From Dave of Sounder at Heart comes a novel concept: clubs should be promoting cup competitions that actually matter over meaningless friendlies that do nothing but stretch resources and pack already bursting schedules.


The Sounders lost to Celtic yesterday, in part because keeper Terry Boss was sent off for a foul on Celtic forward Georgios Samaras. Samaras actually managed to put the ball in the net despite the foul, making the decision by referee Paul Ward to award a penalty and red card to Boss an odd one. It was a friendly after all.


It's unfortunate that the entertainment value of the match was destroyed by Ward, and it highlights the problem Dave is attempting to bring attention to. Sounders fans pay for these friendlies as part of their season ticket package, while matches in non-league competitions like the CONCACAF Champions League and US Open Cup are left out and shuffled to auxiliary facilities that hold 6,000 fans. It's encouraging that 45,000 Seattlites showed up to watch Scotland's legendary club go up against their beloved Sounders, but it's disheartening that so much more importance is given to exhibitions than to games that can lead to the club winning trophies.


The reality of the matter is that these friendlies bring in money. MLS teams are hardly doing so well that they can turn their nose up at the case when clubs like Celtic and Man United are on annual summer tours and would like to stop by. While the Sounders can draw impressively no matter the opponent, other clubs need the name draw to bring in the masses and augment their bottom lines. It's not a matter of profit in most cases, it's a matter of offsetting losses.


Dave is suggesting this for everyone, though his obvious concern is the Sounders. He happens to support a club that has no excuses when it comes to promoting meaningful matches over friendlies. The Sounders don't need the name of Celtic to put 30k+ in Qwest Field.


By including CCL and Open Cup tickets in a season ticket package, the club gives the fans a reason to go to those matches. By not including them, the club is making it imminently clear that the games hardly matter, that the tournaments are extraneous the rest of the season, and that there's little reason for their most committed fans to attend. How can we expect fans to care about cup competitions when the club sends the message that they're not important?


There are practical reasons for MLS clubs to invite teams with massive fan bases and big names to the States for a tour of friendlies; but the longer theses games are given precedence over tournaments that should mean something, the harder it will be to build interest in those tournaments. Dave thinks clubs should start giving the fans a reason to pay attention.


This is a first step. For me, the end game is to no longer need summer friendlies with third stringers from Tottenham and experimental sides from Celtic to makes ends meet. That may not be possible for the foreseeable future. and even if these games always happen, Dave's point stands: promote competitions that matter, include them in the season ticket package, and leave the friendlies to the tourists.


I'm fully behind #trophiesnotfriendlies.

Bravo to Gary Smith. The Colorado Rapids head coach spoke out on the deplorable state of the U.S. Open Cup after his side's 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders on Tuesday. At the top of Smith's hit list was the Sounders' choice to play the match at Starfire Sports Complex rather than Qwest Field, and Major League Soccer's obvious disdain for the country's oldest cup competition.

"(The way) the whole system has been conducted has led us down a path that it was obvious the MLS league games are far more important to everybody in our league," Smith said. "Why should we risk our best players when nobody actually sees this as an important competition?

Smith's frustrations may seem like sour grapes, but it's clear he simply wants to see American soccer with a knock-out tournament akin to England's FA Cup. Romance, no matter the possibility of lower level teams knocking off the MLS big boys, is severely lacking in the U.S. Open Cup. It's a result of the severe lack of interest both MLS and its clubs have in seriously competing for the trophy.

"I come from an environment and culture where Cup games are part of the fabric as English football and European football. I think people at the top have demeaned this competition by playing it here for starters. Why don't we play the games at Qwest? Why, when we offered up the facilities at our own turf, are we not there?

The Sounders response to this, of course, is that Starfire provided a more intimate setting for the type of crowd they expect to get for a U.S. Open Cup qualifier. My immediate question is, why is that the case? I understand that the game was midweek and might not be quite the draw a weekend night might be; but if the team is able to sell out a 28k stadium for league matches, why is the bar lowered to 4k for Open Cup games?

Smith also commented on the "private" nature of the Open Cup draw.

"Why can't we promote the Cup in a more sensible fashion so everyone can get behind it?" he said. "There is a behind close door draw done and we end up here in a facility that is below par. We have seen two very good teams do battle on a below-par surface and facility.

It's a good question, and one that I hadn't really considered before. My issues with the Open Cup goes so far beyond the nature of the draw, that I simply hadn't realized that it was done in such a fashion.

"I don't understand that with the strides the MLS and the league made in this country. Seattle has proved this week already what a good team they are. It doesn't suit them either and I'm surprised."

Smith doesn't strike me as the John Carver type, frustrated enough with the league and the condition of the game here to simply walk away. I think his concerns come from a genuine place of interest in seeing the game succeed in the U.S., and he seems to believe that a properly run and well-respected cup competition should be part of that success.

I agree.

I've banged the drum for the U.S. Open Cup to get more attention, so it only makes sense to heap a little love on the most recent play-in match.

DC United beat FC Dallas 2-0 at RFK last night, on goals from Fred and Brandon Barkladge. Attendance at the ancient stadium was reported to be 5,163 (source: Goff), and while that's nothing to write home about, it's really not that shabby for a under-promoted cup match on a Wednesday night.

Video highlights:

Things are slow, so I'm going to be a bit ridiculous today. Read on, and bear with me...

I'm one of those people who constantly bemoans the condition of the U.S. Open Cup. I hate the way MLS teams treat Cup matches as exhibitions, often using it as an excuse to trot out a third or fourth selection team. It bothers me that the one truly historic competition that we have in this country gets treated as though it doesn't matter.

