Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders are the winners of the 96th edition of the U.S. Open Cup championship.
This is the first year in the MLS for the expansion Seattle Sounders. They have already been a huge success in their city, with the highest average attendance in the league – more than 30,000.
They are in a playoff position at third place in the Western Conference, with eight wins, 10 ties and six losses. And now, they have already won a championship – capturing the oldest trophy in U.S. Soccer, the U.S. Open Cup. It is contested by all affiliated amateur and professional teams in the United States. Seattle won it on the road by beating defending champion D.C. United here in Washington, 2-1.
Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller, a four-time U.S. World Cup player who turns 40 in November, told VOA Sports this was special.
“Oh, winning cups is great!” Keller said. “I’m just so proud of what the club has done so far, what the team is done. You know, to come here when most of the people thought the game would be at our place [home field] but it wasn’t, so to come here and win is tremendous.”
Seattle’s victory prevented D.C. United from becoming the first team in 26 years to win back-to-back U.S. Open Cups.
After a scoreless first half, Seattle broke through in the 67th minute, as Colombian forward Freddy Montero slotted in a rebound off United keeper John Wicks, who earlier had made some outstanding saves.
But in his frustration, Wicks stomped on Montero, who had fallen to the ground. It earned him a red-card ejection. Playing with a man advantage, the Sounders appeared to put the game away, on a goal by substitute Roger Levesque in the 86th minute. However, midfielder Clyde Simms got one back for D.C. in the 89th minute. Five minutes of stoppage time was added but Seattle was able to hold on for the victory.
Veteran D.C. United midfielder Ben Olsen said it was difficult trying to come from behind, a man down, but credits the Sounders for playing an inspired match.
“We were under the gun [pressure] a lot. Give them a lot of credit,” Olsen said. “They’ve got some pretty talented guys, pretty dynamic players up top [on offense]. You know, give them credit. Congratulations to Seattle. But on the day we had some good stuff [play] too. It just wasn’t our night.”
The Seattle Sounders thus become the second Major League Soccer expansion franchise to win the U.S. Open Cup in their inaugural season. The Chicago Fire won it in 1998.
Major League Soccer’s DC United is aiming to be the first team to win back-to-back U.S. Open Cup titles in more than two decades. We have a preview of the title match to be played Wednesday night at Washington’s RFK Stadium.
The U.S. Open Cup is the oldest cup competition in U.S. soccer, dating back to 1914. It is open to all affiliated amateur and professional teams in the United States.
Since the inception of Major League Soccer in 1996, only one minor league team has won the U.S. Open Cup, and that was the Rochester Rhinos in 1999. DC United beat Rochester to win its first U.S. Open Cup in 1996 and last year it also beat a minor league club to win the Cup, the Charleston Battery.
But this time DC United faces a fellow-MLS club – the Seattle Sounders – for the title. This is the Sounders first season in MLS and they have been impressive both on the field and at the ticket gate. They have drawn some of the largest and loudest crowds and are in a playoff position with six regular season games left.
United played the Sounders to a 3-3 draw in Seattle earlier in the MLS season. United coach Tom Soehn told VOA Sports they are glad they are playing the U.S. Cup final in Washington.
“They’re a dynamic team, but they’re playing in our building this time, so it’s a little bit harder to play when our home fans are giving them a little home cooking [cheering],” said Tom Soehn.
Soehn says adding another trophy to DC United’s case is important.
“That’s always something that the organization takes a lot of pride in, and as players and coaches, that’s how you gauge your success, I think,” he said. “So it’s important – anytime we have a chance to play for a trophy – because everybody wants it, and only one team can do [win] it.”
DC United has been the most successful league team, with four MLS Cup titles. With a win over Seattle, it will be the first MLS team to take consecutive U.S. Open Cups.
On Sunday, Hamburg SV went to the top of the Bundesliga with a win over Cologne. In the other match, Werder Bremen claimed the third spot in the table with a win over Hertha Berlin.
Hamburg went on top of the Bundesliga with a late penalty from winger Piotr Trochowski on Sunday in a 3-1 win over Cologne.
Goals in both halves from Peru striker Jose Paolo Guerrero had put Hamburg 2-0 ahead, but Germany winger Trochowski’s late spot kick made sure of the win, to put Hamburg ahead of Bayer Leverkusen in the standings on goals scored.
