The biggest story this week should be the end of the A-League Open Cup qualifiers. Instead, the biggest story of this week is the punch in the nose that the Charleston Battery took in Virginia Beach last Saturday. You talk about getting flat out beat in every phase of the game, this was the textbook definition of exactly that. The Battery have to be glad this happened in late April instead of August or September but they still have to be pretty ticked that it happened when they came into the match with a 2 goal advantage in the Open Cup series.
It's better luck next time to the Coppertops and smooth sailing into the next round for the Mariners who could be the A-League's best challenger to the big boys in the Open Cup this season. Then there's the fact that it's now clearly advantage Virginia Beach in the divisional race after putting 5 goals past the vaunted Battery defense. Once Richmond gets into the mix in this race it's going to be really fun to watch.
In Open Cup news, the qualifying round for the A-League clubs finishes up over the Memorial Day weekend with four exciting qualifiers taking place. The most exciting match-up among those this weekend is the home and home, back to back meeting between Syracuse and Rochester as they'll try to outdo one another on and off the field. In case you haven't heard the Dogs outdrew the Rhinos last week and are hoping to keep that up. All indications are that this will be a whale of an encounter although you won't be able to see it unless you're in Western New York over the next couple of nights.
In another match-up Indiana and El Paso will try to determine which team gets to be the underdog in the next round of the Open Cup. Some fans have raised concerns over the fact that one of these two clubs gets to move on in the competition while teams like Cincinnati, Portland, Charleston and one of either Richmond or Pittsburgh will be sitting at home. Here's a news flash for the folks who are complaining: get over it. Such is life in any Cup competition especially so in the U.S. Open Cup but it is refreshing to hear fans talking about it.
Richmond travels to Pittsburgh needing to dig itself out of a 0-3 hole in order to advance into the next round of the Open Cup and keep pace with Virginia Beach in their division race. The Kickers are quickly positioning themselves behind the proverbial 8-ball but it's hardly down to just their form. I mean, who really expected this out of Virginia Beach?
Speaking of Virginia Beach, can we vote for four guys for MVP this year if the Mariners keep this up? I'm thinking I'll split my vote to .25 of a vote each for Dante Washington, Roy Lassiter, Roland Aguilera, and Hamisi Amani-Dove. Then again their defense has also been darn good this year as well. Decisions, decisions. Still, if this team hasn't become your prohibitive favorite to win it all then you haven't seen these guys. Personally, right now I'd love to see this offense against the defense of a club like Vancouver. Is that just me?
Meanwhile, apparently Cincinnati has released midfielder Phillipe Godoy and nobody's really sure why except for something about "team policy". Then again, Phillipe's name is still on the roster on the Hawks website so does this mean things are still up in the air? Who knows but it will be curious to see how the team performs if they have lost one of their more dynamic midfielders and arguably most potent offensive threat.
We might as well have a look at some other interesting matches around the league this weekend as well. Make sure you catch Richmond and Montreal from Virginia tonight on Fox Sports World and try to stay up a little later than usual to keep an eye or ear out for the goings in the Pacific Northwest as Seattle and Vancouver play twice over the weekend. Also make sure you pay attention to Virginia Beach this weekend as they play the Eastern Canadian Club, or as most people like to call them Montreal and Toronto, to see if this team can continue it's red hot streak.
There's a lot of entertainment on tap this weekend around the league so have a great Memorial Day weekend and try to enjoy part of it at an A-League park near you.
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