Wednesday, August 24, 2005

US Open Cup Quarterfinals

The quest for the old US Open Cup continues tonight with six MLS teams seeing action.

The Chicago Fire (MLS) take on the Raging Rhinos of Rochester (USL) in Rochester, NY at 7:30pm EST. Rochester has a way of beating MLS teams in the Cup that is just amazing. Their last outing saw the end to the MetroStars, and they were the ones that beat Chicago in 1999 when the fire were trying to repeat as champions. Chicago is missing a lot of players due to injure, plus Justin Mapp will be out due to yesterday's match in Madrid, thus they will have a difficult time in New York. For the Rhinos, their secret weapon is goalie Scott Vallow. He has allowed less then one goal a game his season. Look for a dog fight in this one. Chicago 1 - Rochester 2

FC Dallas (MLS) will face DC United (MLS) in Germantown, MD at 7:30pm EST. This should be a really great game, but Dallas is in such a slump (Eddie Johnson is still hurting and their defense looks worse then a teenagers room), that even without Jaime Moreno, Freddy Adu and Nick Rimando, DC should be able to claim a victory. However, if FCD can pull something together, it be be a bad night for United. FCD 0 - DC 2

KC Wizards (MLS) and Minnesota Thunder (USL) will clash at 8pm EST in Parkville, MO. The Thunder have already had their way with MLS teams during the Cup. They have beat the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake by a combined score of 11-5. Basically, they are a scoring machine. KC is in a similar situation. They are without defenders Jimmy Conrad and Jose Burciaga, but they have scoring power in Scott Sealy and Josh Wolff . KC is looking to repeat as Cup winners, so they will go all out tonight. Look for a lot of offense in this one. KC 4 - Minnesota 3

The last match of the night sees San Jose (MLS) and LA (MLS) taking each other on in San Jose at 10:30pm EST. They will get to repeat this match on Saturday for the MLS. LA is without Landon Donovan, so they are missing their main offensive assette while San Jose is missing midfielder Ricardo Clark, who has been mighty important to the club during the last two months. There is a good rivalry between these two, so it is going to be a good match. I think LA looked alright against DC over the weekend, but without Donovan, they just don't work. San Jose 3 - LA 1

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