US Soccer USOC Final Preview

2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final
Seattle Sounders vs. Columbus Crew
Qwest Field; Seattle, Wash.
Oct. 5, 2010, 7 p.m. PT

SOUNDERS SEEK REPEAT TITLE: The Seattle Sounders play host to the 2010 Lamar Hunt Open Cup Final on Tuesday night as they seek to repeat as champions. Should the hosts hoist the title for a second year in a row, they would become the first side to do so since MLS sides entered the competition in 1996. For the visiting Columbus Crew, it's a chance to grab the trophy for the first time since 2002, the last time they appeared in the final of the USA's oldest annual team tournament.

FOX SOCCER CHANNEL TO TELEVISE FINAL: The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final returns to Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español live at 10 p.m. ET. Fans can also follow online via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

QUICK HITS

• Tuesday’s match will conclude the 97th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
• The home team is 9-3-0 in U.S. Open Cup finals since MLS began participating in the tournament in 1996. The 2003 Chicago Fire, 2007 New England Revolution and 2009 Seattle Sounders are the only road teams to win a final. Two finals, 1997 and 1999, were played at neutral sites.
• This will be the first time the Open Cup Final has been played in the state of Washington. 
• The U.S. Open Cup Final has gone into overtime four times since 1996. 
• A total of 63 different teams have won the U.S. Open Cup, with the Sounders the most recent first-time winners in 2009. 
• Three MLS teams have won the “double” – winning the MLS and U.S. Open Cups in the same year. The Galaxy were the last team to achieve that distinction back in 2005, while the 1998 Chicago Fire and 1996 D.C. United also won both.
• The home team is 28-7-3 in the 2010 competition, with the visiting teams holding a 3-0 advantage in shootout victories. 
• One-hundred and six goals have been scored in the 2010 Open Cup, down from 114 at this same stage last year. 
• There were 22 shutouts during 2010 (four more than 2009), and just one 0-0 tie. 
• The Harrisburg City Islanders of USL-2 won this year’s $10,000 dollar prize as the top Division III team by advancing to the quarterfinals. 
• The $10,000 amateur prize was split between the Kitsap Pumas and the Long Island Rough Riders. Both PDL teams reached the second round. 
• The final $10,000 prize went to the Portland Timbers of USSF Division-2, whose tournament run was ended in the Round of 16 by the Seattle Sounders, their bitter rivals.
• The winner of the final will receive $100,000 in prize money, while the runner-up will get half that at $50,000.
• Michael Kennedy will be the Referee for Tuesday's match with Tom Supple and Paul Scott running the lines as Assistant Referees. The fourth official will be Ricardo Salazar.
• Overtime: If the match is tied at the end of regulation, two 15-minute overtime periods will be played. If at the end of these periods the score is tied, the champion will be decided with penalty kicks.
• Unlike MLS matches, only one assist is counted in the official records.

A CLOSER LOOK: SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Head Coach: Sigi Schmid
2010 U.S. Open Cup Record: (2-0-1)
All-Time Open Cup Final Record: 1-0-0
2010 MLS Record: 12-9-6, 42 points (Fourth in the Western Conference)
2010 League Leading Scorer: Fredy Montero (10 goals)
Last Outing: 3-2 win against Toronto FC on Oct. 2

2010 Open Cup Game-By-Game
Date       Round     Opponent                         Result                             Location
June 30  3             Portland Timbers (D-2)     1-1 T (4-3 in Shootout)     PGE Park; Portland, Ore.
July 7     QF           Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) 2-0 W                             Starfire Sports Complex; Tukwila, Wash.
Sept. 1   SF           Chivas USA (MLS)             3-1 W                             Starfire Sports Complex; Tukwila, Wash.

QUICK HITS

• Seattle is 2-0-0 at home in the 2010 Open Cup, with a 2-0 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy and a 3-1 win against Chivas USA. Both games were played not at Qwest Field but at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash.
• Seattle’s MLS home record is 7-5-3 so far this year. 
• The Sounders have played Columbus twice so far in MLS this season, drawing 1-1 at Qwest Field in Seattle on May 1 and winning 4-0 on Sept. 18 at Crew Stadium. 
• Sounders forward Nate Jaqua is tied for highest scoring honors in the 2010 Open Cup. Jaqua, who has scored in all three games for the Sounders, has five total goals and is tied with Miami's Paulo Araujo, Jr. for the scoring crown. 
• 2010 will mark the third time a Seattle-based club has competed in the final of the U.S. Open Cup. Before the Sounders' victory last year in D.C., the last club from the Emerald City to make the final was the Mitre Eagles in 1987. Twenty-three years ago the Eagles fell to Club España, from Washington, D.C., after a 3-2 penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw. 
• Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid previously managed Columbus Crew from 2006-2008, winning MLS Cup with the Crew in 2008 before leaving for Seattle. 
• Seattle forward Fredy Montero is fourth in MLS scoring with 10 goals and tied for third with nine assists.

