Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Open Cup quarters

With our attention out here in our corner of the soccer world on Thursday's Galaxy-Chivas USA match, the United States' oldest annual competition continued on Tuesday with a full slate of games.

New England and DC United pulled out late results while Charleston knocked out FC Dallas. Seattle also pulled off the upset as the Sounders beat KC in penalties.

There was a bust-up in one of the matches as Cuauhtemoc Blanco was sent off.


Blanco and Marc Burch were each sent packing in the 108th minute of their contest. DC United had gone up by a goal in the 99th minute. Blanco kicked a ball at Burch apparently.

Crystal Palace Baltimore took New England to the limit. New England went up in the sixth minute and the rout appeared on but Crystal Palace equalized in the 20th minute and held their ground for the remainder of regulation as well as the duration of extra time. Taylor Twellman played 120 minutes and was subbed out near the end. In PKs, the Revs were perfect in five kicks as they won 5-3.

DC United will play New England in one semifinal while Charleston will play the KC-Seattle survivor.

Charleston beat a full-strength FC Dallas squad 3-1. Charleston went up 2-0 at halftime, scored a goal in second-half stoppage time and held a 3-0 lead before Kenny Cooper scored a goal late that mattered little.

Meanwhile, Seattle and KC are scoreless midway through the second half. KC is pretty much defending the entire time as MLS' 15th club is taking it to KC. I wonder if you dropped this Seattle team in Kansas City's spot, if the Sounders would do better than the Wizards. Maybe. KC's not very good but this Sounders team is pretty good. Ooh, Sebastian Letoux nearly scored but Tysaon Wahl cleared his shot off the line just as the announcer was telling us that 95.7 plays the best rock and roll, including the Eagles. It's all about 95.7 FM, apparently.

UPDATE: Seattle-KC is over. Seattle won in PKs.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Battery Rules! My only gripe is the Tuesday night games. It makes travel impossible and ensures that fans won't be able to help fill stadiums. Is it impossible to set "cup dates" as is done in Europe given MLS' current format?

L.B. said...

MLS should set aside weekends for Open Cup games. These Tuesday night games blow.

Gotta love the Battery. If Seattle can hang on, it'll be an USL semifinal, and one USL team will be guaranteed to play in the final. That would be grand.

Joseph D'Hippolito said...

GO SOUNDERS! DESTROY ALL MLS SLIME!

Joseph D'Hippolito said...

and while you're at it, show no mercy to the WNT...;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Blanco My name is ANSIL ELCOCK
I broke your leg prepare to DIE!!!