Jaqua might return to Houston, at least for a little while

It looks like the Dynamo might be about to solve some of their offensive problems as Nate Jaqua has been offered a contract to return to Houston.

Jaqua left Houston during the off season for a spell in Austria, where he put up some great numbers (5 goals in 10 apperiences). Even with these quality results on the pitch, his club decided not to offer him a new contract.

Houston has been chasing him for awhile now, but it looked unlikely until they added a little twist to the offer. As part of this deal, Houston will promise to trade him to Seattle FC for the 2009 season.

Jaqua is from Eugene, Oregon, and very much wants to play in the Northwest.

It is not clear if this trade will be part of the expansion draft.

This is a smart move by Houston as they need another striker. Sure it will hurt losing him to Seattle, however they will have seven months to find a replacement. Who knows, maybe by then Caraccio might be ready to show something.

It is even a smarter deal if this will count towards the expansion draft as then they will not have to worry about losing any other players.

2008 US Open Cup - Third Round sees three MLS teams go down

Last night is the perfect example of why I enjoy the US Open Cup so much. Seeing all these underweight teams try to out punch MLS sides really is enjoyable. Sure, the MLS teams see this as little more then a reserves match, but it is still good fun.

As bad as it is that MLS teams dropped three of the eight games last night, it is actually much better then last season when five top teams fell. The biggest surprise of the night took place in Maryland where Crystal Palace Baltimore (USL-2) bounced the Red Bulls out of the Open, even though they played down a man for an hour.

Ranking just below on the shock level was the Dynamo losing on kicks to the Charleston Battery (USL-1), even though Houston played up a man for 50 minutes and up 2 men for 15. Really, the defending MLS Champions were up two men for 15-minutes and could not find a way to get a goal. Not only that but the Battery's Osvaldo Alonso was still giving the Dynamo fits in the second period of overtime (Alonso must be on Kinnear's radar after last night). I think Dynamo forward Franco Caraccio summed up the whole night for his club when he collapsed to the pitch in shame after having his penalty kick stopped, thus giving the Battery the win.

The only other lose came in Seattle where the Sounders showed Chivas USA the exit. The goats have not won a USOC match since beating the Charlotte Eagles (USL-2) on 13 July 2005. This streak includes a defeat by Roma FC of the USASA.

There was almost something big in Dallas, however FCD was able to get a late stoppage time goal to take Miami 2-1.

Kansas City also needed a little rally as they were down 2-0 in the 67' minute before coming back to tie and send it to extra time where they piled on two more goals for the win.

DC United needed two goals via free kicks from Marc Burch to take down the Rhinos of Rochester. Both New England (last year's USOC champ) and the Fire (perennial USOC powerhouse) easily saw off their foes for the evening.

Here is the full list of results:
FC Dallas (MLS) 2-1 Miami FC (USL-1)
Charleston (USL-1) 1(4-3)1 Houston (MLS)
DC United (MLS) 2-0 Rochester (USL-1)
Carolina (USL-1) 2-4 Kansas City (MLS)

CP Baltimore (USL-2) 2-0 New York (MLS)
New England (MLS) 3-0 Richmond (USL-2)
Chicago (MLS) 4-1 Cleveland (USL-2)
Seattle (USL-1) 2-0 Chivas USA (MLS)

These results move the numbers a bit when it comes to higher versus lower ranked teams. Before last night, it stood at 19-2 (90.5%) for those higher ranked, but now is at 24-5 (82.75%).

It does look like home field advantage was reinstated. During the second round, home sides only went 3-5, but yesterday saw only one visitor walk away with a win.

Here is the schedule for next Tuesday night's round of eight:
Chicago Fire at DC United (Boyds, Md)
Crystal Palace (USL2) at New England (New Britain, Conn)
Charleston (USL1) at FC Dallas
Kansas City at Seattle Sounders (USL1)

Can Crystal Palace bring down two giants? Will the Battery take out both teams from the Lone Star state? Will Seattle give another MLS team an introduction to soccer in the Northwest? Can DC finally beat Chicago in a playoff situation? It will be fun to find out.

Seattle sings $4m jersey deal with Microsoft

They are still 10 months away from their first MLS kickoff, but the Sounders just got a large investor. Microsoft has signed on to be the official jersey sponsor of the new Sounders, however don't expect to see the four-color floating paper. Instead, 'Xbox 360 LIVE' will appear on the front of the kit. The five year deal is worth $4m annually.