The first goal at Hamburg’s HSH Nordbank Arena came after just 19 minutes when Guerrero reacted to a mistake in the Cologne defense.
At 66 minutes Guerrero scored again while Cologne’s super sub Adil Chihi shot a consolation goal on 76 minutes, two minutes after coming off the bench, but Trochowski hit a penalty in the dying moments with time running out for Berlin.
Hamburg’s victory means that Cologne, still winless, stay at the bottom of the table.
Berlin’s Pal Dardai, left, and Bremen’s Tim Borowski challenge for the ball Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Berlin’s Pal Dardai, left, and Bremen’s Tim Borowski mix it up
Earlier in the day, Werder Bremen sealed up the third spot on the table after a 3-2 win over Hertha Berlin.
A pair of second-half goals by Germans Tim Borowski and Mesut Oezil put Werder 2-0 up in the German capital before Berlin’s midfielder Lukasz Piszczek pulled a goal back on 77 minutes.
Bremen nailed their three points when Oezil set up Brazilian defender Naldo on 83 minutes, only for Berlin’s Patrick Ebert to send the ball into the net in injury time, for his side’s second at the Olympic Stadium.
“We already had superiority in the first half, but we didn’t show enough purpose,” said Thomas Schaaf, Bremen’s coach. “I am happy about the result, we applied some good pressure and got the rewards.”
The defeat leaves Hertha Berlin just third from bottom of the table after their third straight league defeat in four games while Bremen trail behind Hamburg and Leverkusen with seven points.
Saturday’s games
Munich’s Arjen Robben, right, celebrates his side’s third goal with Franck Ribery Bildunterschrift: Munich’s Arjen Robben, right, celebrates his side’s third goal with Franck Ribery
After getting off to their worst start in 43 years, Bayern Munich have finally grabbed their first victory – and they didn’t beat just anyone – they trounced last year’s champions Wolfsburg.
It was Bayern Munich’s new signing Arjen Robben who made the difference. The Dutchman got his Bundesliga career off to a dream start on Saturday evening, scoring twice for Munich in their first victory of the season. The win sees Bayern pick up their first three points this season.
“It was sensational,” the 25-year old said, “coming on and scoring two goals. But that was only the beginning. I want to play here and I want to win the title. The whole team deserves praise.”
Germany’s striker Mario Gomez put Bayern Munich ahead in the 27th minute; and Munich were clearly the stronger side. But when their new coach Louis van Gaal fielded Robben at the start of the second half, the side stepped up the pressure on Wolfsburg even more.
Arjen Robben made his first appearance just one day after signing from Real Madrid. The Dutch winger opened his account in the 68th minute and was on target again 12 minutes later.
The Dutchman who cost Bayern 26 million euros gave his new club the first win of the season in four games. Only last week Bayern were humiliated 2-1 by Mainz. The win lifts Bayern from 17th to seventh in the table. Champions Wolfsburg are now ranked sixth after their second consecutive defeat.
Schalke suffer their first defeat of the season
Earlier on Saturday, Schalke suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Freiburg in what was Schalke’s first defeat under new coach Felix Magath. South Korean defender Du-Ri Cha scored the only goal of the game five minutes from the break.
Freiburg’s Yacine Abdessadki, left, Freiburg’s Du-Ri Cha, center, and Freiburg’s Tommy Bechmann, right, celebrate scoring the first goalBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Underdogs Freiburg beat Schalke 1-0
Bayer Leverkusen came from behind to beat Bochum 2-1 and move to the top of the Bundesliga standings. Leverkusen have 10 points after four games, three ahead of Hamburg who are to face Cologne on Sunday.
Hoffenheim secured their first three-pointer of the season with a 1-0 victory at struggling Hanover. Nuremberg held Stuttgart to a goalless draw while Dortmund settled for 1-1 with Frankurt. On Friday, Mainz were beaten 2-0 at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Sunday’s fixtures are Hertha Berlin versus Werder Bremen while Cologne is to play at Hamburg.
Hamburg and Bremen head for Vienna, while Berlin got a date with Sporting Lisbon as the group pairings for UEFA’s newest tournament are set.
