There are few moments in American sports, let alone soccer, that allow for a particular contest between two teams to take on double-championship prominence. For a fixture to have such dual significance, there must be more than just one immediate championship at stake.
College football, probably the closest sport to American soccer in the sense that one game can not only propel a team to a nationally-recognized championship, but may also include a lesser, but surely equally-contested trophy the fans covet nearly as much. Think of Ohio State-Michigan football in late November, and you start to get the picture.
Though not having the same magnitude as a rivalry borne of 100 years of tradition, Wednesday night's match at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, will give the Chicago Fire a chance to play in such a momentous game for American soccer, nonetheless.
Chicago will be playing not only for a spot in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, but also for a chance to take home the 2005 edition of the Brimstone Cup, a trophy recognized between ardent supporters of the Fire and FC Dallas as a reminding token of the rivalry that exists between the two clubs.
A tight 15-14-2 overall record in favor of the Fire reflects why the Chicago-Dallas series makes for possibly the fiercest rivalry in all of MLS, but also the fact both teams are tied with one home win a piece in 2005 MLS regular season play makes this game even more tantalizing. The winner of the series tiebreaker goes home with a berth in the Open Cup Fnal and the Brimstone Cup trophy. The loser, nothing. It's games such as these that over time will become even sexier as tradition builds.
Fire midfielder Jesse Marsch is one of the few current MLS players that know just how serious this game will be. Marsch, a "Fire Original" who has been a part of four Open Cup championship teams, believes the team's mental approach to an Open Cup game makes all the difference.
"I've always felt that maybe the first game doesn't require as much concentration, winning one, then another. But now that we're in the semifinals and you can see the trophy at the end of the tunnel, the intensity picks up for each game," he said. "Around here we've always managed to take [the Open Cup] seriously and we've had a few scares over the years, but we've come out on top because our whole mental approach is to treat it like a league game and sometimes even more important than that."
Marsch attributes the experience that seasoned internationals brought early to MLS play in being key to giving the U.S. Open Cup the serious participation it deserves. Experienced veterans such as Marco Etcheverry in D.C. and Peter Nowak in Chicago drove their respective clubs' players to respect and value a tournament format they were accustomed to before coming to American shores.
"I think it started [for Chicago] with some of the European guys. They played in a lot of European cups and they always felt that they were important. Once you win one I think you take more pride in the tournament after that, you realize that it is something special even though its not a league title," said Marsch. "You still realize that it's fun to win it. It puts some cash in the players' pockets and at the end of the day you have something to put in the trophy case. The more you get involved in the tournament the more you treasure it."
This type of reverent mentality for the 91 year-old competition has rubbed off on the new guard of players. Rookies such as Will John, who has seen significant time throughout Open Cup play, during which he has registered two goals and two assists, knows what's at stake.
"Here I know that it's something to take very seriously because we've had a lot of success and hope to build on it," John said. "We were in the final last year and [older players] stress that it's not just another game. There's money to be made, but we also enjoy it and take pride in it."
Playing Dallas in their new digs will be no easy task for the Fire, though the opponent's record would suggest otherwise. FC Dallas has gone winless since moving into Pizza Hut Park, with a 0-3-2 record in the complex, while not having tallied a victory in MLS play since June 26 at Colorado. Fire head coach Dave Sarachan downplays the offensive weapons Dallas has used to get to this point in the tournament and what it will do to contain a team desperate for a win.
"Dallas has also had a good run in the Open Cup and I'm sure, hosting a semifinal, they'll be excited about that. Although they've had a tough run in the League, they'll certainly be ready for this semifinal," said Sarachan. "We won't be doing anything special. We have a way we play and we let other teams adjust to us. We'll go about business making sure that we keep their dangerous guys off the board. I think everybody's ready to play on that surface. I imagine it's a tremendous surface to play on and we'll be looking forward to that."
On paper, it's hard not to respect the firepower and veteran players FC Dallas has at their disposal. Factor in weather that is expected to top out at a sweltering 95 degrees, and it becomes clear that tomorrow's road game will prove challenging for the "Men in Red."
"It's always hot at this time of year, but it'll be interesting playing in their new stadium," said Marsch. "I'm excited to see it. They've been struggling as of late, but I think they've got a ton of great players. There's a lot of talent on that field. We've done well on the road the last couple of years in the Open Cup so hopefully we keep it going."
If the Fire do take care of business with a victory against FC Dallas on Wednesday, they will once again prove to be tops among storied Chicago clubs of the past. By advancing to the 2005 edition of the U.S. Open Cup Final, the Fire would be the 20th Chicago-based club since the inception of the competition in 1914 to make a tournament finals appearance. Twelve separate Chicagoland clubs have earned the right to play for the coveted Dewar Trophy in the finale, earning the Windy City a grand total of seven U.S. Open Cup championships - the last three of which the Fire has brought back to the shores of Lake Michigan since 1998.