Despite the automatic bid to the CONCACAF Champions League that the tournament now provides, MLS teams still largely view the Cup as a inconvenience rather than a trophy worth winning.

All of this leads to my question, which I expect won't go over well with some...

Is it time to retire the Open Cup and move on?

The simple fact is that neither Major League Soccer itself nor the its member teams care about the Cup. Because USSF controls the competition, there's no money and no incentive for the league to promote it. USL teams play hard and show well in the tournament, but largely because it's one of the few showcases for them to show their quality against the bigger, richer, MLS.

So if neither league really cares, and the tournament is fated to languish in continued obscurity, then what's the point? The idea may be romantic, and the history may be long, but neither of those elements buy the competition relevancy.

American soccer simply doesn't have the infrastructure or cultural resonance to support a tournament on the scale of the U.S. Open Cup. As lovely as it might be to think that our cup competition could one day approach the level of England's FA Cup, we have to realistic; it's just not going to happen.

Still, we desperately need an important cup competition in this country (I envy the Canadians with the V-Cup), so something has to be done.

So this is what I propose:

A new Cup competition composed solely of MLS and USL-1 clubs, with the winner getting that "coveted" CONCACAF Champions League spot.

If those two leagues ever have a chance of getting together and agreeing on something, an event like a new "American Cup" could be just the thing to make it happen. If each organization has incentive to properly sell the thing, we might actually get somewhere. If MLS has a reason to force its teams to actually try, we might actually get somewhere.

I know that putting the U.S. Open Cup out of its misery isn't necessarily an attractive option for those of us who still think the tournament has potential; but as some point, a practical view has to be taken, and the tournament will at the least need to be revamped.

I'm babbling as it's Friday and I'm still upset over my home computing situation (luckily for both you and my sanity, the desktop isn't my own outlet for posting), so perhaps none of this makes sense. I realize that there are other concerns that I'm leaving out of my rant, like CONCACAF transferring the CL spot, USSF being just a tad upset at MLS, or the simple matter of killing off a competition with such a long history.

Any thought? Should I just get off of my soapbox and accept the status quo, or does something like what I propose actually make sense?

It's a fairly obvious statement: MLS is desperate for a little love from the mainstream sports media. Nothing the league or its teams seem to do are enough to get on the map in the U.S., and it might just be about time for desperate measures.

To that end, I've cooked up a few ideas for how MLS can artificially get itself a little attention from all of the soccer-hating no-nothing caca-brains in this country.

1. Run an ad campaign declaring baseball "dead"

Okay, so this one might piss off a few people. Still, the juice is worth the squeeze if even a few ex-baseball fans open up their minds to soccer, or if the national media picks up the story (no matter their angle, though it's guaranteed to be negative). All is fair in love and war, and I'm of the opinion that it's time for MLS to fire up the Shermans and get all Patton-in-Sicily crazy. Of course soccer won't supplant baseball in the American sports consciousness, but any possible opportunity for publicity should be seized upon like it's the last bottle of Smithwick's at a frat party kegger. Grab that thing and enjoy it, because you know you'll be drinking Red Dog for the rest of the night.

2. Create a massive bonus for cup winners

The U.S. Open Cup stinks. In it's current format, and with fixture congestion always an issue, MLS teams have treated the competition like reserve league. Though the idea might be a non-starter in the current economy, the creation of a sizable bonus for the MLS clubs involved could jump start things; add in a salary cap exception for the dollars awarded, and now we're talking. If your team had the opportunity to increase the money available for talent by $250k or so (random number), wouldn't you want them to go all out for the trophy?

3. Give supporters' groups the bully pulpit

The future of MLS is young, male, and possibly a little tipsy. There's nothing wrong with alcohol at a sporting event; that's why you pay security (I'm half-kidding). Short of validating any violent hooligan wannabes, the league should let their best supporters' groups speak for themselves. Buy a little time on ESPN or FSC and throw Barra Brava, the Riot Squad, the Nordecke rowdies, or any of a number of others into the spotlight. There is nothing in American sports like the nuts that make up soccer supporters' groups, and their passion might just rub off on some of the unconverted.

4. Fill a stadium or two no matter what the cost

As we've recently seen in Montreal, a bit of creative marketing and some cut-rate ticket prices can go a long way towards packing in the fans. With just a little more pride-swallowing, MLS could find ways to fill large stadiums for a couple of big matches each season and create the kind of atmosphere so many American soccer fans want to see. Forget Beckham; the league should do what it takes to get 50,000 in RFK without any Golden Balls-took-his-shirt-off shenanigans. It can be done; they just need to find the way.

5. Give promotion/relegation a little lip service

It can't hurt, right? The soccer public constantly clamor for it, and while it's unlikely to be instituted in the modern sports environment with owners unwilling to risk lost revenue, there's nothing that says Garber can't drop a hint or two that the league is "discussing" the idea of promotion/relegation. Giant tease? Of course. But would it get some attention from Bristol? I'm guessing it would. A concept as foreign and unique as pro/rel in the U.S. might make the heads of Tony Kornheiser and Jim Rome explode in a glorious fountain of deep red idiotic-soccer-hater juice. And we're all for that, right?

Most of these ideas are way out there, I know. Still, it's out-of-the-box thinking that's needed when all of the conventional methods don't seem to work. With me? Or not?

Give me your ideas. The wackier the better, just try to keep them within the realm of possibility.