team would prefer few to no changes toward its lineup now that it has a good thing going. Chicago posted back-to-back league wins, followed by a Lamar Hunt U.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer, your hosts (the Chris and Chris of American soccer) bring you a view of the beautiful game from an American and regional perspective. The crew starts off with an array of MLS and Yanks Abroad news, before analyzing Jurgen Klinnsman's second roster of callups for the USMNT.

The two semifinal matches of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup were played in Chicago and Seattle Tuesday night. The Chicago Fire defeated the upset-minded D3 Richmond Kickers by a narrow 2-1 score before almost 9,000 partisan Chicago fans. In the latter match, the Sounders defeated FC Dallas, 1-0, earning the opportunity to host the [.

Dominic Oduro -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- It was not the smoothest of performances for the Chicago Fire. But the home side did its job on Tuesday in topping the USL Pro's Richmond Kickers, 2-1, in the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Toyota Park.

Frank Klopas -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The four-time Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup champion Chicago Fire have touted their best available lineup throughout this year's tournament.
The same cannot be said for some other MLS squads, and you only have to look at the Fire's 4-0 quarterfinal win over a reserve-laden New York Red Bulls side on July 12 to come to that conclusion.

Monday, August 29th 8PM EDT - 5PM PDT
2011 USL PRO CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL PREVIEW
Guests: Brian Keyser PA Announcer for the Harrisburg City Islands
Clifford Alejos Blogger and Supporter of Orlando City S.C.
NASL Segment: Reviewing the Weekend of games
2011 LAMAR HUNT US OPEN CUP SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW
Tavio Palazzolo of The Cup .

Fire's Dominic Oduro -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- It has been 16 months since the Chicago Fire have posted back-to-back victories. They have an opportunity to put an end to that trend when they host the 2010 MLS champion Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Toyota Park.

US Soccer has announced the potential hosting venues for the USOC final this season. As you would expect with three of the four teams being from MLS, they have the hosting rights depending on the matchup.

Very interesting possibilities either way, none too surprising as Seattle would always give the USSF the best possible chance at a good crowd for the final.

USSF has announced the 2011 U.S. Open Cup Final Possibilties.

2011 LAMAR HUNT U.S. OPEN CUP FINAL HOSTING POSSIBILITIES

No.

Date

Match

Time

Venue

39

Oct. 4

Chicago Fire (MLS)/Richmond Kickers (USL PRO) winner at Seattle Sounders (MLS)

TBD

CenturyLink Field; Seattle, Wash.