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| photo via soundersfc.com |
- by Jonathan Nebel, writing from Overland Park, KS
But it extended not just the format, but also all the exuberance and anxiety that comes with a knockout tournament. It was all or nothing. No wishy-washy round robin format. You won or went home. It didn't matter if you were Barcelona and they were Slovan Bratinslava (1); you still had to go out and win the game. The Cup Winners' Cup filled us with thrilling tales of underdog victories over European giants. One of the most notable was MTK Budapest's overtaking of Celtic in the semi-finals of the 1963-64 version of the tournament. Celtic took a comfortable 3-0 lead into the second leg, but Hungarian giants, but relative minnows in Europe, stormed back to win 4-0 in Budapest to go to the final against Sporting Clube de Portugal, who they pushed to a replay that they lost 1-0.
Cup competitions are one of my favorite things in the world of football. The FA Cup was absolutely thrilling this year. Leighton Baines' amazing equalizer that pushed Everton's 4th Round replay with Chelsea into penalties was only topped by Reading's victory over that same Everton team in the next round. Leyton Orient's late strike from Jonathan Téhoué to force a replay against Arsenal was stunning. The Manchester derby in the semi-final was a superb match that could be looked back upon as the first signs of a slow changing of the guard in the city. The rest of the cup tournaments had just as much excitement. Cristiano Ronaldo's header in extra-time of the Copa del Rey final was one of the few beautiful moments of the series of Clásicos. The Coppa Italia, Coupe de France, Taça de Portugal, and the rest of the cup competitions contained some of the greatest games of the season.
Which is why I was so stunned when only 4500 people showed up to Livestrong Sporting Park on Tuesday night for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match against Chicago Fire PDL. And that was one of the higher attendances amongst the 8 games that night in the United States' cup competition. It confounded me as to why American audiences were not interested in the competition.
Some suggested it was because American sports fans aren't used to the idea of multiple competitions going on at the same time. That certainly holds some validity, as I saw many people begin to glaze over as I tried to explain what the US Open Cup is, but it can't hold the whole story. Maybe it's the low cash prize offered to teams. Maybe it's the lack of media coverage. Most likely, it's a combination of all these things and other factors, but there are some ways that we can overcome this. Here are just a few of my ideas to raise awareness of the US Open Cup.
1. Advertise the event
This is a simple one that ought to be annoyingly obvious. Annoying, because, I seem to hear nothing about the event. It's not shown on TV. The individual teams seem to talk little about the competition outside of pre-game and post-game interviews. It's a struggle to get people to tune in or show up, because many just don't know that it is happening. Fox Soccer will air the final of the Open Cup, but nothing else. This needs to be fixed. Fox Soccer already airs a good number of USL-Pro games, so it wouldn't be out of their comfort zone to show matches between lower-league teams in cup play.
Even with all that, though, what is more important is that fans of the game advertise the cup games to other people. Talk about the cup matches with your fellow soccer fans. Go to the games. Invite people to the games. Talk up the competition. The best way to get other people excited about it is for them to see you excited about it.
2. Make it an OPEN cup
I still don't understand why we don't have all the teams competing in this tournament. Currently, only 8 teams from each tier of the American soccer pyramid enter the tournament. This stifles a lot of excitement around the event, because a lot of fans simply don't have their team in the tournament. Have all teams from all five tiers of the pyramid enter the tournament. Obviously, it would be a huge expansion of the tournament. Currently, 40 teams enter the tournament. This sort of expansion would explode the competition to include 135 teams in just the top 4 tiers. The 5th tier would add hundreds of more teams spread across a large number of regional leagues. This isn't insurmountable, though. Preliminary rounds to find the top teams in the lower tiers would get us to the tournament proper, where USL-Pro, NASL, and MLS teams would enter the fray.
Creating more matches between the two ends of the pyramid would benefit both. Lower-league teams would be able to face off against better competition and reap the rewards of edging in on their spotlight, while teams in the top-league would be able to see more of the talent that is available within the US that is sitting in the lower-leagues. This would also create more opportunities for giant-killing, as there are more teams from both ends of the pyramid and would also help out lower-league squads as they get increased revenues from facing clubs with more prestige and larger fanbases. Which takes me to number 3...
3. Give home games to the lower-league team
After the preliminary rounds are over and the top teams from the dozens of 5th-tier leagues come up to face the top 4 tiers, draw teams such that a team from the top half of the pyramid faces a team from the bottom half. Then, give the hosting to the lower team on the pyramid. Having a MLS team come to town would be a big boost for many teams low in the pyramid. Increased ticket sales. Increased media coverage. It would be help out clubs who certainly aren't the biggest name in town. The Germans have done this in the DFB-Pokal since 1982 and it has been largely helpful. This would also create more incentive for this lower league teams to focus on the Open Cup. It's highly unlikely that a club from the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA; 5th tier) would win the tournament, but the benefit of still making it through to the stage of facing an MLS team would make it worthwhile to put your best foot forward in those early rounds. The added cash would help the lower-leagues of American soccer grow, which is good in the long-run, as success is going have to come at all levels of the pyramid, not just the top.
4. Give the final a permanent home
The first time I saw this recommendation, I was a bit weary. Putting the final in the same place every year could be tough on a country as large as the United States, but I think it could still be done well, as long as the time and energy is put in to making it great. Make a spectacle of the final. Have it be a weekend-long event that includes much more than just the game. Give the final the feeling of a cup final and the prestige that it deserves. Having one city really take a hold of the event and put on a class event year-in and year-out would create new traditions within American soccer. The debate would just be on where to place it. That's a question to be answered elsewhere. Plus, my judgment is a bit impaired by Livestrong Sporting Park being about 15 minutes north of me, so I'll be coming up with any reason to place it there.
These are just a few things that can be done, but I know that the soccer community in America is a creative bunch and can do a lot with the Open Cup. It ought to be a big event and for fans of the game, making it a big event will help us all. So, spread the word. Tell the world. And, go buy a ticket for one of the quarterfinal matches on July 12th. There is still a giant-killing opportunity. Not that any of us want Sporting KC to lose.
(1) In the 1969 Cup Winners' Cup Final, the Czechoslovak Cup champions defeated the Copa del Rey winners 3-2, becoming just the 3rd central European team to win a European trophy.
