Open Cup 2006 Primer

The World Cup is over, and it's time to direct our thoughts back toward MLS. Today and tomorrow, the league begins its involvement in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, our equivalent of England's legendary FA Cup. Held since 1914, only recently with MLS teams competing has it gained any real importance. It's good to see the league embrace this American soccer tradition (the NASL did not compete). There's been some great moments over the past 10 years, and not just the finals. Like Josh Wolff scoring 4 goals against Dallas in the 2000 quarterfinals or Alexi Lalas winning the 2001 semifinal for the Galaxy in extra time (celebrated by running up the hill in Fullerton). Don't forget about Luis Hernandez's stomp on Peter Nowak in 2000 as well. Or Eddie Pope scoring twice in the last 15 minutes to complete a thrilling comeback (from 1-3 to 4-3) for the Metros against the defending champion Columbus in 2003. There's the great giant killing aspect of it as well. It would be hard to forget Dallas losing to third division Wilmington 4-1 in 2003, or RSL letting 6 goals past them in Minnesota last season. See below for a list of MLS losses to lower division clubs. The non-playoff teams start their campaigns tomorrow for the right to advance to the last 16. Will there be another big upset in the cards? RSL vs Virginia Beach KC vs Des Moines CHV vs Roma CLB @ Michigan For a full list of games and much more, check out usopencup.com. That's where I got the majority of lineups from for my lineup database. I did notice a few mistakes, though, both there and elsewhere on their stats pages. I emailed them a year ago about something, and they never fixed it. But I guess it's the best site we soccer fans have for this. (all stats are for MLS teams only) Records - Overall W L D Pts GF GA GD 27 1 Chicago 20 5 2 62 51 24 27 23 2 Los Angeles 17 5 1 52 55 24 31 27 3 Dallas 16 9 2 50 53 37 16 22 4 D.C. United 14 5 3 45 47 19 28 21 5 Columbus 14 6 1 43 46 26 20 21 6 New York 11 9 1 34 37 28 9 18 7 San Jose 8 6 4 28 35 18 17 16 8 Kansas City 8 7 1 25 34 22 12 15 9 Colorado 6 9 0 18 15 26 -11 9 10 Miami 5 3 1 16 24 15 9 11 11 New England 5 5 1 16 23 17 6 10 12 Tampa Bay 3 6 1 10 11 20 -9 2 13 Chivas USA 1 1 0 3 5 7 -2 0 14 Houston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 15 Real Salt Lake 0 1 0 0 4 6 -2 Records - vs MLS only W L D Pts GF GA GD 15 1 Chicago 11 3 1 34 27 16 11 13 2 Los Angeles 8 4 1 25 23 15 8 13 3 Columbus 7 5 1 22 23 19 4 13 4 Dallas 5 6 2 17 15 22 -7 11 5 New York 5 5 1 16 21 16 5 7 6 Kansas City 3 4 0 9 12 10 2 6 7 Colorado 3 3 0 9 8 10 -2 7 8 D.C. United 2 3 2 8 9 9 0 5 9 New England 2 3 0 6 8 8 0 5 10 Miami 2 3 0 6 8 11 -3 6 11 San Jose 0 4 2 2 3 8 -5 1 12 Chivas USA 0 1 0 0 2 5 -3 0 13 Houston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 Real Salt Lake 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 15 Tampa Bay 0 4 0 0 0 10 -10 Records - vs non-MLS teams W L D Pts GF GA GD 15 1 D.C. United 12 2 1 37 38 10 28 14 2 Dallas 11 3 0 33 38 15 23 12 3 Chicago 9 2 1 28 24 8 16 10 4 Los Angeles 9 1 0 27 32 9 23 12 5 San Jose 8 2 2 26 32 10 22 8 6 Columbus 7 1 0 21 23 7 16 10 7 New York 