CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy’s pursuit of the 101st U.S. Open Cup will be a dual team approach for the 2014 tournament as both the first team and USL PRO affiliate LA Galaxy II will take part in what is the largest field in the tournament’s history.
The LA Galaxy will enter the tournament in the fourth round along with the rest of MLS and play between June 10-18.
Meanwhile, LA Galaxy II today learned that they will enter the tournament in the second round and face US Adult Soccer Association side Cal FC on May 14 at the StubHub Center Track and Field Stadium at 7:30 PT.
U.S. Open Cup has been a frustrating tournament for the Galaxy over recent years with the club being bounced in the third round in 2012 and 2013 by the NASL’s Carolina RailHawks. LA has been historically successful in the tournament, winning the Open Cup in 2001 and 2005.
With no CONCACAF Champions League games this fall, the Galaxy believe that they can mount a challenge in this year’s Open Cup.
“It’s an important tournament. We’d like to do better,” said Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena.
But the always affable Arena was quick to joke that he’d rather not play at Carolina’s WakeMed Soccer Park.
Hopefully, we’re not playing in Carolina again, but you never know with the way that our schedule has gone this year, we should book the tickets now.”
Galaxy II will take part in the U.S. Open Cup for the very first time in their short history.
Tournament Format and Match Dates
The 2014 U.S. Open Cup will be conducted on a single-elimination, one-game-knockout basis utilizing a tiered-bracket format. Teams will be paired geographically. In the event that three or more teams are from the same proximity, pairings for these teams will be made by random selection. Pairings will be arranged to prevent the possibility of a lower division team playing a parent club (e.g. Portland Timbers U-23s [PDL] will not be pitted against the Portland Timbers [MLS], should both teams be in the competition in the same round) except for the Final.
• First Round-May 7 (16 amateur teams: 5 PDL, 4 USASA regional qualifiers, 5 NPSL, 1 US Club Soccer, 1 USSSA): Teams from the same qualifying pool cannot be paired with each other.
• Second Round-May 14 (8 First Round winners, 26 remaining amateur teams [14 PDL, 6 USASA regional qualifiers, 6 NPSL], and 14 Division III [USL PRO] clubs): Teams from the same qualifying pool cannot be paired with each other.
• Third Round-May 28 (24 Second Round winners and 8 Division II [NASL] clubs): Each Division II team will be matched geographically to play the winner of a specific Second Round pairing. The winners of the 16 remaining Second Round matches not paired with a Division II side will play each other.
• Fourth Round-June 10-18 (16 Third Round winners vs. Division I [MLS] clubs): Each Division I team will be matched geographically to play the winner of a specific Third Round pairing. The exact date for each match will be determined by the club selected as the home team from among those dates where the visiting team doesn't have a league game already scheduled. The date selected must allow the visiting team at least two rest days before and after the match date.
• Fifth Round-June 24-25 (16 Fourth Round winners face each other): Each Fourth Round pair will be matched geographically with another Fourth Round pair to determine the Fifth Round possibilities.
• Quarterfinal (Sixth) Round-July 8-9: Each Fifth Round pair will be matched geographically with another Fifth Round pair to determine the Quarterfinal Round possibilities.
• Semifinal Round-Aug. 12-13: Each Quarterfinal Round pair will be matched geographically with another Quarterfinal Round pair to determine the Semifinal Round possibilities.
• Final-Sept. 30-Oct. 1
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