Hamburg have made a promising start to the new Bundesliga season, level on points with table-toppers Leverkusen. In the Europa League, they’ve come out of the gate even stronger, getting a thundering 8-2 aggregate win over French cup holders Guingamp.
This Friday in the Europa League group stage draw, things continued in a positive direction. Hamburg, in the highest-seeded pot, got an easy draw in Group C: Three runners-up from three weak leagues – Scotland’s Celtic, Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israel, and Austria’s Rapid Vienna.
Werder Bremen’s Naldo celebratesBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Naldo and Co. bulldozed the Kazakhs
Werder Bremen were also emphatic winners of their two-legged qualifier, defeating Kazakh side FC Aktobe 8-3. And they were rewarded for their good performance in last year’s UEFA Cup, in which they reached the final, with a top seed and a winnable group L.
Bremen’s opponents are Austria Vienna, third place in their domestic league; fourth-placed Portuguese side Nacional da Madeira; and Athletic Bilbao, who were runners-up in the Spanish cup, but finished a lowly 13th in the league.
Berlin lucky, too
The Bundesliga’s final representative, Hertha BSC Berlin, labored to qualify for the group stage, eking out a 4-3 aggregate win over Brondby ony by virtue of a three-goal surge in the last twenty minutes of their second-leg home match. As a club who have had little European success, they were in the third seeded pot for the draw.
Patrick Ebert riding Gojko KacarBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Hertha got a dramatic win on Thursday
Nonetheless, Hertha came away with a draw into Group D that they believe capable of advancing from. Sporting Lisbon came second in the Portuguese league last year and should present a real challenge, but Dutch cup winners Heerenveen could be seen as no better than on par with the Berliners and Ventspils are the champions of a very weak Latvian league.
The remaining groups are as follows:
Group A: Ajax, Anderlecht, Dinamo Zagreb, FC Timisoara
Group B: Valencia, Lille, Slavia Prague, Genoa
Group E: Roma, Basel, Fulham, CSKA Sofia
Group F: Panathinaikos, Galatasaray, Dinamo Bucharest, Sturm Graz
Group G: Villareal, Lazio, Levski Sofia, Red Bull Salzburg
Group H: Steaua Bucharest, Fenerbahce, Twente, Sheriff Tiraspol
Group I: Benfica, Everton, AEK Athens, BATE Borisov
Group J: Shakhtar Donetzk, Club Brugge, Partizan Belgrade, Toulouse
Group K: PSV Eindhoven, FC Copenhagen, Sparta Prague, CFR Cluj
New format
If that seems like a lot of groups, it is. With the transformation of the UEFA Cup into the Europa League, there are more groups and more matches.
In the UEFA Cup, groups were made up of five teams and each side would play two home and two away matches, with luck deciding who would play whom where. The Europa League group stage participants will play six matches, home and away, with each of their group opponents.HSH Nordbank Arena in HamburgBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: UEFA will hope for a full house in Hamburg in May
The top two teams in each group, 24 sides in all, advance to the round of 32, which is filled out by the eight clubs who came third in their Champions League groups.
Play begins September 17 and continues through to the final, set for Hamburg on May 12.
FC Bayern Munich are off to their worst start in 43 years, and sit nearer to the bottom of the table than the top. To help get on track, they’re going shopping.
Once the Bundesliga’s serial champions, Bayern Munich were officially plunged into crisis after losing to newly promoted Mainz last weekend. At least that’s what the German media are saying. Anyway you slice it though, Bayern are winless in their first three games of the season.
The club’s brass, of course, is trying to put a brave face on things.
“After three matches, we have two points, and that’s not a good situation for us.” said the club’s chairman of the board, the legendary Bayern striker Karl-Heinz Rummenige. He called the situation disappointing, but not a crisis.
Supporters’ revolt
Ask the team’s fans though, and the alarm bells are already ringing.
“What’s missing is team spirit,” said one fan after the 2-1 loss in Mainz. “Of course you can lose a game, even here, but they didn’t show any energy or creativity.”
Another was more upset with the board than the players.
“They’ll say it’s bad luck, that we’re just off to a bad start.”
He added that he thought Bayern had trouble owning up to their mistakes, and this year’s bad start was down to one big one.
Ze RobertoBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ze Roberto, right, plays for the boys in blue these days“I think we bought all the wrong players.”
Going shopping?
