How the mighty do fall.
The great American tradition, The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, has made heroes of unknowns and goats of seasoned professionals, and on Tuesday and Wednesday night, the grand tradition continued.
Twenty-one matches, each featuring a USL team against an amateur squad, produced a wide variety of results, and some wide smiles among the underdog teams and their fans. New York Red Bulls II, Arizona United, Orange County Blues, Wilmington Hammerheads, and LA Galaxy II all fell on the evening. Arizona’s loss came in particularly spectacular fashion, as upstart Chula Vista FC seemed to have all the right moves en route to a 3-0 decision in Scottsdale.
Perhaps attending the biggest upset of the night had a particular impact on me, but the results of the evening had a glass-half-empty feeling for several reasons.
The USL is a league on the rise, or at least, from most accounts, it would seem so. From a marketing and image perspective, last night hurt some of the strides that have been made.
That leads to the next concern, that perhaps some clubs did not take this competition as seriously as a league match-up. This could be for any number of reasons, from scheduling, to injury concerns. But at the end of the day, a full effort from the professional clubs on the pitch should, at a much better rate than 3 in 4, produce wins – convincing wins. Indeed, among the clubs that will survive to the 3rd round, many had their hands full until the final whistle. Ask any of the coaches involved and they will likely say that last night’s tournament was just as meaningful to them as any other game, but the results seem to support a truth somewhere south of there.
I am not here to argue for the top-down reverence of a cup-tie over the rigors of the regular season. The USOC is a wonderful tournament, but arguments for its place in a professional organization’s schedule are beyond my scope here. Let’s just say that the tournament has not quite arrived yet, even at its ripe old age.
The largest issue that I see, however, is that young talents like Chula Vista’s Alberto Diaz are beginning and ending their playing days without so much as a sniff of the high-level development required to join professional or international ranks in America today. I don’t claim to have the answer here, but our player pool could use a guy who drops two goals and an assist on a mid-table professional team, no? Let’s find a way not to let this talent fall through the cracks.
This is admittedly the most attention that I have ever paid to the USOC, and I will continue to watch with interest, even with my local side out of the tournament. At least one third-round match will have my undivided attention. Through a happy coincidence, two of last night’s upset winners, Ventura County Fusion and PSA Elite, will face off next, guaranteeing an amateur entrant in the tournament’s fourth round. If you like Cinderella stories, California is the place to be in Round 3.
Complete Scores From Round 2 Action:
Michigan Bucks 0-2 Portland Timbers 2 (Tuesday night)
Lansing United 0-1 Louisville City
Pittsburgh Riverhounds 3-0 West Virginia Chaos
Richmond Kickers 2-0 Virginia Beach City
Wilmington Hammerheads 1-1 (4-6 after penalties) Chattanooga FC
Reading United 0-3 Harrisburg City Islanders
Rochester Rhinos 1-0 Greater Binghamton FC
Charleston Battery 1-0 Miami United
Charlotte Independence 4-1 Upward Stars
Long Island Rough Riders 0-1 Real Monarchs
Jersey Express 1-0 New York Red Bulls II
Saint Louis FC 2-1 Des Moines Menace
Tulsa Roughnecks 1-0 Seacoast United
Midland/Odessa Sockers 1-3 OKC Energy
Colorado Springs Switchbacks 2-1 Harpo’s FC
Austin Aztex 2-0 Laredo Heat
PSA Elite 2-1 Orange County Blues
Seattle Sounders 2 4-2 (AET) Kitsap Pumas
Arizona United 0-3 Chula Vista FC
LA Galaxy II 1-2 Ventura County Fusion
Sacramento Republic 4-2 Sonoma County Sol