This is not a huge surprise as one of the main investors in the club is Paul Allen, i.e. the Chairman of Microsoft, but it is still a big move for the club. The $4m figure places them on the upper end of MLS jersey deals (only LA's deal appears to be worth more). It also means that their entire MLS salary is covered with about $1.7m left over. That's some good starting money for a designated player.

"We all felt the best place to start in Seattle was Microsoft," co-owner Joe Roth said. "It's an international company but also a local company, which is what soccer should be."

With 16,000 season tickets already sold, a solid shirt sponsor and the ability to take some players from their USL side, Seattle might just break the expansion team curse.

MLS Expansion - Seattle signs their first player

After what I'm sure was a very difficult negotiation session, the MLS's Seattle Sounders FC signed Sébastien LeToux away from the USL's Seattle Sounders. As part of the deal, SSFC will loan him out to SS for the remainder of the USL season*. Makes sense.

Sébastien LeToux proved himself to be a quality player last year after netting 10 goals for the Sounders and propelling them to the league championship. He is one of the main reasons the MLS group argued hard to get permission to sign players directly from the USL club without going through the normal discovery allocation or other MLS hoops, and according to Sounders Coach Brian Schmetzer we shouldn't expect him to be the only player that moves up to the big league.

"(LeToux) is an exceptional soccer player," Schmetzer said. "We've developed him on the USL level; now, he's made the jump to Seattle Sounders FC. We hope to do that with six, eight, 10 of (the USL Sounders) and hopefully we can have a good nucleus of the team for '09. ... The top half of our roster, I truly believe, is better than the bottom half of some of the MLS teams."

The ability for the new MLS Sounders to draw from an established team gives them a leg up that no other expansion team has had.

LeToux alone will not give the team enough offense to make a huge splash in MLS, but he is an excellent start. It is worth noting that he did manage to score three goals during the Sounders three 2007 US Open Cup matches against MLS teams.

LeToux's contract is worth $96,000 a year.

* For those that don't know, the owner of the USL's Sounders Adrian Hanauer is also one of the owners of the new MLS Sounders who will begin play in 2009.

MLS Expansion - Seattle going for their first sellout tonight

Seattle might not get their first MLS match till next March, but the Sounder organization is looking for their first sold out match tonight as Mexico plays China at Qwest Field.

The new Sounders are putting the match on along with Soccer United Marketing, the marketing arm of Major League Soccer, and have already sold 48,000 tickets, 19,000 tickets short of a sellout.

As one would expect at a Mexican match, there will be a large Hispanic contingent at the game, which presents the Sounders a great chance to expose themselves to a knowledgeable fan base.

As far as the match, it should be a good one as Mexico looks to show something in their first outing since Hugo Sanchez was shown the door. Meanwhile China, well, they do have F Qu Bo. What I'm trying to say is Mexico should, even without some of their best, put on a clinic tonight. If they don't, there will be some anger.

Returning from the great blog exile

After a bit of a surprise 3-week sabbatical from this blog, it is funny where life will take you, I'm happy to be back. So what did I miss?

From the limited number of MLS matches I've seen, it looks like I've been absent for the start of a really solid season. Refs are calling fewer fouls allowing the game to achieve a much better pace then in the past. Got to admit, I like this.

Seattle ended up keeping the Sounders name for the expansion team saying they had to listen to the fans. If only someone could have seen this coming.

The US women will join their male counterparts in Beijing for the Olympics after beating Costa Rica 3-0 in the semifinals to earn one of the two Concacaf spots. The fact that they then went on to beat Canada in a closely fought, meaningless first place match (you don't get to type that a lot) only adds to the fun of it all.

LA's defense is still good for a few laughs.

MLS teams repeated last year's results in the Concacaf Champions Cup as both Houston and DC exited the competition in the semifinal round. With this the final version of the CCC, let's hope for better results in the new Concacaf Champions League.

Real Salt Lake still has their curse over DC United in Utah. The last two years the defeat at Real came closer to mid-season and started a bit of a downturn for United. It will be interesting to see what comes of it this year.

Do you think Houston is second-guessing their Boswell for Wells trade at all? With Onstad out and Bobby not yet in the Dynamo groove, I'm guessing this isn't the start that Kinnear was hoping for. Then again, it is a long season and Dominic has worked wonders before.

