SAN DIEGO (Monday, June 5, 2000- NF12) - The San Diego Flash announced today its opponent for the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament, the Riverside County Elite was drawn to face the Flash on either Tuesday June 13 or Wednesday, June 14 at San Diego Mesa College's Douglas Stadium. The Elite is the D3-Pro League affiliate of the Flash.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the oldest cup competition in the United States, dating back to 1914 and is open to all amateur and professional soccer teams in the country. An expanded second round will see 32 teams from MLS (12 teams), the A-League (9), the D3 Pro League (7) and the first round (4 winners), square off in 16 single-elimination matches across the country. The matches are paired geographically and cross-league as much as possible. The matches were determined by a blind draw held today, after the 32 teams were divided into Western and Eastern brackets by the U.S. Open Cup committee. Within each 16-team geographic bracket, six MLS and two A-League teams will be seeded. The Flash was seeded eighth, behind the #7 Minnesota Thunder, in the West bracket.
San Diego competed in the 1999 tourney defeating the D3-Pro League Arizona Sahuaros 9-2 in the second round, before losing to the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy 3-2 in the third round. It was the Flash's first appearance in the tournament, after failing to qualify in 1998. The A-League's Rochester Rhinos are the defending champions, beating four MLS teams on the way to the capturing the Dewar Cup trophy.
Riverside County is currently 4-5-0 with 19 points in league play and is led by former Flash striker Antonio Robles, who has seven goals this season. In a strange twist of fate, Sam Kaloustian is the General Manager of both the Flash and Elite. "It is unfortunate that we were drawn against our own affiliate, it will quickly eliminate the chance of both teams doing well in the tournament," remarked Kaloustian. "It will be a great match because the Elite players will want to prove that they belong on the big club, now or in the near future and the Flash players will want to make a statement as well." The teams tied 1-1 in a pre-season contest in Hemet on March 18.
The official match date, time and ticket information will be announced shortly by the club. For more information on the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, please see www.us-soccer.com.
Western Bracket - Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Seattle (A) @ #1 Los Angeles (M)
Riverside County (D3) @ #8 San Diego (A)
#4 Colorado (M) @ Richmond (A)
#5 San Jose (M) @ Stanislaus (D3)
Texas (D3) @ #3 Chicago (M)
#6 Kansas City (M) @ PDL team
Tennessee (A) @ #2 Dallas (M)
Mexico SC (Am) @ #7 Minnesota (A)
M- MLS, A- A-Lge, D3- D3 Lge, Am- Amateur
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