The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Round of 16 continues on Wednesday with the remainig four games, and there are some high-profile matchups on tap.
The action gets started with another New York-area rivalry match. Fresh off conquering New York City FC for the second time this season, the New York Red Bulls will take on the NASL's New York Cosmos, who also vanquished NYCFC in a dramatic fourth-round matchup in mid-June.
An hour later, 2012 Open Cup champs Sporting Kansas City play host to FC Dallas in a battle of Western Conference contenders. Moving further west, the Portland Timbers will look to continue their hot streak when they visit struggling Real Salt Lake. The nightcap is a rematch of the California Clasico battle between the San Jose Earthquakes and LA Galaxy, this time at Avaya Stadium.
WATCH US OPEN CUP ON YOUTUBE
U.S. Soccer owns the broadcast rights to US Open Cup matches - including matches involving MLS teams. Wednesday's games are not part of the MLS LIVE or Direct Kick packages. U.S. Soccer is offering most matches on YouTube. See the schedule below to watch US Open Cup matches.
New York Red Bulls vs.
New York Cosmos
Wednesday, July 1, 7:30 pm ET
Red Bull Arena, Harrison, N.J.
Watch: MSG+, youtube.com/ussoccer
Listen: NewYorkRedBulls.com
HANOVER, N.J. – The New York Red Bulls enjoyed one of their most satisfying wins of the season on Sunday night, but they’ll have little time to enjoy it ahead of yet another rivalry game.
After dispatching NYCFC twice, the Red Bulls turn their focus to the US Open Cup and the New York Cosmos. Dropping a 3-0 decision to the Cosmos last year, a measure of revenge is the minds of some.
“I definitely remember, and we took it quite bad,” midfielder Lloyd Sam said. “They deserved to win, but now they’re at our home place. We definitely want to win and go through.”
Sporting Kansas City vs.
FC Dallas
Wednesday, July 1, 8:30 pm ET
Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kan.
Watch: youtube.com/ussoccer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sporting Kansas City will get 10 days' rest after their US Open Cup match against FC Dallas – but that's not much help going into Wednesday's Round-of-16 home date, manager Peter Vermes said.
“The problem is that we just played a very tough game over the weekend, and there's a quick turnaround, and the weather's getting warmer,” Vermes told reporters on Monday. “So that kind of changes how we have to do our inventory on the guys, and then we just lost two to international play.”
Winger Graham Zusi (US) and left back Marcel de Jong (Canada) both left for CONCACAF Gold Cup duty after Saturday's 2-0 win over Colorado in MLS play. Sporting's next MLS match is July 12 in Vancouver.
-- STEVE BRISENDINE| More on SportingKC.com
The last time FC Dallas entered a U.S Open Cup match, their offense was slumping and they were riding a five-game winless streak.
Fast-forward to Wednesday’s round of 16 match and the Hoops have rediscovered their winning ways. Midfielder Fabian Castillo has reignited as well, contributing heavily to all three of the club’s goals over the last two games, scoring on two of them.
Dallas will be without strikers Blas Perez and Tesho Akindele due to international Gold Cup duty on Wednesday, so the club is likely to lean on David Texeira and Michael Barrios, both major contributors in the club’s previous Open Cup match - a 4-1 throttling of the USL’s Oklahoma City Energy.
Real Salt Lake vs.
Portland Timbers
Wednesday, June 1, 10 pm ET
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah
Watch: youtube.com/ussoccer
SANDY, Utah – The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake are at it again, this time in the US Open Cup. RSL hope that some time away from league play will jumpstart their season against a team that's finally getting all of its attacking pieces healthy.
“Obviously when you get [Diego] Valeri back and Will Johnson, it adds a ton of quality,’ RSL head coach Jeff Cassar said of their opposition after practice Tuesday. “It adds a ton of character and experience to their team. They’re feeling confident right now.”
RSL are fresh off a 2-2 draw against Columbus Crew SC on Saturday night but are hoping that they can start to find a bit of a rhythm through US Open Cup play that can help get them back on track.
