Open thoughts

The US Open Cup heads into the third round tonight as Atlanta visits FC Dallas. The Silverbacks are one of the hottest teams in USL-1 having won three consecutive matches entering tonight's match at Pizza Hut Park.

Chivas USA, meanwhile, won't play their third-round match until July 18 at Seattle. A couple of weeks ago, there was a brief back-and-forth in the comments with a Portland Timbers supporter disappointed that Portland lost to "Shittle" in the second round and thus lost out on a chance to host Preston Burpo. I figured I'd talk to Preston Burpo about the U.S. Open Cup because he spent quite a bit of time in the USL/A-League and his perspective would be different than someone who had only played in MLS (thanks BBSC for pointing out the Portland connection).

And it was. Preston's a cool guy with a bit of a mean streak. It seems as if every now and then Preston's ready to go to blows with a teammate. But then again, I can't tell if he's joking around because he does that as well. Last year a teammate said with a half-smile, half-puzzled look "Where'd we find this guy, at a bar?"

Anyway, here's audio of the interview with Preston "Stone" Burpo. I asked him about the USOC, about how USL teams feel when MLS teams send out reserves to play against them in a USOC game and about Portland, which got some good responses from Stone.