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2011 US Open Cup Los Angeles Galaxy bracket preview: Los Angeles Blues at Ventura County Fusion

June 20, 2011 by Gerald Barnhart

SECOND ROUND

Los Angeles Blues at Ventura County Fusion
Ventura College – Ventura, Calif. – 10:05 p.m.
Broadcast: USLLive.com

THIRD ROUND

Los Angeles Blues / Ventura County Fusion at Los Angeles Galaxy
June 28, 10:30 p.m. ET  Titan Stadium (CSUF); Fullerton, Calif.

Los Angeles Blues

Founded in 2010 by the ownership of the successful Pali Blues W-League team, the side is in its debut season in USL Pro.

Path to Open Cup: Automatic entrant from USL Pro.

First Round: LA Blues (USL Pro) 3:1 Hollywood United (NPSL)

Despite playing a man down since Leo Griffin was sent off in the 19th minute, LA’s Mehrshad Momeni scored once in each half to give the Blues a two-goal lead in the First Round. Hollywood would answer but after both sides saw a red card late each Gerardo Bravo sealed it for the Blues. Recap [+]

League form: LA had the week off from USL Pro league play since last Tuesday and are 5-2-2 in the USL Pro National Division.

Open Cup History:
First appearance in the tournament.

Local History: Since teams from Los Angeles began participating in the Open Cup in 1954, LA-area clubs have reached 24 Open Cup Finals, winning 10 of those games.

Ventura County Fusion

Founded in 2007, the club has been a dominant force the past two seasons in the PDL, winning the league championship in 2009 and finishing first in the division last year. The club has been similarly successful off the field as one of the league leaders in attendance.

Path to Open Cup:
The Fusion burst the bubble of Fresno, who also finished with a perfect record a week earlier than Ventura County, who surpassed them on goal differential for the Open Cup berth with the extremely rare absolutely perfect finish with maxed out goal differential and goals scored tallies. The dominance started with a 6-1 win against the LA Legends with Daniel Barrera setting up the first three before notching one of his own. The second match was a 4-0 shutout at home against the Blues 23s in which David Walker had a goal and two assists. In the second home match they topped Orange County 7-2 with Mark Magee scoring twice. They rounded it out with another 4-0 win, blanking host Southern California with another double from Magee that put the Fusion past Fresno in the tiebreaker.

First Round: Ventura County Fusion (PDL) 3:1 Doxa Italia (USASA)

On a foggy night the Fusion got off to a slow start, allowing a goal on a fluke play just five minutes in. They reversed the course however with goals from Andy Rose (penalty) and Mark Magee before halftime and ensured the win with a third from Reed Williams in the second half. Recap [+]

League form: The Fusion returned to PDL action quickly with a 1-0 win Thursday versus visiting Ogden on second half Daniel Barrera goal. The team is 6-0-4 in the PDL Southwest Division.

Open Cup History: The club is returning for its second appearance after a surprise First Round elimination a year ago via penalties after playing to a 1-1 draw against the USASA’s Arizona Sahuaros.
PRO ERA RECORD: 0-0-1 (0-1 in PKs) overall | 0-0-1 (0-1 in PKs) vs. 3rd Division

Los Angeles Galaxy

How They Qualified: Automatic entrant from top six MLS finish in 2010.

This Month in MLS: The Galaxy played their third match of the month in Colorado Saturday, posting a 3-1 victory with Juninho doubling the advantage after an own goal and Chad Barrett securing the victory late. They now travel to San Jose June 25 before playing in the Third Round. They opened the month with the first of two draws, finishing in a scoreless stalemate against DC United June 3 with Josh Saunders in goal. On June 11 they hosted Toronto in a 2-2 draw with two go-ahead goals from Chris Birchall and Juan Pablo Angel.
Last Five: W-D-D-W-W | Season Record: 9-2-7 (4-0-4 Home), First in Western Conference, First Overall.