“I really think we can go on a long run in this Open Cup,” midfielder Luke Mulholland said. “You have those seasons where things aren’t going great necessarily in the regular season, games like this in the Open Cup or CONCACAF is good for you to start fresh and see if you can go on a streak.
“It’s good to just get your head away from the regular season and concentrate on tomorrow night’s game.”
-- TYLER GRAY| More on RealSaltLake.com
BEAVERTON, Ore. – Caleb Porter has said it before: Success breeds more work.
And the Portland Timbers are feeling the brunt of that following their US Open Cup victory two weeks ago over rival Seattle Sounders, leading to their third consecutive week of midweek matches sandwiched in between weekend games, when they face Real Salt Lake on the road Wednesday in a round-of-16 matchup of the USOC.
But the Timbers boss isn’t worried, as he’s used 18 players over the last month of competition that has also seen them win five of their last six MLS matches.
“We’ll just do what we’ve been doing,” Porter said Tuesday at the team training facility before departing for Salt Lake City.
He did hint that winger Darlington Nagbe (sore shoulder) and midfielders Diego Chara (sore ankle) and Will Johnson (recovery from broken leg) may not be available. That means veteran Jack Jewsbury and second-year pro George Fochive could be in line for action in the midfield. He also said winger Dairon Asprilla and midfielder/winger Michael Nanchoff will both be in the 18 following respective injuries that have seen them miss significant time recently.
Porter also said Jamaican right back Alvas Powell won't leave the Timbers for Gold Cup duty until after their Sunday league match against the San Jose Earthquakes.
San Jose Earthquakes vs.
LA Galaxy
Wednesday, July 1, 10:30 pm ET
Avaya Stadium, San Jose, Calif.
Watch: youtube.com/ussoccer
SAN JOSE, Calif. – LA and San Jose will face off for the second time in less than a week, but this will hardly be a rematch of the Quakes’ 3-1 victory Saturday at Stanford Stadium.
“There’s going to be a lot of different players playing,” San Jose center back Clarence Goodson said. “That’s the nature of the Open Cup. You’ll absolutely see two different [lineups].”
San Jose will likely try to give winger Cordell Cato a final run before he departs Thursday to join Trinidad & Tobago’s Gold Cup squad. Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski, who went all 120 minutes in the club’s fourth-round shootout victory against Sacramento, won’t feature, having joined the US Gold Cup squad.
The Galaxy, who are on the next-to-last leg of a stretch with six matches in 22 days, will also be trying to solve their horrific road woes; LA have made 16 straight winless MLS appearances away from StubHub Center. The Galaxy are losing Omar Gonzalez, Gyasi Zardes (US) and goalkeeper Jaime Penedo (Panama) to Gold Cup duty.
-- GEOFF LEPPER | More on SJEarthquakes.com
CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy are looking for their first US Open Cup victory over an MLS rival since a 2006 semifinal triumph over the Houston Dynamo, but they'll likely look little like a full MLS side when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes in Wednesday's round-of-16 showdown in Northern California.
Three starters – forward Gyasi Zardes, defender Omar Gonzalez and goalkeeper Jaime Penedo – are gone for the coming CONCACAF Gold Cup, and a fiercely packed schedule is expected to force head coach Bruce Arena to field a mostly reserve side.
Arena on Tuesday was critical of the MLS schedule and the decision to not play this Open Cup match on Tuesday after the teams met in a league clash Saturday night at Stanford Stadium. The Galaxy have played more games than the rest of the league, have already made all five of their treks to the Eastern Time Zone and are in the sixth game of a seven-in-23-days stint, two of them Open Cup matches
The Galaxy would have remained in San Jose after the Earthquakes' 3-1 victory had the Open Cup game been set for Tuesday. Instead, they flew home Sunday and returned to the Bay Area on Tuesday afternoon.
“It's difficult. Of course, it's difficult,” Arena said of LA's schedule. “Those are the cards that are dealt, and you move on. There's nothing you can do about it."