6 4 0 18 16 12 4 9 8 Kansas City 5 3 1 16 22 12 10 4 9 Miami 3 0 1 10 16 4 12 6 10 New England 3 2 1 10 15 9 6 6 11 Tampa Bay 3 2 1 10 11 10 1 9 12 Colorado 3 6 0 9 7 16 -9 1 13 Chivas USA 1 0 0 3 3 2 1 0 14 Houston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 15 Real Salt Lake 0 1 0 0 4 6 -2 Titles/Best finishes 3-Chicago (1998, 2000, 2003) 2-Los Angeles (2001, 2005) 1-D.C. United (1996) 1-Dallas (1997) 1-Columbus (2002) 1-Kansas City (2004) See this post for more stats on the finals. Runners Up: Colorado (1999), Miami (2000), New England (2001), New York (2003) Semifinals: San Jose (2004) Quarterfinals: Tampa Bay (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999) Round of 16: Chivas USA (2005) Round of 32: Real Salt Lake (2005) Most Goals - Overall 1 Jaime Moreno 10 2 Josh Wolff 9 3 Chris Albright 8 3 Brian McBride 8 5 Ronald Cerritos 7 5 A.T. Conteh 7 5 Dante Washington 7 5 Jason Kreis 7 5 Carlos Ruiz 7 10 Herculez Gomez 6 10 Ante Razov 6 10 Diego Serna 6 10 Welton 6 Most Goals - Single Season 1 Herculez Gomez 6 LA 2005 1 Welton 6 MIA 2000 1 Josh Wolff 6 CHI 2000 4 A.T. Conteh 5 DC 2001 5 Jeff Cunningham 4 CLB 2003 5 Amado Guevara 4 MET 2000 5 Jaime Moreno 4 DC 2000 5 Diego Serna 4 MIA 2000 Most Games Played 1 Jesse Marsch 24 2 Andy Williams 21 3 C.J. Brown 20 3 Zach Thornton 20 5 Chris Armas 19 6 Mauricio Cienfeugos 18 6 Mike Clark 18 6 Simon Elliot 18 6 Steve Jolley 18 6 Cobi Jones 18 6 Dema Kovalenko 18 6 Carey Talley 18 6 Peter Vagenas 18 Best Strike Rate (goals per game, min 10 games played) 1 Carlos Ruiz 0.70 2 Jaime Moreno 0.63 3 Brian McBride 0.62 4 Ronald Cerritos 0.58 5 Josh Wolff 0.56 6 Dante Washington 0.54 7 Ante Razov 0.50 8 Chris Albright 0.47 9 Chris Henderson 0.42 10 Jason Kreis 0.41 Hat Tricks 4-Welton, MIA vs New Jersey (2000) 4-Josh Wolff, CHI vs Dallas (2000) 3-Bobby Rhine, DAL vs Jacksonville (1999) 3-Raul Diaz Arce, DC @ Charlston (2000) 3-Abdul Thompson Conteh, DC vs New Jersey (2001) 3-Carlos Ruiz, LA @ Seattle (2003) 3-Jason Kreis, RSL @ Minnesota (2006) Biggest Margin Of Victory 8:0-DC vs New Jersey (2001) 7:1-NE vs Mid-Michigan (2001) 6:0-SJ @ Central Coast (2001) 6:1-MIA vs New Jersey (2000) 6:1-KC vs Des Moines (2006) 5:0-SJ @ Stanislaus Utd (2000) 5:0-LA vs Nashville (2001) Wins By Lower League Teams Over MLS (shootouts are counted as draws) USL-1/A-League 7-Rochester Raging Rhinos (1996-TB, COL; 1999-CHI, DAL, *CLB, *COL; 2005-NY) 4-Minnesota Thunder (2004-LA, 2005-RSL, COL, KC) 3-Charleston Battery (1999-DC; 2000-NY; 2004-NY) 2-Richmond Kickers (2000-COL; 2004-DC) 1-Connecticut Wolves (2001-TB) 1-Long Island Rough Riders (1997-NE) 1-Milwaukee Rampage (2002-CHI) 1-Nashville Metros (1998-KC) 1-Pittsburgh Riverhounds (2001-COL) 1-Seattle Sounders (2003-SJ) 1-Staten Island Vipers (1999-NY) USL-2/PSL/D-3 2-San Francisco Bay Seals (1997-KC, SJ) 1-Chicago Stingers (1997-COL) 1-Wilmington Hammerhaeads (2003-DAL) PDL 1-Mid-Michigan (2000-NE) 1-Seattle Sounders Select (2001-DAL) Bold signifies an MLS home game. Overall, MLS teams are 80-29-8 against lower league competition. That is 2.12 points per game, or the equivalent of 67 points in a 32 game season (SJ had 64 last year). *neutral venue.