D.C. United certainly won’t feel like the reigning Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title-holder when it takes the field against F.C. Dallas on Wednesday. It’s just the first of two rounds United will have to overcome just to make it into the 2009 version of the 95-year-old knockout tournament.
“We’re defending champions, right?” said D.C. defender Bryan Namoff. “But we have to have a play-in game to start off. I’m upset that the actual champions of a tournament have to have a play-in game the next year.”
But that’s what was decided by Major League Soccer, which allocated six of its first eight spots in the competition’s round of 16 to the top six finishers in the 2008 regular season. Eight other U.S.-based MLS teams (as a U.S. tournament, Toronto FC isn’t included) were banished to the preliminary rounds — only two will advance.
The format for MLS teams is one hurdle. Marketing is another. U.S. Soccer actually runs the tournament, but in its latest all-encompassing release, the 3,700-word U.S. Soccer Wire, exactly zero words are devoted to the U.S. Open Cup.
D.C. United would just prefer some acknowledgement of its accomplishment — the knockout soccer is the good part.
“I think the tournament has to be looked at, that there’s some leeway for the champions,” said United head coach Tom Soehn, whose prize from last year was a trophy and a place in the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League.
“As disappointing as last year was, we still managed to hold something up, and the guys did a great job in [the U.S. Open Cup],” said United midfielder Ben Olsen. “I love that tournament. I love the history of it. I think the format of it is great, and I hope we continue to do well in it.”
