2010 US Open Cup Structure Revealed by US Soccer
US Soccer announced Wednesday the format for the 2010 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. Play-in games for both USASA and MLS teams have already been taking place. This year’s structure again has 40 teams that will participate in Cup play but will allow 17 amateur sides to be involved in the first round of play. The extra spot opened up when USL-2 dropped from 7 teams in 2009 to 6 teams this season. This will be the 97th consecutive year of the tournament.
All 9 US-based USSF D-2 Pro League teams have an automatic berth in the tournament.
The PSA Los Gatos Storm, a US Club Soccer team, has applied for the cup competition. As The Cup.us explains:
The Storm became the first team from US Club Soccer to ever enter in Open Cup qualifying, which is surprising because they are directly affiliated with the US Soccer Federation (a minimum requirement for participating in the tournament). Even though they are a part of the USSF, there is not a procedure in place for them to qualify. Since the USASA and US Club Soccer are essentially competitors, it doesn’t make sense for them to join the Region IV tournament, and since there are no other clubs of their kind to compete against, how else would they get in?
“This situation kind of fell into place for us, and it’s great that it all worked out,” said Neil Buethe, the director of communications for US Soccer. “Hopefully this will encourage more US Club Soccer teams to compete in the future.” Buethe also said that if more US Club teams express interest in competing, then the format for qualifying and the tournament in general would likely have to be re-evaluated and tweaked.
The Open Cup committee decided to reward last year’s NPSL champions (Sonoma County) with a one-game qualifying process against the one team that was in qualifying limbo.
2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Schedule
May 31 Qualifying Deadline
June 15 First Round: 32 lower division teams enter tournament
June 22 Second Round: 16 First Round winners face off
June 29 Third Round: Round 2 winners face eight MLS teams
July 6-7 Quarterfinals: Round 3 winners
Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Semifinals: Quarterfinal winners
Oct. 5 Final: Semifinal winners
Number of participating teams (by division):
8 – Major League Soccer (Division I)
9 – USSF D-2 Pro League (Division II)
6 – United Soccer Leagues Second Division (Division III)
8 – USL Premier Development League (Amateur)
8.5 – USASA (Amateur)
.5 – U.S. Club Soccer (Amateur)
For the full press release please click “Read More”.
CHICAGO (May 5, 2010) – A total of 40 teams, including 23 professional and 17 amateur clubs, will compete in the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup when it kicks off in June for the 97th consecutive year of the tournament.
Qualifying for the first round of the tournament is slated to complete by May 31, with the pairings announced shortly thereafter. Eight MLS teams enter the tournament on June 29 in the third round. The quarterfinals will be played July 6-7, the semifinals will be played Aug. 31 or Sept. 1, and the final will be played Oct. 5.
With 40 teams participating in 2010, the tournament will begin with the first round on June 15 with all 32 lower-division teams. First-round pairings will be determined by dividing the clubs geographically into eight groups of four, with random drawings for each group. On June 22 in the second round, the 16 first-round winners will face off with eight victors moving into the third round to square off against eight MLS teams.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which is recognized as U.S. Soccer’s National Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. The tournament has crowned a champion for 96 consecutive years dating back to 1914.
Within the U.S. Open Cup framework, teams compete in one of the following four categories: professional outdoor Division I (Major League Soccer), Division II (USSF D-2 Pro League) or Division III (USL Second Division); or Amateur Division. In recent years, the Amateur Division has been comprised of the USL Premier Development League and regional qualifiers from the U.S. Adult Soccer Association.
In 2010, qualifying in the Amateur Division will also include a match between the Sonoma County Sol of the National Premier Soccer League (an affiliate of the USASA) and PSA Los Gatos Storm, a club affiliated with U.S. Club Soccer (a member organization of U.S. Soccer). The winner of that match will enter the tournament as the 17th amateur team in the first round.
The U.S. Open Cup is a single-elimination tournament, with games tied after regulation being decided in two 15-minute overtime halves. If the score is still tied after overtime, the winner is decided in a penalty kick shootout. The team that advances the furthest from each level except Division I will earn a $10,000 cash prize. The runner-up will take home $50,000, while the champion will collect $100,000. In addition, the winner will have its name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, the oldest trophy competed for nationally in American team sports.
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By guessing that D2 teams will be paired with amateur and D3 teams in the 1st round, I wonder if that would mean NSC and STL would face eachother in the 2nd round.
That could be and if so would be pretty cool. Bring on the third round MLS team baby.
I just hope we get someone OTHER than the Kansas City Dullzards this year.
A matchup with the Fire would be outstanding. But first we have a few games to get through. There’s some saying about counting, eggs and hatching…
I think it goes, “always hatchet your eggs before counting them”.
Will there be a berth into CCL for the champion this year?
I believe that is a CCL rule and as far as I know nothing has changed on that. The USOC is the Domestic Cup in the US so the winner is entered into CCL.
Did that change after the final last year, BQ? Cause even up to the final of last year it was up in the air if the USOC winner would be getting a spot in the CCL. I remember Hanauer leading up the final match saying in an interview there was no guarantee that the Open Cup winner would get a spot in the CCL but he and Seattle’s FO were pushing for it.
Seems to be a year to year thing decided on by USSF and MLS.
I’ll check on it.
I was wrong, the uncertainity over if the USOC winner last year would get in wasn’t in an interview with Mr. Hanauer (I can’t believe I can spell that correctly now without looking it up) but in a post by David Falk in to an article he wrote.
http://www.examiner.com/x-413-Seattle-Soccer-Examiner~y2009m7d7-Sounders-host-Wizards-in-Open-Cup-match-tonight-at-Starfire
Nice one on that spelling smatthew and for being spot on for that old hatchet proverb.
I checked in with Josh Hakala of Thecup.us and he told me that CONCACAF tells the USSF how many teams they get and the USSF determines how they pick the teams. Josh thinks that things will remain the same but his concern is if the CONCACAF took away a spot. Then USSF will have to make a cut and will need to determine where that cut will come from.
And here is the CONCACAF websites take on things
http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/201011/0,,12856,00.html