CARSON, Calif. - Chivas USA opens its participation in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup next Wednesday, July 18, when it faces the former club of Maykel Galindo and Preston Burpo, the Seattle Sounders of the United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1), in a Third Round U.S. Open Cup match at 7:30 p.m. PT at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington. Video and audio of the match will be carried live on the United Soccer Leagues' USLlive.com website, free for fans to follow all the action.
Tickets for the match are $15 general admission and $20 for reserved seating and are available via SeattleSounders.net. Seattle Sounders season ticket holders can also purchase their seats in advance by calling the Sounders office at 206-622-3415.
The team that advances will host a Fourth Round tie on Tuesday, August 7, against the winner of tomorrow night's Third Round matchup between the Colorado Rapids (MLS) and the California Victory (USL-1). The Rapids-Victory match takes place tomorrow Tuesday, July 18 at 7:00 p.m. MT (6:00 p.m. PT) at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado.
Chivas USA will look to improve on its first two Open Cup performances, following a penalty-kicks elimination at the hands of amateur side Roma FC in a Third Round tie in Santa Barbara on July 12, 2006, after a 0-0 draw in regulation. In 2005, its inaugural Open Cup appearance, Chivas USA earned a 3-2 win at the Charlotte Eagles (USL-2) in the Third Round, before falling 5-2 to the Los Angeles Galaxy at The Home Depot Center in the Fourth Round.
This year, Chivas USA enters the tournament in the Third Round by virtue of being one of the top six teams to qualify for the 2006 MLS Cup Playoffs. The Sounders, for their part, defeated the Portland Timbers 2-1 in a Second-Round matchup on June 26, earning themselves next week's Third Round tie against their first MLS opponents of the tournament.
Chivas USA has faced the Seattle Sounders twice before, both in exhibition matches at Qwest Field. On May 7, 2006, the Red-and-White defeated Seattle 1-0 on a goal by former Sounder Brent Whitfield, while earlier this year, on June 2, 2007, Chivas USA defeated the Sounders 3-1 on goals by Claudio Suárez, Maykel Galindo and John Cunliffe.
Seattle Sounders is the former club of Chivas USA goalkeeper Preston Burpo and forward Maykel Galindo, Burpo having joined Chivas USA after winning the 2005 USL-1 championship with the Sounders, and Galindo joining the Red-and-White one year later, at the beginning of the 2007 campaign, before going on to become Chivas USA's current leading scorer, with seven goals as of July 9, 2007.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation's National Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. It is the oldest annual team tournament in U.S. sports history and among the oldest soccer tournaments of its type in the world. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor long-time soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.
This year, the tournament is comprised of competitors from Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League First and Second Divisions, as well as 16 amateur teams from USL Premier Development League and the USASA. The first round began on June 12 and the finals will be played on October 2.
