Well today the start of the road to the US Open Cup, 8 MLS teams will actually play in the tournament and six of those slots are already occupied (Columbus Crew, LA Galaxy, Houston Dynamo, Seattle Sounders, Chicago Fire and Chivas USA) while the other 9 US based teams will fight it out for the remaining two slots.
Today matchups and locations were announced based on yesterday's coin toss (via online meeting) and here is what we know. The teams have been seeded based on 2009 regular season finish and the games will be as follows [home team listed first]:
Game A (8 v 9/Expansion): New York Red Bulls v Philadelphia Union
Game B (1 v 8): Game A Winner v New England Revolutions
Game C (2 v 7): San Jose Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake
Game D (3 v 6): Kansas City Wizards v Colorado Rapids
Game E (4 v 5): D.C. United v FC Dallas
** Play-in games A-E will be completed by the end of April. Teams will announce the date and times of games in the near future.
Game F: Game B winner v Game D winner
Game G: Game C winner v Game E winner
Winner of Games F and G qualify as the final 2 teams in the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
**Play-in games F & G by will be completed by the end of May. Teams will announce the date and times of games in the near future.
So we will open our season in San Jose and then have to travel back there for our US Open Cup qualifying match. If this sounds familiar to you, last year we opened on the road at Seattle and they were also the host of our qualifying match. Unlike last year, I don't think RSL will lose either of those matches.
OFF MY SOAPBOX