An Embarrassing Display by FC Dallas and Major League Soccer in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

In soccer (as in most sports), Goliath crushes David more often than not when powerful teams play teams of lesser means.  This is why everyone loves the classic sports Cinderella story, because magical runs like the one 13-seeded VCU had a couple of years ago to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament simply don’t occur very often.  But what happened to FC Dallas and Major League Soccer this past week in the Lamar Hunt United States Open Cup (USOC) was less of a Cinderella story and more of a complete embarrassment.

The USOC, like other open cup competitions around the world, gives the minnows of their sports the chance to take down the top-tier teams on the field of play.  Sure, the NCAA basketball tournament will pit small schools with lower athletic department budgets and unheralded players against pedigreed programs with NBA lottery picks.  But in a true open cup competition, you can have well-paid professionals matched up against lower division professionals making far less money (i.e. if Major League teams played Single-A, Double-AA or Triple-A teams), semi-pros that still have side jobs or even true amateurs.

This past week, the 2012 version of the 99-year-old competition kicked off third round action across the country.  This is the point in the tournament where all sixteen Major League Soccer teams enter the competition (they get a bye for the first two rounds) and every match saw an MLS team play a lower division team.  FC Dallas played the Charlotte Eagles of the USL PRO league, which is the third level of U.S. Soccer’s tiered structure.  Using the baseball analogy again, it would be like if the Texas Rangers played the AA Richmond Flying Squirrels in a single elimination game.  In other words, you’d expect FCD to win and win handily.

Instead, Dallas played a terrible match and were soundly defeated 2-0 in their own stadium.  Certainly a disheartening defeat for a team that really could have used a good performance to build up their confidence (they are now winless in ten straight matches).  FCD fans have every reason to be perturbed with their team for putting on such a dismal performance, but neutral soccer fans would at least have their underdog to root for, right?  Wrong.  Because of the sixteen MLS teams that entered the third round of USOC play, only eight managed to advance against their much more lightly regarded opponents.  In the NCAA Tournament, that would be like having two 16-seeds, 15-seeds, 14-seeds and  13-seeds all advancing out of the first round.  At that point, the story would be less about one team’s amazing Cinderella run and more about what’s wrong with all of the (supposed) big boys.  Some of the low-lights:

• New England Revolution managed to lose on penalties after scoring three goals in the first overtime period by then conceding three goals in the second overtime period to Harrisburg City (a team that is nicknamed “Islanders” and plays in the land-locked state of Pennsylvania)
• Chicago Fire lost 3-2 to a USL PDL team (the Michigan Bucks), which is the 4th tier in U.S. soccer (think Single-A in baseball)
• Real Salt Lake paid the Minnesota Stars FC of the NASL (2nd tier) to move the game that was originally schedule to be played in Minnesota to RSL’s home stadium in Sandy, Utah.  Ignoring the sketchiness of a tournament that allows a team to purchase home-field advantage, the Real embarrassment here was the home side losing the match 3-2
• The defending MLS Champion Los Angeles Galaxy were beaten 2-1 by another NASL side, the Carolina Railhawks.  The Galaxy at least had the common courtesy to lose on the road and not in front of their own fans.
• The biggest embarrassment of all was saved for some of the best fans in MLS.  Portland Timbers also paid to have their match against Cal FC moved to their own stadium.  They should have saved their money (as well as that of their fans) as they lost 1-0 in extra time even though they fielded what was basically their first-choice side.  What makes this one take the cake is that Cal FC are a fully amateur team.  In baseball, these guys wouldn’t be Single-A or even rookie ball.  They’d be the recreational league guys that play on Sundays.  They’ve only played together for a couple of months.  And they are only in ninth place in their own league!

Full credit goes to each of the underdogs that beat MLS teams this past week (particularly Cal FC).  If only one or two of these upsets had occurred, I’d be pulling for these teams to continue their magical runs for as long as they could.  But there isn’t any magic in half of the Major League Soccer teams crashing out of our national cup competition in their first match and against lower-division sides.  It’s just pathetic.  Soccer fans in this country deserve better.

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