A CLOSER LOOK: COLUMBUS CREW

Head Coach: Robert Warzycha
2010 U.S. Open Cup Record: 3-0-0
2010 Open Cup Leading Scorers: Andy Iro and Steven Lenhart (2 goals)
All-Time Open Cup Final Record: 1-1-0
2010 MLS Record: 13-7-7, 46 points (Second place, Eastern Conference)
2010 League Leading Scorer: Guillermo Barros Schellotto (8 goals)
Last Outing: 0-0 Draw with San Jose Earthquakes on Oct. 2

2010 Open Cup Game-By-Game
Date         Round     Opponent                      Result     Location
June 29    3             Rochester Rhinos (D-2)   2-1 W     Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
July 6      QF           Charleston Battery (D-2)  3-0 W     Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Sept. 1     SF           D.C. United (MLS)           2-1 W     RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

QUICK HITS

• The Columbus Crew is 1-0-0 away from home in the 2010 U.S. Open Cup 
• The Crew will be playing their second consecutive game on the road in the 2010 Open Cup after traveling to Washington, D.C. and notching an extra time victory against D.C. United in the semifinal. 
• The Crew are 19-9-1 all-time in the U.S. Open Cup. The team is 9-8-1 against MLS teams and 0-1 all-time in Open Cup penalty kick shootouts. 
• Brian McBride is the Crew's all-time Open Cup goalscoring leader, with eight goals in 13 games. 
• In 1998, the Crew advanced to the Open Cup final for the first time but were defeated in extra time by Bob Bradley's Chicago Fire. Stern John scored the Crew's lone goal in a 2-1 defeat in front of more than 18,000 fans at Chicago's Soldier Field. 
• The Crew won their first Open Cup in 2002 by defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy at Crew Stadium. Fredy Garcia scored the lone goal of the game to give the Crew their first trophy in any competition. 
• The Crew are the only team from Ohio to win the U.S. Open Cup.

SOUNDERS, CREW PLAYERS OPEN CUP SCORING IN 2010: Representatives from Seattle and Columbus have accounted for 13 of the 106 total goals scored in the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Seattle Sounders

Columbus Crew

HISTORY OF THE DEWAR CUP: While the trophy no longer travels to the U.S. Open Cup Final, the name of the winning team is added to the bottom of the Dewar Trophy following an Open Cup title. The oldest trophy in United States team sports history was donated to the American Amateur Football Association in 1912 by Sir Thomas R. Dewar, a British distiller, sportsman and philanthropist during a AAFA (now United States Amateur Soccer Association) visit to London prior to the 1912 Olympics. The trophy was originally purchased for $500 and given in the hope of promoting soccer in the United States and in the name of Anglo-American friendship. The cup was first awarded to the Yonkers Football Club (N.Y.) in 1912 after they defeated the Hollywood Inn Football Club (N.Y.) at the Lennox Oval in New York City. The trophy was officially adopted as the U.S. Open Cup trophy prior to the Brooklyn Field Club's inaugural championship in 1914 in Pawtucket, R.I. The trophy was retired in 1979, but was refurbished by the USASA in 1997 and was presented to the 1997 and 1998 Open Cup winners.

STATE PRIDE: While teams from Ohio and Washington have never met in the Open Cup Final, the two states do have prior history playing for the title: Bruell Insurance from Cleveland made the final in 1930 before losing to Fall River Marksman from Massachusetts and in 1945 the Cleveland Americans fell to Brookhattan from New York. Both finals were played over two legs. The Crew made the final in 1998, following a 43-year absence for Ohio teams, and returned four years later to win the title in 2002. The Mitre Eagles were Washington's first representatives in the Open Cup Final, losing to Club España of Washington, D.C. in 1987. Last year the Sounders exacted some revenge against the nation's capital by defeating D.C. United.

ABOUT THE LAMAR HUNT U.S. OPEN CUP: Dating back to 1914, the U.S. Open Cup is the oldest cup competition in United States soccer and is among the oldest in the world. Open to all affiliated amateur and professional teams in the United States, the annual U.S. Open Cup is a 97-year-old single-elimination tournament. In a nutshell, the U.S. Open Cup is very similar to domestic cup competitions popular throughout Europe, South America and the rest of the world. Cup competitions, which usually run concurrent with a country's league season, are open in the early stages to any club that can qualify, giving local amateur teams a chance to compete against the best teams a country has to offer. In 1999, the U.S. Open Cup was renamed the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup to honor the long-time soccer supporter and pioneer.

2010 U.S. OPEN CUP REWIND: When the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup began on June 15, there were 40 teams with the goal of making it to the Open Cup final. Below are a list of the teams that qualified for the U.S. Open Cup, including eight MLS teams and nine USSF Division-2 teams.

2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Participants:
MLS (8): Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, Seattle Sounders
USSF Division-2 (9): Austin Aztex, Carolina RailHawks, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Miami FC, NSC Minnesota Stars, Portland Timbers, Rochester Rhinos, AC St. Louis, FC Tampa Bay
USL Second Division (6): Charleston Battery, Charlotte Eagles, Harrisburg City Islanders, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Real Maryland Monarchs, Richmond Kickers
Premier Development League (8): Central Florida Kraze, Dayton Dutch Lions, Des Moines Menace, DFW Tornados, Kitsap Pumas, Long Island Rough Riders, Reading United, Ventura County Fusion
USASA (9): Arizona Sahuaros, Bay Area Ambassadors, Brooklyn Italians, CASL Elite, Detroit United, KC Athletics, Legends FC, New York Pancyprian-Freedoms, Sonoma County Sol
*Prize winners at each level are in bold.