Three games in and Kenny Cooper and Landon Donovan are creating and finishing chances at a very exciting clip while Blanco doesn't seem to be going to ground every time he touches the ball. If these things hold up, this season might just be one for the record books.

Beckham is actually playing so 2008 is already better then 2007.

Hugo Sanchez failed to live up to any of his promises and was unanimously kicked to the curb as coach of Mexico.

Overseas, it is wonderful to see Brian McBride back on the pitch and returning to full form. Too bad it is probably a bit too late for Fulham. On the plus side, can you say Olympic overage spot? McBride, Altidore and Adu with a bit of Sacha Kljestan on the side might just be the recipe for offensive success in China.

So there is three weeks in a nutshell. I have missed this.

MLS Expansion - The Seattle naming conspiracy

I normally try to shy away from conspiracy theories when it comes to soccer, however I think this idea might have merit, so hang with me.

Last week saw the three 'focus group' names leaked to the local Seattle paper. Sure enough, a majority of Seattle fans were upset because none of the names were the Seattle Sounders.

In response to this negative reaction, MLS Commish Don Garber insists that although he respects the value and history of the 30-year-old Sounder name, the league is looking for a name that will still be meaningful '20 years from now or 50 years from now.'

I noticed two things about this statement. First, it doesn't make sense. How can a name with a 30-year track record be thrown overboard for a name that has been 'focus group' tested for only a couple months? Second, why is it that the commish is making this statement and not the ownership group? When the name controversy raged in Houston a few years back, it was Houston President Oliver Luck that faced the press, not Garber.

Anyway, we move forward to the actual voting. After making such a big deal about Seattle FC, Seattle Republic and Seattle Alliance being the best names ever they do something very interesting with the ballot and allow people to write-in a name. Since they already allowed people to submit names months ago, why allow this second round of 'write-in' ideas?

Perhaps this is the reason:

Fans will be allowed one vote per unique email address. MLS Seattle season ticket holders will be given the privilege of receiving the same number of votes as deposits purchased.

And this brings me to the conspiracy. Could it be that the Seattle group decided to manufacture a bit of controversy to increase their email and season ticket lists?

If Sounders had been one of the three 'approved' choices, no one would have paid much attention as it would be a forgone conclusion that it would win, but since it was not there, people got angry and tuned in. This added attention is all but assured to increase the vote (ie submitting email addresses) because no one seems very interested in the three official choices. Also note how you can buy additional votes with a season ticket deposit.

Which brings us to the announcement of the name on 7 April. Since none of the Seattle ownership group have dissed the 'Sounders' title, they will have no need to back pedal as they say 'Due to an overwhelming show of support by the soccer fans of Seattle, we are pleased to announce the Seattle Sounders as our 'new' name.'

In the end, the fans feel they have won a victory by getting the name they've wanted all along while the owners come out looking good for actually listening to the fans, plus they will have all those email addresses for future marketing purposes.

So is this off the wall or might I be on to something? I will be the first to admit that I have no real proof of this, but something does seem off.

MLS Expansion - Seattle names down to three, Sounders not an option - Poll

The future MLS team based in Seattle is very close to announcing a name, but first they want a vote. Starting next Thursday, March 27, through March 31, the team will allow fans to vote on the team’s name.

As far as the names from which voters will be selecting, "(t)he three naming options will be announced Tuesday, March 25, and were chosen through fan focus groups, internal committees and fan suggestions, but will not include Sounders."

So no, no to Sounders, but what are the other choices? Obviously nothing official as yet, but the Seattle Times has them pegged as Seattle FC, Seattle Alliance and Seattle Republic.

Although I have a feeling Seattle FC will win, I really hope it does not. Between Dallas and Toronto, the league has enough FC's in it, especially for Major League Soccer.

As far as Alliance or Republic, it's like Star Wars all over again. Damn that Rebel Alliance and their desire for a New Republic.

Anyway, I like Republic, because it relates to the historical idea of a separate Northwest state such as Cascadia. A nice tie in to local history, even if it is only subtle, is always a good thing. The downside, fans would probably be called Republicans and that might not go down so well in Seattle.

Alliance is better then FC, but I'm not really sure what they are aligning.

In the end, it will probably end up Seattle FC with some sort of nickname like the 'greens' or 'emeralds of the pitch.'

So what is your choice?

