U.S. Open Cup Format: Qualifying For MLS’s Final Two Spots Announced

Despite being at the top of the U.S. soccer pyramid, just six MLS teams receive automatic berths into the U.S. Open Cup and just eight teams will compete in the main draw of the tournament. The first six spots were allocated based on 2011 regular-season standings, and the final two will once again be decided by a mini qualifying tournament that will be played during this year’s regular season. On Tuesday, the eight teams that will be fighting for those two spots learned who their opponents will be.

MLS will have a coin-toss to determine which teams will host the games and the two teams will then have to agree on the dates of the matches.

NASL CEO Aaron Davidson has been almost singularly focused on one thing lately: Making sure his league got Division 2 sanctioning. So, maybe it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he doesn’t seem particularly worried that his league won’t be allowed to play in the 2011 U.S. Open Cup.

“Frankly, from our perspective — I don’t want this to come out the wrong way — but we need to focus on our league right now,” Davidson told IndyWeek.com. “The U.S. Open Cup is a phenomenal tournament, it gives you a chance to play MLS teams in games that matter, and it gives you a chance if you win it all you get to go to the [CONCACAF] Champions League. But, at the end of the day, we all know we’d rather focus on this league this season.

With news coming out earlier this week that no second division teams would participate in the 2011 U.S. Open Cup, it was clear that some rather significant changes were afoot. Those changes were revealed on Thursday when the format for this year’s tournament was revealed. As it turns out, the biggest changes are among the amateur ranks.

Five more amateur teams will earn berths into the tournament this year. The PDL’s allotment was raised to nine from eight and the NPSL will receive four automatic berths, the first time since 2003 that teams from that fourth-division league will gain automatic entry. NPSL teams used to qualify through the USASA, which will receive eight berths again this year. But with the five U.S.-based NASL teams be excluded, this allowed more automatic berths to be given to amateur teams.

NASL won the right to be called Division 2, but that decision apparently came too late to allow the five U.S.-based teams to play in what is arguably their biggest showcase event: the U.S. Open Cup. During a conference call with reporters, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati revealed the timing of the NASL’s one-year sanctioning made it impossible for the league’s teams to compete in the country’s longest continuously running championship. He also ruled out the possibility of some kind of play-in mechanism.

“There is no place in the structure, they’re not going to be included,” Gulati said.