|
9 teams battle for 2 remaining Open Cup spots
Region III tournament begins with a blind draw on Thursday night
Region III of the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) is the final tournament of this year’s Open Cup qualifying season. On Thursday, May 22, a blind draw will be held at the Golf Club at Fleming Island in Orange Park, Florida to determine which groups the nine teams will fall into. The tournament will feature three groups of three, with the winners of each group, and the best second place team, moving on to the semifinals.
The two finalists will qualify for the Open Cup and will battle on Memorial Day to see which team will represent the region at the USASA National Finals.
Last year’s Open Cup entry, Lynch’s Irish Pub (now known simply as Lynch’s FC) along with the Clearwater Galactics are the representatives from Florida. Originally, the two entries were supposed to be the winner of the Florida State Soccer Assocation (FSSA) tournament and the winner of the Miami-based Copa Latina tournament. Clearwater defeated Lynch’s in the FSSA final by a score of 5-2, but when the Copa Latina champion Honduras Five Star failed to submit an application for the Region III tournament, Lynch’s was awarded the vacant Copa Latina slot. Efforts to contact the Copa Latina for an explanation were not returned.
Dallas Roma FC returns to the Cup after falling short in the ultra-competitive North Texas tourney last year. In their last trip to the Open Cup in 2006, they made history by becoming the first USASA team to defeat a USL First Division club when they eliminated Miami FC (led by Brazilian World Cup winners Romario and Zinho), 1-0. Their achievements that year didn’t stop there. In the third round, they did the unthinkable by playing 120 scoreless minutes with Major League Soccer’s (MLS) CD Chivas USA and won the penalty kick shootout 4-2 to move on to round 4. They would give the Los Angeles Galaxy all they could handle in the next round, but they would fall 2-0.
Another Dallas-based club, Mustang Legends, enter the Cup with some experience. In 2004 and 2006 they qualified, but were first round victims of PDL teams. They lost to Roma FC last month in a rather one-sided North Texas Final. However, since both teams had already punched their ticket to the Region III Finals, it was a rather meaningless game, outside of the rivalry that exists between the two clubs.
The South Texas representatives are Real Madrid and the Aria Soccer Club (ASC) New Stars. Real Madrid haven’t qualified for the Open Cup since 2002, while the New Stars are making their first appearance in the Region III tourney.
Atlanta FC is also a newcomer to Open Cup qualifying, but had much success last year as a U-23 team in making the National Cup finals in that age group. They are a member of the Southeast Conference of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and are currently 3-1 on the season.
Rounding out the field are the Louisiana Mudbugs, and the Greenwood Wanderers. Greenwood hail from the Central League in the South Carolina Amateur Soccer Association. Currently the Wanderers are 7-0-1 in the league, just one point ahead of the Death Penguins, one of the last year’s Region III entries who dropped out of the 2008 competition.
|
|
