US Open Cup Second Round & CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals preview, April 3

There are ten games in the US Open Cup Second Round tonight, completing the round before sixteen second-tier USL Championship sides enter next time out, and four lower-tier teams have the chance to join El Farolito SC and Lubbock Matadors in round three.

Although the rankings are far from an exact science (and they have joined the fifth-tier UPSL for 2024), Miami United are the lowest ranked side remaining in the cup, having accounted for MLS Next Pro newbies Chattanooga FC in the first round. They began play in 2013 and spent most of their existence in the NPSL, but recently played in United States Soccer League (Florida). Their opponents at Broward College in North Miami tonight are NISA's Club de Lyon from Daytona Beach in central Florida. Lyon had a season to forget last year, unable even to secure a home pitch for the complete season, but beat 2023 UPSL national champions AS Frenzi in the first round and will be hoping for a more stable 2024.

There's a Georgia derby in Statesboro as South Georgia Tormenta of USL League One face NISA's Savannah Clovers at Tormenta Stadium. Tormenta were surprise winners of USL-1 in 2022 and have had a mixed start to the season so far, but - as with all NISA sides - Clovers are yet to start their league season. Tormenta reached the third round last year, where they lost to Charlotte FC of MLS, one stage further than Savannah, who were knocked out in the second round by Charleston Battery. One Knoxville SC have won all of their four league and cup matches so far this season and will relish the visit of USL-1 rivals Greenville Triumph to the Regal Soccer Stadium tonight. This is only their second tilt at the Open Cup, having been knocked out by Memphis 901 in the second round last season, but they will be wary against a Triumph team that won away at Lexington SC at the weekend.

USL League Two outfit Vermont Green provided one of the shocks of the first round when they beat Lexington SC in the first Open Cup match ever staged on Vermont soil. The Burlington side began play in 2022 and have an ambition to become a net zero soccer club, the Green in their name more than just a colour. They welcome MLS Next Pro expansion club Carolina Core to the aptly named Virtue Field, which will no doubt be full and rocking again. Core have yet to win a game in 90 minutes in the league (which settles draws with penalties) and squeezed past NoVA FC in the last round, so there's all to play for in the Green Mountain State. Atlanta club Apotheos FC - who play in the NPSL - were given a walkover in the first round when their NISA opponents Georgia Lions were not in a position to begin their season. Apotheos were runners-up in the NPSL national play-offs last year but don't start their season until next month, meaning their clash with USL-1's Chattanooga Red Wolves will be their first competitive game of the year.

Chicago Fire II easily dispatched local semi-professional side Chicago City in the first round but face tougher opposition in round two in the shape of Forward Madison from USL-1. The 'Mingos won away at Central Valley Fuego at the weekend, are in decent form so far this term, and will be looking forward to testing their wiles against the MLS Next Pro side at SeatGeek Stadium. USL-1 mainstays Union Omaha have had a stuttered start to the season but have won both their games so far, including a commanding first round victory over Western Mass Pioneers. In tonight's game they will come up against Des Moines Menace, the USL-2 side that made headlines even before they beat NISA's Capo FC in the first round when they tempted former USMNT regular Sasha Kljestan out of retirement for their cup campaign. Kljestan set up a goal and scored the decisive kick in the penalty shootout and Omaha will be wary of his abilities as both a player and a talisman tonight.

As in Georgia, there's a derby game in Colorado, too, when Colorado Rapids 2 welcome Northern Colorado Hailstorm to Dick's Sporting Goods Park tonight. The Rapids beat fellow Denver side Azteca FC in the last round, with Hailstorm winning away in Oklahoma against Tulsa Athletic, and it'll be another interesting clash of MLS reserves versus their independent third-tier equivalents. As will Ventura County FC (formerly known as LA Galaxy II) versus NISA's Irvine Zeta at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. Branding itself as the first Chinese-owned club in US Soccer, Zeta were elevated into the professional ranks this season after playing in the UPSL last year and beat 2023 US Amateur Cup winners SC Mesoamerica in the first round, with County seeing off Irvine Zeta 2, the club's semi-professional arm still competing in the UPSL.

