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U.S. Open Cup Final preview: D.C. United v Charleston Battery
2 Sep, 2008By Chris Hummer, Potomac Soccer Wire Editor
D.C. United will play it's third Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final in thirteen years on Wednesday night against the USL-1 Charleston Battery at RFK Stadium. On the line is a $100,000 first prize, as well as an automatic spot in next year's CONCACAF Champions League. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel.
This is just the third time since MLS was created that final did not feature two teams from this 13-year-old league. Untied defeated the Rochester Rhinos in their first year of existence for the 1996 title, while those same Rhinos downed Colorado in 1999.
D.C. United has been heavily marketing this final at RFK, and expects around 10,000 fans to attend. The expected attendance is impressive considering the team had only three-weeks notice to promote the match. However, it is still a disappointment overall that much more interest is not paid to the Open Cup each year, which is the oldest continuously running tournament in any team sport in the United States.
By contrast, the FA Cup, a similar competition open to all teams in England, draws sell out crowds and international attention every year - especially when a lower division team slays some of their giant Premier League rivals. It represents an opportunity every year for Davids to stone Goliaths, and rarely disappoints.
Given any perspective at all of this magnitude of such a feat, this Open Cup final would likely be drawing much larger crowds of casual fans and national media coverage. Picture a minor league baseball team playing the Yankees for a major series trophy, a Canadian Football League team playing NFL's Giants, or even the NCAA Basketball champs facing off against the Celtics in a real competition. Those sorts of stories write themselves, and are typically what the American sports media jumps all over with all their "human interest" glory.
[+ read the pre-game analysis by ESPN]
D.C. United will play it's third Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final in thirteen years on Wednesday night against the USL-1 Charleston Battery at RFK Stadium. On the line is a $100,000 first prize, as well as an automatic spot in next year's CONCACAF Champions League. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel.
This is just the third time since MLS was created that final did not feature two teams from this 13-year-old league. Untied defeated the Rochester Rhinos in their first year of existence for the 1996 title, while those same Rhinos downed Colorado in 1999.
D.C. United has been heavily marketing this final at RFK, and expects around 10,000 fans to attend. The expected attendance is impressive considering the team had only three-weeks notice to promote the match. However, it is still a disappointment overall that much more interest is not paid to the Open Cup each year, which is the oldest continuously running tournament in any team sport in the United States.
By contrast, the FA Cup, a similar competition open to all teams in England, draws sell out crowds and international attention every year - especially when a lower division team slays some of their giant Premier League rivals. It represents an opportunity every year for Davids to stone Goliaths, and rarely disappoints.
Given any perspective at all of this magnitude of such a feat, this Open Cup final would likely be drawing much larger crowds of casual fans and national media coverage. Picture a minor league baseball team playing the Yankees for a major series trophy, a Canadian Football League team playing NFL's Giants, or even the NCAA Basketball champs facing off against the Celtics in a real competition. Those sorts of stories write themselves, and are typically what the American sports media jumps all over with all their "human interest" glory.
[+ read the pre-game analysis by ESPN]
« Back to full list of Pro