For the first time ever and after a year’s absence of the USSF 2nd Division from US Open Cup competition, the North American Soccer League (NASL) will enter into Cup play on Tuesday evening.
“We were disappointed we didn’t get in it last year but we also understood with the sanctioning and the stance US Soccer took, we had to learn to crawl before we walked,” said Fort Lauderdale Strikers head coach Daryl Shore.
Indeed, the NASL who had an on-again, off-again and then on-again sanctioning process with the USSF in late 2010 and early 2011, were deemed to have received that sanctioning too late to be included in the Cup competition in 2011. The exclusion meant that the 98-year old tournament would not include a 2nd Division team.
The NASL had a positive first year in 2011 and were sanctioned by the USSF for 2012. With the early sanctioning also came the approval to be included in the competition for the first time as a league.
NASL coach of the year Manny Lagos, who led his Minnesota Stars to the 2011 Championship, said it wasn’t just disappointing to the league, its players and coaches. “It was disappointing from a league perspective but also from a fan’s perspective,” said Lagos.
Minnesota soccer fans have a history of participating in the US Open Cup. In 2005, the last year his father Buzz Lagos coached the Minnesota Thunder, that team made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament, defeating MLS teams Real Salt Lake 6-4, the Colorado Rapids 4-1 and the Kansas City Wizards 3-1 before being bounced from the tournament by the Galaxy in the Semifinals. Last year the Stars supporters, the Dark Clouds, proudly posted a banner at each and every game that stated, “US Open Cup Banned”.
Northern Ireland born Colin Clarke, head coach of the Carolina RailHawks, has plenty of experience in cup competitions, as a player in England and as a coach of FC Dallas. He participated in the Caribbean Federation Union (CFU) with his former team the Puerto Rico Islanders who had good success in that tournament. Clarke brought his FC Dallas team to the US Open Cup final in 2005 where they lost to the Galaxy 1-0. FC Dallas were defeated in the Quarterfinals of the tournament in 2006, losing to the Houston Dynamo.
Clarke’s RailHawks will host the PSA Elite (USASA) amateur team at WakeMed Soccer Park on Tuesday evening.
“I’m looking forward to it very much,” said Clarke in regard to entry back into the US Open Cup as coach of an American Division 2 team. “We (Puerto Rico Islanders) had great success in the CFU. But now that’s gone and we’ve got the Open Cup. The last time my team played in that we got close to the final with Dallas in the last couple of years there.
“It’s a big competition for us. We didn’t get to play in it last year, so were excited to get out there and hopefully get through the early rounds and play against some MLS teams. It’s our equivalent to the FA Cup back in my home of England. It’s our chance to play against the big boys and see what we can do.”
Shore also has had plenty of US Open Cup experience, serving as assistant coach for 10 years with the Chicago Fire. There he saw both sides of what can happen in a format that gives all levels of teams an equal chance to compete.
“The Fire took the Open Cup very seriously,” said Shore. “I’ve seen both sides of it. We won a couple of Open Cups with the Fire. I also remember losing to Milwaukee in the first round and another year, one of my last with the Fire, we lost to Wilmington (Hammerheads, Division 3 professional). So I know what the Open Cup is about. These young lower level teams can surprise sometimes.”
“The first thing that actually comes to my mind as a player is we were defending US Open Cup Champions when I was with the Fire,” reminisced Lagos. “We went to Rochester, New York to play a lower level team and we ended up losing 2-1. That’s the reality of the tournament. It was a tough day and we didn’t play as well as we would have liked. It can be one game and you’re done. That’s the tough part but it’s also the exciting part of the tournament.”
Coach Shore said that like the Fire, his philosophy in Ft. Lauderdale is to be the last NASL team standing in the Open Cup. “We know there’s money involved. We’re going to take it very seriously. We’ve even brought in players who have had success in the US Open Cup. Players like Andy Herron who scored the winning goal in the 2006 Open Cup final. We’ve got guys on this team that want to take the Open Cup serious and go far in the tournament.”
“I approach it that it’s an honor to coach a team in such a storied tournament,” said MLS player turned coach, Lagos. “It’s a great format. We get to be challenged by playing higher level teams and sometimes you play lower level teams, but all of games are always exciting. It can be very tense and emotional, especially at the round we are entering into.”
Lagos’ Stars will take the 4 hour bus ride down I-35 from Minnesota to Iowa on Tuesday to play one of the better USL PDL teams, the Des Monies Menace. He points to the fact that the essence of the tournament is “representation of all the teams, amateur and professional, battling for the trophy.”
“The Menace are a really well-run PDL organization. They get a lot of top midwest college players and All-Americans. They’ve also had some good men’s league players that are on their way up to professional careers. It’s a very good team and we’re excited to go down there in front of a potentially hostile environment and get a result.”
The Menace averaged 3,372 fans last season, which was a better average attendance than all but two of the NASL teams in 2011.
“Anything can happen,” concluded Lagos. “Lower level teams play well and higher level teams play well. That’s the lure of the US Open Cup. I think as more people become aware of that one game-one day excitement, I think it will become even more of a story line in the US Soccer landscape.”
Brian Quarstad is the creator and senior editor of IMSoccer News. You can follow him on Twitter @IMSoccerNews