D.C. United begins defense of last year's U.S. Open Cup title tonight against FC Dallas. It's a bit confusing, though, so try to keep up... despite winning the championship last year, United did not automaticly qualify for this year's edition. The six MLS teams that finish with the most standings points the prevoius year automatically enter the tournament in the third round. Because eight total teams play in the tournament, the other two slots are decided by play-in games. This year, eight teams are vying for the final two slots in the third round. Should United defeat Dallas, it would advance to play the winner of San Jose-New York.
View the play-in bracket here.
Though tonight's game is a U.S. Open Cup play-in game, it is not officially a U.S. Open Cup match. The play-in format was deteremined - and is run - by MLS. Comprendes?
Tonight's game kicks-off at 7:30 p.m. There is no TV coverage for the game tonight, but it can be heard on the radio in both English (1050 AM) and Spanish (1540, 1390, 1600 AM). You can also follow along via our Twitter feed.
Read these articles:
- In Open Cup, Champ Faces 'Play-In' Games - By Steven Goff (Washington Post)
- United faces long road - By John Haydon (Washington Times)
- United's tourney title defense begins with play-in game - By Craig Stouffer (Washington Examiner)
- DC's road to USOC repeat starts with FCD - By Charles Boehm (dcunited.com)
As per usual, we'll take your score predicitions in the comments section. Guess correctly and you might win two tickets to an upcoming United home game.