MLS Expansion - Seattle has sold 3,000 season tickets

In a little over 24-hours, fans of the new MLS Seattle team have snapped up over 3,000 season tickets for the 2009 season. With the new team set to play in a 24,500 seat version of Qwest Field, this is a significant number. Fans need to put down a $50 deposit to secure a season ticket.

The club has also received suggestions concerning their name from 2,000 fans.

You can submit your own name suggestion at the team's web site.

MLS Expansion - Seattle announcement on Monday

It looks like next Monday might be the day Seattle gets a MLS club. Goal Seattle is reporting that a local footy pub is hosting a 'special "local professional soccer" announcement next Monday, November 12th, from Noon to 2:00 PM.'

He also adds that after talking with the pub, they confirmed the announcement involves MLS in Seattle and that this will be a 'pre-announcement of the official announcement of the team at The Colombia Tower on Tuesday.

The timing makes perfect sense, as the league normally likes to use MLS and All-Star weeks for such major news.

If you are in the area and want to attend the Monday event, it is at:
George and the Dragon Pub
Located in the Fremont area of Seattle
206 North 36th Street, Seattle WA 98103
Tel: (206) 545-6864

No word on any plans in Philadelphia or St. Louis.

MLS Expansion - If Seattle gets a team, Poulsbo might get the Sounders

If Seattle lands an expansion team as expected, the Sounders might end up staying in the USL. What that means is the MLS team might not take the name Sounders with them and if they do not, at least one member of the Sounders' ownership group want to keep the team alive.

Robin Waite would be willing to build a soccer specific stadium in Poulsbo (a city on the Kitsap Peninsula, which is located on the west side of the Puget Sound), for a new version of the Sounders. It is about 15 miles away from downtown Seattle.

"Yes, it's a possibility," said Robin Waite of Tracyton, part of the Sounders' ownership group who has been actively trying to build a soccer-only stadium with the hopes of luring a USL franchise to the region.

Waite is zeroing in on nearly 13 acres of land in Poulsbo after a recent attempt to purchase an eight-acre parcel of land in Olhava fell through.

"We're under contract right now on the land," Waite said of the site he's currently zeroing in on.

There are, he said, some wetland issues.

"We can put a stadium on it," he said of the property where he would like to build a 6,500-seat stadium that he estimates will cost him about $2.5 million. "The question becomes what do you do about parking."

The team would be very removed from the Seattle home they have come to know, but it might work. Still, the relatively small population density in the area might make it a bit difficult to draw a large crowd.

But this brings up a different issue, if Seattle lands a team, should they be able to keep the name Sounders? With more and more USL teams getting a look over as possible candidates for MLS, this might be an issue that repeats itself. So provided that all the legal issues are resolved concerning the name, what do you think?

Seattle Sounders USL First Division Champions

If Saturday night's championship match against Atlanta was indeed the final match of the Sounders in USL play, what a way to go out. They took their fourth title with an impressive 4-0 win over the Silverbacks.

Interestingly, as the players were celebrating their victory on the pitch, the fans chanted 'one more year' in reference to the rumor of the team going dark for the 2008 season.

Anyway, no matter what happens with the club in the next few months, they can be sure of at least one thing, they played a near perfect match to win the cup.

Congratulations to the Seattle Sounders.

MLS Expansion - Gonna bring a team to Seattle, MLS says no, no, no

MLS officials are denying reports concerning the expansion team in Seattle.

"I spoke with (MLS President) Mark Abbott yesterday in Kansas City and asked him if we have a deal in Seattle and he said 'no,'" said league spokesman Dan Courtemanche. "Our goal is to announce the fifteenth and sixteenth teams by the end of 2007 or in the first quarter of 2008."

So could it be that this is another bad rumor or might the deal be just about done and someone from the Seattle organization leaked the news in order to drive up attendance at tonight's championship match? If Seattle doesn't get a team, this story could be almost as embarrassing as Klinsmann getting the US National job.

Billionaire new co-owner of Seattle Sounders

The Seattle Sounders have some big pockets in their new ownership group, as Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen is indeed part of it, however Q is the senior partner. I'm guessing the $18 billion bank account was one of the big reasons MLS officials went with this group over that of Atletico Seattle Management.

With Allen in the picture, it is pretty clear that the team will continue to play their matches at Qwest Field. However, with the league pushing to move all clubs to soccer specific stadiums, it will be interesting to see how long this lasts (side bet on which team gets a sss first, Seattle or New England).

