NEW YORK - Major League Soccer today announced details regarding qualification for the 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Only eight MLS teams will enter the U.S. Open Cup during tournament play, but all 12 U.S.-based teams will be eligible to enter and win the tournament when it kicks off in June.
"With the substantial number of international club and national team competitions this year and an odd number of MLS teams, 2007 presents some extraordinary scheduling challenges for MLS," said MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis. "We are nevertheless pleased to have found a solution that allows all of our eligible teams the opportunity to participate in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The introduction of a pre-qualification procedure allows us to schedule these games away from the mainstream of the U.S. Open Cup competition and into MLS's less-busy early months and will provide some intense competition for the two available places in the tournament proper."
In past years the eight MLS teams that advanced to the previous season's MLS Cup playoffs automatically qualified for the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16. This year the MLS teams that finished in the top three of each conference in 2006 will automatically qualify for the Round of 16 (D.C. United, New England Revolution, Chicago Fire, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Chivas USA), and the final two berths will be determined by a play-in among the other six U.S.-based MLS teams. All play-in games will occur before May 28; venues and dates will be announced by the teams in the near future.
The four teams that did not make the 2006 MLS Cup Playoffs (Los Angeles Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, Kansas City Wizards, Columbus Crew) will compete in play-in games as follow:
Game A: Los Angeles at Columbus (Date TBD)
Game B: Kansas City at Real Salt Lake (Date TBD)
Game C: Los Angeles-Columbus winner vs. New York
Should LA advance, LA (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game
Should Columbus advance, New York will host the second round game
Game D: Kansas City-Real Salt Lake winner vs. Colorado
Should KC advance, KC (determined by coin toss) will host the second round game
Should RSL advance, Colorado will host the second round game
The winners of these two play-in games will advance to the Round of 16. The preliminary Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup schedule is as follows. A final schedule will be announced at a later date. Dates are subject to change.
Monday, May 28: Qualifying deadline
Tuesday, May 29: First Round pairings announced
Tuesday, June 12: First Round - all 32 lower division teams enter tournament
Tuesday, June 26: Second Round - Round 1 winners face off
Tuesday, July 10: Third Round - Round 2 winners face eight MLS teams
Tuesday, August 7: Quarterfinal Round
Tuesday, September 4: Semifinal Round
Tuesday, October 2: Championship game
About the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Dating back to 1914, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the oldest cup competition in United States soccer and is among the oldest in the world. Open to all affiliated amateur and professional teams in the United States, the annual U.S. Open Cup is a 90-year-old single-elimination tournament. The U.S. Open Cup is similar to domestic cup competitions popular throughout Europe, South America and the rest of the world. Cup competitions, which usually run concurrent with a country's league season, are open in the early stages to any club that can qualify, giving local amateur teams a chance to compete against the best teams a country has to offer. Since its inception in 1996, Major League Soccer teams have won 10 of the last 11 U.S. Open Cup titles. Last year the Chicago Fire won their fourth U.S. Open Cup title with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy.