Open Cup History: The Galaxy have had a considerable amount of success in the Open Cup, winning two championships in 2001 and 2005, as well as finishing as runners-up in 2002 and 2006. Since falling short to the Chicago Fire in the 2006 Final, the Galaxy were upset by the Richmond Kickers (3rd Division) and then failed to qualify the next two years. In 2010, they returned to the tournament where they beat AC St. Louis of the NASL (2nd Division) before losing to eventual champion Seattle Sounders FC in the quarterfinals.
PRO ERA RECORD: 21-8-1 (1-0 in PKs) overall | 11-2-0 vs. Non-MLS teams

First Round

Hollywood United (NPSL) 1:3 Los Angeles Blues (USL PRO)
Riverside Community College – Riverside, Calif. – 8 p.m.
Recap [+]

Doxa Italia (USASA-So. CA) 1:3 Ventura County Fusion (PDL)
Ventura College – Ventura, Calif. – 10:05 p.m.
Recap [+]

ELIMINATED TEAMS

Hollywood United

The NPSL side is the feature team of the Hollywood United Football Club that is famous for numerous celebrities and former internationals playing on its teams over the years as well as participating in the club’s many charity events. They had merged with Doxa Italia in 2008 (retaining the name Hollywood United) and after falling just short of the Open Cup that year they entered again in 2009, but the owners of United left to focus on the launching of Hollywood United as a PDL franchise (The remaining players continued under the name Doxa Italia). Hollywood played two years in the PDL Southwest Division, where it reached the playoffs in both campaigns before leaving the league shortly before the start of the 2011 season to join the NPSL.

Path to Open Cup: With the division utilizing each team’s first seven games to determine the Open Cup berth, Hollywood finished with a perfect record, but it was not smooth going. After opening with a 1-0 win at Santa Ana, the club fell 3-1 to the San Diego Flash in its next outing. The team went on to win its next five games to finish with a 6-1 record on May 8 before it was revealed May 11 the league was penalizing the Flash for use of an illegal player in two matches, including the victory over Hollywood. The penalty would be forfeitures of both games, which would be appealed and finally upheld May 19, giving Hollywood a perfect record and the Open Cup berth.

June News Updates:
Won 4-1 at home June 11 against Sonoma County after being idle since a 2-1 win against Real San Jose May 28.

Open Cup History:
The club is making its return for the first time since making headlines in its 2008 debut via the USASA. They upset the second division Portland Timbers on the road 3-2 before being blanked 6-0 by the USL First Division’s Seattle Sounders the following round.
PRO ERA RECORD: 1-1-0 overall | 0-0-0 vs. 3rd Division

Local History: From the late 1950s and 1960s, teams from Hollywood were a fixture in the Southern California Open Cup qualifying rounds. Such clubs as the Hollywood Bears, Hollywood SC, and Lovers United (so named, as one newspaper reported,  because the all of the members of the team were “soccer lovers”) participated in the Open Cup at one time or another. In 1961, Hollywood SC reached the Los Angeles final, which at the time was two games away from the Open Cup Final, but lost 3-0 to the eventual Open Cup runner-up United Scots.

Doxa Italia

Founded in 1997, the club has been a powerhouse in the Pacific League (five championships) and Coast Soccer League (four championships) as well as performing well in the California South state cup tournament with four titles. When the club was struggling financially, they merged with Hollywood United in 2007 and competed under that name from 2007-2009. Prior to the beginning of the 2009 USASA Region IV tournament, Hollywood owners pulled the plug on the team to focus their efforts of starting a PDL expansion team. The players continued on in 2009 under the name Doxa Italia and have remained that way since then. Meet the USASA Feature [+]

Open Cup Path:
The club opened the Region IV tournament with a 1-1 draw against Rosal FC on Day One. It became apparent that it was going to be a race for goal differential the next morning with Doxa Italia netting a 6-0 win against Metro SC while Rosal were 8-1 winners against CV Eagles. Doxa Italia showed no mercy against the Eagles in the finale, posting an amazing 18-0 scoreline in comparison to Rosal’s 7-1 victory, earning the Open Cup berth on the goal differential tiebreaker. The club had missed out on the Open Cup on the goal difference tiebreaker the last two years, so they didn’t want to take any chances. The side was finally stymied once more by the other group winner, DV8 Defenders, in the Region IV Final in a 1-1 draw, but claimed the title in penalties, 4-1.

June News Updates:
Blanked Santa Ana Winds 4-0 June 11 with goal and assist each from Ryan Taylor and Bryan Byrne in season finale, finishing second in the league for the season… Shutout Morelos 8-0 June 5 in its next to last game with a Gabe Valencia hat-trick and Ilia Nazarov brace.

Open Cup History:
First appearance in the tournament after narrowly falling short the last two years. They missed out in 2009 by 2 goals in a goal difference tiebreaker (Sonoma County Sol) and again in 2010, they lost out on another tiebreaker to advance to the Region IV semifinals.

Filed Under: US Open Cup History Tagged With: 2011 First Round, 2011 US Open Cup, Doxa Italia FC, Hollywood United, Los Angeles Blues 23, Preview, Ventura County Fusion

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