SAN JOSE - The San Jose Earthquakes will take on the Portland Timbers of the USL First Division in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for the second straight season. The Quakes and Timbers will meet in the fourth round of the tournament on Wednesday, August 3 at 7:00 p.m. PT at PGE Park in Portland, Ore. 2005 will mark San Jose's eighth year of participation in the U.S. Open Cup.
Last season, the Quakes defeated the Timbers 3-0 in the fourth round of the tournament as Ronnie Ekelund, Ramiro Corrales and Dwayne De Rosario netted goals for the Quakes. San Jose eventually reached the semifinals of the tournament before falling 1-0 to the Kansas City Wizards. The Quakes had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals prior to last season. The Quakes possess a 9-7 overall record in Open Cup play and have outscored opponents 32-15 in the tournament.
Portland currently sits seventh in the USL First Division standings with a 5-7-4 record for 19 points. The team features former Earthquakes goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who is third in the league in saves. Dan Antoniuk and Byron Alvarez lead the team in goals with five apiece, while Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar is tied for first in the league in assists with four. Alvarez will miss the match due to a red card suspension.</p>
Before last season's meeting in the Open Cup, the Earthquakes had played the Timbers once before, losing 2-1 to Portland in an exhibition game on June 4, 2001 at PGE Park. San Jose also played in Portland on May 5, 1998, tying Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara 1-1 at Portland's Civic Stadium.
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. At stake in the tournament is $180,000 in prize money broken down as follows: $100,000 to the champion, $50,000 to the runner up and $10,000 to the team which advances deepest in the tournament from each of the Division II, Division III and amateur levels.