Current owner Adrian Hanauer will stay involved with the club, and that is a very good thing.

So there are most of the big pieces of the story, but still I wonder, what does it mean for MLS in the Northwest over all?

First off, the idea that people from Portland or Vancouver might become Sounders fans just because they are a MLS club seems a little off to me. I could see those folks showing up for some of the bigger games but my guess is it would be to cheer on the opposition.

Then there is the figure of Allen. It is great that he has a lot of money and is already involved in the Northwest sports scene, however I wonder if, much like the Kraft family and the Revolution, the soccer team will always be a secondary to their NFL team? The one element that seems to point away from that is Roth being the main investor, but still, it is a concern.

Finally, now that the Seattle option has been awarded, what would stop the two (or was it three) other groups that wanted the team to look down south a little bit at Portland? Just a few months ago it appeared the Northwest franchise would go to the Keston family who were interested in either Seattle or Portland, but obviously they lost out for whatever reason. With Portland having a great fan base and a stadium that, with some upgrades, could be MLS ready within a year, it would seem like a smart bet. Are there any billionaires in Oregon that are interested?

MLS Expansion - Seattle gets a team!

Major League Soccer is coming to Seattle starting in 2009!

According to Ives Galarcep, the league will announce Seattle as their 15th team in two-weeks. As part of the move, the USL First Divison's Seattle Sounders will stop playing after this Saturday's championship match against the Atlanta Silverbacks (the link says Puerto Rico but that is who the Sounders beat to get to the final). As if the championship game wasn't enough to get fans going, now they will also be saying farewell to their much beloved club (at least in its current form).

The franchise fee is expected to be around $30 million and the ownership group will involve the owners of the Sounders. No word on the stadium status.

Congratulations to Seattle on earning a team, but does this mean the Portland Timbers new main rival is the Vancouver Whitecaps?

MLS Expansion - Seattle group looking at 7 locations for stadium

One of the three groups trying to bring a MLS side to Seattle says they have 7 possible sites for a soccer stadium in the area.

Atletico Seattle wants to purchase enough land to, wait for it, build a mixed-use real estate development along with a stadium. This is very similar to the idea the San Jose, St. Louis and DC ownership groups are looking into.

None of the seven sites are in downtown Seattle, but all of them are located in the same county (King). There are "three sites in Tukwila, two in Renton and one each in Kent and Des Moines." (click on the map to see where these are located). Renton and Tukwila are each about 8-miles from downtown, while Des Moines is closer to 10 and Kent is around 14.

In other news, the group led by Adrian Hanauer, managing director of the Seattle Sounders, is still very interested in being part of the MLS, but the hang up with him might have to due with his stadium choice. He would like the new MLS team to play their games at the 67,000-seat Qwest Field.

"I think Qwest Field would make a good venue because it's in the heart of downtown Seattle," Hanauer said. "It was built with soccer in mind. The sightlines are great, the width of the field is appropriate, you're close to the action and the team and fan facilities are great."

The third bidder in the Seattle business is Jason Keston, but it is unknown if he is still interested.

MLS Expansion - Seattle is very close

According to the Seattle Times, the city of Seattle is very close to landing a MLS franchise for the 2009 season.

"There's pretty high-level conversations going on right now about MLS," (Sounders managing partner Adrian) Hanauer said earlier Tuesday on KJR radio about MLS expansion to Seattle. "There's a lot of progress being made and lot of conversations happening.

"I'd say this thing is further along than it's ever been. There's a high, high likelihood that MLS will be here in the not-too-distant future."

In another bit of interesting news, US goalkeeper Kasey Keller was in attendance to watch the Seattle Sounders pound the Colorado Rapids last night. Keller, who currently has no club to call home has been approached by the Sounders to play for the club.

He has ruled out a move to the USL in the past, however, here comes my wild speculation, if Seattle was given a MLS team to start play in 2009, maybe Keller would play a year in the USL with the Sounders knowing that he would move up to the MLS the next year. He has said that he would love to play in the MLS if there was a team in Seattle so maybe it might happen.

2007 US Open Cup Quarterfinal results - FCD moves along, Colorado is humiliated

Three of the four quarterfinals are over and the news for the MLS is mixed as FC Dallas pulled out a win while Seattle destroyed Colorado in amazing fashion. In the lone USL vs. USL meeting, Carolina held out against Richmond to advance to the semifinals.

