Portland vs. San Jose USOC Quarterfinal Qualifying Game
By: Chris | May 2nd, 2011
The Quakes begin their Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with a qualifying quarterfinal match against Portland. Portland is coming off a nice run of games where they have won 3 of their last 4. The Quakes are on a poor run and have lost their last 3 of their last 4. The USOC is traditionally not something most clubs focus their full energies on until they get further into the tournament, which is a shame because the winners get a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.
US Open Cup History
All this history comes from the Lamar Hunt USOC wikipedia page
The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup has been a staple of American soccer since 1914. It seems strange that in a country where soccer has only really had large-ish scale success in the last 16 years, there has been an annual soccer tournament running for almost 100 years. The most successful clubs were Maccabi Los Angeles of California and Bethlehem Steel of Pennsylvania. Each club won the Dewar Trophy 5 times. There are a lot of amateur clubs that have won the tournament because professional clubs and leagues were not mainstays in the US until MLS started in 1996. The first professional club that won the tournament were the Richmond Kickers of the USISL (the predecessor to the A-League, USL First Division, and USL Pro) in 1995. MLS teams have won every tournament since their inception except in 1999, when the Rochester Rhinos of the 2nd division A-League beat 4 MLS teams to win the trophy. The Seattle Sounders have won the tournament the last two years. Only one other team has won three in a row, Greek American AA of New York.
Qualifying Process
Every American soccer organization has an opportunity to be represented in the tournament. This year the North American Soccer League (NASL) will not be participating because they did not apply in time. Each league sends 8 teams to the tournament which is held during the summer and early fall. For the MLS, the top 6 teams from the previous year gain automatic entry into the tournament. The remaining teams go through a qualifying process to determine the final two teams. Here is what the MLS qualifying bracket looks like now:
This image also comes from wikipedia
Quakes USOC History
2010: Failed to Qualify, Eliminated by Real Salt Lake
2009: Failed to Qualify, Eliminated by New York
2008: Failed to Qualify, Eliminated by Real Salt Lake
2007: Did not participate
2006: Did not participate
2005: Defeated Portland in 4th round, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by Los Angeles
2004: Defeated Portland in 4th round, Defeated Minnesota Thunder in Quarterfinals, Eliminated in Semifinals by Kansas City
2003: Eliminated in 4th round by Seattle
2002: Defeated Seattle in 3rd round, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by Los Angeles
2001: Defeated Central Coast Roadrunners in 2nd round, Defeated Milwaukee Rampage in 3rd round, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by Los Angeles (Penalty Shootout lost 10-9!)
2000: Defeated Stanislaus United Cruisers in 2nd round, Defeated Richmond Kickers in 3rd round, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by Los Angeles
1999: Did not participate
1998: (San Jose Clash) Defeated El Paso Patriots in the 3rd round, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by Chicago
1997: (San Jose Clash) Defeated Central Coast Roadrunners in the 3rd round, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by S.F. Bay Seals
1996: Did not participate
I notice a few things: 1. It doesn’t appear that the Quakes have taken the USOC as a valid tournament since there are several examples of amateur teams knocking them out of the competition; 2. They have gotten past the Quarterfinals once; 3. They seem to unfavorably been paired against LA a lot; 4. THEY WERE ELIMINATED BY A TEAM CALLED THE S.F. BAY SEALS?!
Portland USOC History
I’m not going to go into a lot of effort here, first because they’re not my team so I don’t really care and second they’ve been around for a long time and I don’t have the patience to do an exhaustive search for their records. Suffice it to say they have never won (neither has San Jose) and in researching the Quakes’ run, I didn’t see them make it past the first or second round.
History of the Quakes – Timbers in U.S. Open Cup Play
The following section comes from www.sjearthquakes.com
The Earthquakes won the only two match-ups between the two clubs in U.S. Open Cup play, both of them in the fourth round of the tournament … In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, San Jose came out victorious at PGE Park on July 15, 2004 with a 3-0 victory … The second goal of that match was scored by current Earthquakes defender Ramiro Corrales … In the second match-up between the two teams on Aug. 3, 2005, also at PGE Park, San Jose came out victorious with a 2-0 win.
The Game
Considering past history and current gameplay, it’s going to be tough for the Quakes to get past Portland. As I mentioned in the intro Portland have won 3 of their last 4 and the Quakes have lost 3 of their last 4. The Quakes are trying to find a starting lineup that can get the attack clicking like it was in the first 4 games. Portland are going to be feeling pretty good coming off a win against a team that was just in the CONCACAF Finals. Also playing against the Quakes is the fact that they had to travel to Portland from Philadelphia. So the guys probably haven’t gotten enough practice time in and might be a bit jet lagged. I hope Yallop fields a strong group of players, and to be honest, he can afford to. The Quakes do not have a game this coming weekend so he can put out a strong side without fear of hurting their chances in the next game. Portland is playing on Friday so they may field a starting XI that is a bit weaker than what the Quakes could possibly field.
The Quakes will look to halt their skid and get a jump start on making some significant progress in the tournament. Since we were the Cinderella story that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, let’s be the Cinderella story this year that makes it to the Finals of the USOC!
The winner of the game will face Chicago in the Qualification Finals. The winner of Portland/San Jose vs. Chicago will be 1 of 2 teams that makes it to the tournament proper.
The game will be viewable here tomorrow night. Kick off is scheduled for 7:30 PDT. The game can also be heard on the radio here.
GO QUAKES!
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