The final second round game comes from western Washington state, where USL-1 expansion side Spokane Velocity - who beat 2023 USL-2 champions Ballard FC in the first round - welcome NISA's Los Angeles Force to One Spokane Stadium. Velocity have won two and lost two in their debut league campaign thus far but have quality up front with English striker Josh Dolling always a threat. The sixteen winners from round two go forward to the next round on April 16 and 17, where sixteen USL Championship sides await.


After a bad night for MLS clubs last night in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the third and final MLS survivor plays tonight as Inter Miami host Monterrey, currently second in Liga MX. All eyes will be on the Miami line-up and whether Lionel Messi will return after missing the last three matches with injury. The final tie sees another Liga MX side, Pachuca, travel to Costa Rica's Herediano.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Canadian Championship Preliminary Round, MLS, USL Jägermeister Cup & CONCACAF Champions Cup Semi-Finals previews, April 30-May 2

Image
The preliminary round of the 2024 Canadian Championship concludes this week, beginning with a trio of matches tomorrow night from Ottawa in the East to Vancouver Island in the West. The two midnight kick-offs (all times BST) from Ontario are all-Canadian Premier League affairs, with Atletico Ottawa facing Valour FC , and Forge FC hosting York United . Forge currently top the CPL table after three rounds with a perfect record, having defeated Cavalry, Valour, and York, the latter a 3-0 win in Toronto that rarely saw the visitors troubled. York, though, saw off previously unbeaten Vancouver FC at the weekend with a 3-0 win of their own and will look to restore some pride and hopefully land a plum, two-legged tie against MLS club CF Montreal in the quarterfinals. Ottawa are one of two teams sitting in second, with two wins and a draw so far and will expect to sweep aside the challenge of Valour, last year's bottom side who are yet to earn a point in 2024. The winners of the Atletico-V...
Read more

Canadian Championship Preliminary Round, MLS, USL Jägermeister Cup & CONCACAF Champions Cup Semi-Finals round-up, April 30-May 2

Image
The preliminary rounds of the Canadian Championship were completed this week, with three games on Wednesday and the final game last night. Both of Wednesday's games came from Ontario, and it was a party night in the national's capital as Atletico Ottawa put 7 (seven) goals past a sorry Valour FC outfit who have now lost their first four matches of 2024. Effervescent midfielder Ollie Bassett opened the scoring a quarter of an hour in with a penalty given for what was practically an assault by visiting defender Abdou Samake, and it as 3-0 fifteen minutes later, thanks to goals from Spaniards Alberto Zapater and Ruben del Campo. Zapater scored his second to make it 4-0 in the 37th minute and the visitors from Winnipeg went into the break looking broken. Still, they managed to hold out for eighteen minutes of the second-half before Ballou Tabla scored Atletico's fifth, Bassett adding his second two minutes later for 6-0, and del Campo finishing the scoring - thankfully for any ...
Read more

MLS round-up, April 13 & 14

Image
The MLS weekend began in Oregon, where Phil Neville's  Portland Timbers  took on  Los Angeles FC . Both sides have had middling starts to their seasons, a bonus for Timbers fans but something of a comedown for the Black & Gold, who are used to flying high. Whatever Neville has got his team doing is (sometimes) effective and it looked that way when Felipe Mora put the home side ahead in the eleventh minute during a brief period of Timbers dominance, but Mateusz Bogusz equalised eleven minutes later with a cracking finish from Timothy Tillman's pass. Eduard Atesta went close to putting the visitors ahead before Portland's creative talisman Evander scored his fourth of the season to give Timbers a half-time 2-1 lead that lasted all of three minutes into the second-half when Maxime Crepeau took out Denis Bouanga just outside the box as the striker raced towards goals. Crepeau was sent off and Bogusz fired the subsequent free-kick home to level the scores. It was a game of...
Read more