USL-1 team to play in US Open Cup Final
Miami, July 10, 2008 – After Tuesday’s results, it is guaranteed that a USL-1 team - the league where Miami FC plays - will be in the final of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup this year.
The Charleston Battery defeated FC Dallas 3-1 and became the first USL team to reach the US Open Cup semifinals for a third time since MLS began participating in the Cup. In another quarterfinal, the Seattle Sounders returned to the final four for a second straight year by knocking off MLS opposition, the Kansas City Wizards, in PKs (6-5). The pair will meet in the Semifinals, ensuring a USL side in the final for the first time since Rochester won it all in 1999.
With USL-2’s Crystal Palace Baltimore (against New England Revolution) and Seattle games going to penalties, the USL sides technically finished the night unbeaten at 1-0-2 in their three contests, with tiebreakers deciding who advanced from the two draws.
It is the third time two USL teams have reached the Semifinals in the same year. The Sounders and the expansion Carolina RailHawks were in the final four last year, the first occasion since Charleston and the Rochester Rhinos made the 1999 Semifinals.
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