While the club isn’t ready to own up to a crisis, it may well be ready to admit to a mistake in their purchases over the summer.
Thus far, the club’s several newcomers have yet to nail down a spot in the starting 11, and the loss of players like midfielder Ze Roberto and Lucio on defense has left the Bayern side looking short-handed.
Now the club appears to be reacting as it often does when its dominance on the field is threatened – it’s getting out it checkbook.
Spanish media are reporting that Real Madrid have accepted a bid from Bayern for Dutch winger Arjen Robben. The reports say that the agreed fee is 25 million euros, which would equal the price Bayern paid for Franck Ribery two years ago. That was the second most expensive transfer in the club’s history.
Pluses and minuses
Robben’s skill and pedigree (he’s starred for both Chelsea and Real Madrid) will almost certainly improve Bayern’s talent pool. But it may also create a logjam among the team’s many big names, all of whom expect to play in just about every game.
Louis van GaalBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: van Gaal has not yet been crowned king of BayernThe club’s new head coach, Louis van Gaal, however, earned a reputation in his native Holland as well as Spain, as something of a tough guy.
He lived up to that after the embarrassing loss at Mainz last weekend saying that while it is unusual for him to substitute players in the first half, “this time I took out two, and it could have been even more. Our performance was very disappointing.”
Digging out
It’s early days yet, and with a few good results that disappointment could turn into success. But the team’s upcoming matches promise to be tough ones.
Bayern host defending champions Wolfsburg on Saturday, and then travel to the always-strong-at-home Dortmund.
If Bayern come out of those matches empty-handed, club brass will find it almost impossible to deny there is a crisis.
I had myself a promising Week 1, going 5-2. And of course with any predictions, there was the cash; picking Oklahoma State to win by two touchdowns against Georgia, and the rash; taking Virginia Tech to upset Alabama.
As always, I’ll start with the big one:
Notre Dame @ Michigan: It’s always a scary situation when the Irish travel to Ann Arbor and play in the Big House. Everyone was down on the Wolverines last week, but they displayed more signs of life than an episode of ER. They’ll be able to pick up yards on the ground against a Notre Dame front that’s still developing. The Irish will answer with a pitch and catch offense that will make swiss cheese of Michigan’s secondary. Prediction: Notre Dame 34, Michigan 24
Clemson @ Georgia Tech (Thursday night): Each season, Clemson is thought to throw a top-10 team onto the field. And each season, they fail to live up to the hype. This time around, however, there is no hype. So technically, they should finally be playing with the “nothing to lose, we’re the underdog” mentality right? Well, I hope so, because I think they’re talented enough on defense to stop Tech’s triple option. And if Spiller is healthy, Clemson leaves with the tough road win. Prediction: Clemson 27, Tech 24 (OT)
USC @ Ohio State: When it comes to getting blown out in big games, Ohio State is ranked No. 2 in the nation, right behind No. 1 Oklahoma. Their success on Saturday rests on the massive shoulders of their defense. If they haven’t woken up from last week’s scare against Navy, USC will run for 700 yards. But if they can force one or two turnovers, they could pull it off. Oh yeah, Mr. Terelle Pryor, I believe this is your breakout game. Don’t make me look like a fool, please. Prediction (as I wince) Ohio State 31, USC 30
Houston @ Oklahoma State: In theory, the final score of this track meet should add up to Lou Holtz’s age. Prediction: Ok State 60, Houston 36
Syracuse @ Penn State: As much as I want ‘Cuse to smash the schedule-soft Nittany Lions, it won’t happen. They’re out-manned at just about every position on the field. Hopefully Cuse’s quarterback Greg Paulus makes it out of Happy Valley alive. Prediction: PSU 42, ‘Cuse 20
UCLA @ Tennessee: Rocky Top is no place for an opposing freshman quarterback to be playing around. That’s right, I’m talking to you, 19-year-old Kevin Prince. Tennessee has a ton of talent, it’s just a matter of how fast they grasp head coach Lane Kiffin’s pro style football. I’m thinking they Vols will be ready for the Bruins. Prediction: UT 38, UCLA 18
Iowa @ Iowa State: If I could end this game in a tie, I would. It seems Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz underachieves each season. And if he loses this one, he won’t get a chance at another one. I hate to see him go. Prediction: Iowa St 24, Iowa 20.
