MVN - Most Valuable Network

95th annual U.S. Open Cup — round 1 begins Tuesday

With teams as varied as top MLS sides like the current MLS Cup holders Houston Dynamo, USL teams like 2007 champions Seattle Sounders, to the celebrity-heavy Hollywood United FC, the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup - the 95th edition - is truly an American-style smorgasbord of soccer….

The U.S. Open Cup premiered in 1914, and has been held annually ever since.  It is the longest-running soccer tournament of any type in this country, and also one of the nation’s oldest competitions of any sort of sport at any level.

The U.S. Open Cup serves as the National Championship of the U.S. Soccer Federation, and any affiliated amateur or professional men’s team can attempt to qualify for this prestigious tournament.  Under normal circumstances, it is also the only time when a lower-division team can have a chance to possibly test their mettle against an MLS Cup winner or USL title holder.  

The winner of  the U.S. Open Cup goes on to participate in FIFA’s regional CONCACAF Champions League (whose winner in turn then participates in the annual FIFA Club World Cup).

I will be writing original MVN articles here throughout this tourney, which concludes on August 26. 

My favorite MLS team, the New England Revolution, are the defending champions.

The first round kicks off tonight, with 16 matches scheduled…

For details, see the U.S. Open Cup official Tournament Bracket

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 2:25 am and is filed under Soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.