However, the collapse of Colorado has got to be the story of the night. Down three at halftime, they shifted to a three-man backline to increase their offense only to see things get even worse. With the way this club looked tonight added to their current MLS form, one has to wonder what it would take for Fernando Clavijo to get fired. Don't get me wrong, I like Clavijo but his club is heading backwards in a hurry and something needs to change.

FC Dallas was the only road team to win on the night meaning home sides are 27 for 35 in this year's open.

Richmond looked good through out their match with Carolina but the Railhawks just had a little more push in this one.

Game Number Date, Teams, Venue, Time
33 August 8, Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) at NE Revolution (MLS), Gilette Stadium; Foxborough, Mass., 7:30 pm ET
34 August 7, Richmond Kickers (USL-2) 0-1 Carolina Railhawks (USL-1)
35 August 7, FC Dallas (MLS) 2-1 Charleston Battery (USL-1)
36 August 7, Colorado Rapids (MLS) 0-5 Seattle Sounders (USL-1)

2007 US Open Cup Quarter finals start tonight - Will the USL continue to control the MLS?

The US Open Cup Quarter-final round gets under way tonight with three games on the schedule. The big question going into the action is will the MLS clubs produce. After going 3 for 8 in the last round, they are under pressure to make something happen. However, if results so far are any indication of how things will turn out, it might be a difficult run for the top league in the country.

So far in the tournament, home teams have won 25 of the 32 meetings (including going 7 for 8 in the last round), meaning there is a serious advantage to playing on your own pitch. With both MLS sides playing tonight doing so on the road, well you can see why they should be a little nervous.

By the way, all three of tonight's games will stream live, for free over the internet thanks to USLlive.com.

Here are the games:
Richmond Kickers (USL-2) vs. Carolina RailHawks (USL-1)
7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT
USLlive.com

FC Dallas (MLS) vs. Charleston Battery (USL-1)
7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT
USLlive.com

Colorado Rapids (MLS) at Seattle Sounders (USL-1)
10pm ET/ 7pm PT
USLlive.com

To take a guess at the outcome of these matches, I think Carolina, FC Dallas and Seattle will advance.

2007 US Open Cup Third Round done - Another MLS team gone

Chivas USA 1-3 Seattle Sounders
The woeful work of MLS clubs in the US Open Cup continued last night as Chivas USA were thrown from the tournament by a Sounders team managed to make the most of everything they got. Much like in MLS play, the goats failed on the road because they could not create anything out of what they were handed. They out shot the Sounder and controlled the ball for significant stretches of the match, but they couldn't make Seattle sweat.

The win means home teams went 7 for 8 in the round and are 25 for 32 overall. Seattle will hope this trend continues as they play host to Colorado in the quarterfinals on August 7.

Here are the results from the third round:
Game Number, Date, Teams
25 July 11, DC United (MLS) 0-1 Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2)
26 July 10, NE Revolution (MLS) 4-2 Rochester Rhinos (USL-1)
27 July 10, Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) 0-1 Richmond Kickers (USL-2)
28 July 15, Chicago Fire (MLS) 0-1 Carolina RailHawks (USL-1)
29 July 9, Atlanta Silverbacks (USL-1) 1-1 FC Dallas (MLS) FC Dallas wins on pks 4-3
30 July 10, Houston Dynamo (MLS) 0-1 Charleston Battery (USL-1)
31 July 10, California Victory (USL-1) 1-3 Colorado Rapids (MLS)
32 July 18, Chivas USA (MLS) 1-3 Seattle Sounders (USL-1)

Fourth Round schedule:
Game Number Date, Teams, Venue, Time
33 August 8, Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) at NE Revolution (MLS), Gilette Stadium; Foxborough, Mass., 7:30 pm ET
34 August 7, Richmond Kickers (USL-2) at Carolina Railhawks (USL-1), SAS Soccer Park; Cary, N.C., 7:30 pm ET
35 August 7, FC Dallas (MLS) at Charleston Battery (USL-1), Blackbaud Stadium; Charleston S.C., 7:30 pm ET
36 August 7, Colorado Rapids (MLS) at Seattle Sounders (USL-1), Qwest Field; Seattle, Wash., 7 pm PT

With the way home teams have been playing, there is a very good chance that only one of the three remaining MLS teams will make it out of this round. Could this be the first year since 1999 that a MLS club does not win the US Open Cup?