Some Soccer News for August 8, 2012

LAMAR HUNT U.S. OPEN CUP FINAL - TONIGHT

Joe the Curmudgeon sitting in today, as Dear Leader El Brucio is cruising down I-35 from Minneapolis to Kansas City for tonight's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final between the three-time consecutive reigning champion Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City. Watch the match from LIVESTRONG Sporting Park tonight on GolTV at 9pm ET - 8pm CT - 7pm MT - 6pm PT.

Kansas City, who won the Cup themselves in 2004 as the Wizards, will be without Aurelien Collin, due to yellow card accumulation.

Sounders FC are on a roll, coming off of their 4-0 beat down of Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS play Sunday night in front of 60,908 of their very happy hometown fans.


HOW THEY GOT HERE (hat tip to US Soccer):

A look at the earlier U.S. Open Cup matches of tonight's finalists:

Sporting Kansas City

Third Round (May 29): Sporting Kansas City (MLS) 3, Orlando City
Soccer Club (USL PRO) 2: Scoring: SKC - Paulo Nagamura 45+2; Soony
Saad 65, 68; ORL - Kevin Molino 55; Dennis Chin 84

Fourth Round (June 5): Sporting Kansas City (MLS) 2, Colorado Rapids
(MLS) 0: Scoring: SKC - Own goal (Matt Pickens) 27; Teal Bunbury 79

Quarterfinal Round (June 26): Sporting Kansas City (MLS) 3, Dayton
Dutch Lions (USL PRO) 0: Scoring: SKC - C.J. Sapong 5, 59; Graham Zusi 56

Semifinal Round (July 11): Sporting Kansas City (MLS) 2, Philadelphia
Union (MLS) 0: Scoring: SKC - Jacob Peterson 65, Graham Zusi 90+


Seattle Sounders FC

Third Round (May 20): Seattle Sounders FC (MLS) 5, Atlanta Silverbacks
(NASL) 1: SEA - Andy Rose 44; Osvaldo Alonso 47; Alex Caskey 54; Sammy
Ochoa 62, 66; ATL - Reinaldo Navia 53

Fourth Round (June 5): Seattle Sounders FC (MLS) 5, Cal FC (USASA) 0:
Scoring: SEA - Osvaldo Alonso (PK) 50, 70; Fredy Montero 58, 68; Andy
Rose 66

Quarterfinal Round (July 11): Seattle Sounders FC (MLS) 1, San Jose
Earthquakes (MLS) 0: SEA - Cordell Cato 19

Semifinal Round (July 11): Seattle Sounders FC (MLS) 4, Chivas USA
(MLS) 1: Scoring: SEA - Eddie Johnson 31, Osvaldo Alonso (PK) 48, Brad
Evans 83, Sammy Ochoa 88; CHV - Cesar Romero 74

Top Goalscorers from the finalist teams include Seattle's Osvaldo
Alonso with 4 goals and Sammy Ochoa with 3, while teammates Fredy
Montero and Andy Rose have a pair of Cup goals. For Sporting KC, Soony
Saad, C.J. Sapong, and Graham Zusi all have two Cup goals apiece...


A LOOK AROUND THE LOCAL NEWS

Charles Gooch at the Kansas City Star with his preview:

*notes that only 8,000 saw the 2004 Cup final. Tonight is sold-out (20,000ish).

*KC has many players with injury and their status is uncertain: Myers and Sapong are probable; Peterson and Convey are doubtful; Roger Espinoza may be hurt too much from his Olympics clavicle injury to play...

*Worries about the obvious Seattle threats, Eddie Johnson and Fredy Montero, and notes that Mauro Rosales is an 'SKC killer'...

More at KansasCity.com


Jayda Evans at the Seattle Times with her preview:

She focuses, naturally, on Sounders FC's attempt to set a record with a fourth consecutive championship.

Seattle Times article


Soccer By Ives

Franco at Soccer By Ives with his preview


US Soccer

with team rosters and other notes


TheCup.us

Last, but not least: TheCup.us with their own preview

GOOD LUCK TONIGHT, GUYS!

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OTHER SOCCER NEWS

American goalkeeper Luis Robles has signed with the MLS and is awaiting team allocation. He's spent the last five years in the German second division.

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OLYMPIC FOOTBALL FINALS
-nice to have 2 CONCACAF teams and no Euro teams in the finals

Women's Final:
-Thu Aug 9
USA v Japan - 1:30pm CT on NBCSN


Men's Final
-Sat Aug 11
Mexico v Brazil - 9:00am CT on NBCSN

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OK, that's all for today. Enjoy the 99th U.S. Open Cup tonight! Hooray non-alcoholic Beer!