The first round of the 2016 U.S. Open Cup is in the books, and two of the five teams in action on Wednesday have advanced to the second round. The
The first round of the 2016 U.S. Open Cup is in the books, and two of the five teams in action on Wednesday have advanced to the second round.
The only all-SoCal match-up, Ventura County Fusion vs. LA Wolves FC, ended with a Ventura County Fusion 2-1 win, but the game was not without controversy.
Josh Hakala reported on U.S. Open Cup blog TheCup.us on Thursday that the Wolves intend to file a protest over the result, due to their contention that Ventura County fielded a player who played in an Open Cup qualifier for Cal FC last year, which would make the player cup-tied and therefore ineligible. As of Thursday morning, U.S. Soccer had not publicly recognized the protest, as they included the Fusion in the draw for the third round of the tournament.
So we’ll have to wait and see if that result will be overturned or not. If it does, it will snap Ventura County’s six-year run of winning a game in the Open Cup.
Meantime, amateur side La Maquina grabbed the biggest result among the local teams, with a 2-0 road win over the Portland Timbers U-23 PDL team. Alejandro Velasquez and Edwin Borboa notched the goals for the team, who we profiled on SoccerNation.com last year.
Unfortunately, three other teams’ USOC dream died. Orange County’s Outbreak FC took Seattle Sounders U-23 PDL team to extra time in Washington, but the home side scored two in the extra period to win 3-1, while San Nicolas FC was blanked 3-0 by PDL team FC Tucson in Arizona. And if the LA Wolves’ protest is unsuccessful, they are out as well.
The second round of the Open Cup is next Wednesday, and La Maquina are set to head up to NorCal to take on NPSL side Sacramento Gold, while the Ventura County Fusion (pending the protest’s outcome) are slated to host USL side Orange County Blues. We’ll keep you posted on the latest for local teams in the Open Cup.
