The 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 98th edition of the USSF's annual national soccer championship, running from June through early October. Seattle Sounders FC, who entered the competition as the two-time defending champions, successfully defended their title again. They became the third team in U.S. Open Cup history to win three straight U.S. Open Cups (the others being Stix, Baer and Fuller/St. Louis Central Breweries from 1933 to 1935 and Greek American AA from 1967 to 1969 — this excludes the run of Fall River F.C. in 1930 and 1931, as the team that won in 1932, New Bedford Whalers, was the result of mergers of teams that included Fall River). As winner of the Open Cup, the Sounders earned a place in the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League Group stage (the preliminary round will be eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League starting from 2012–13). The farthest advancing USL Pro team was the Richmond Kickers.
Like the previous edition, the Open Cup featured 40 clubs from across the five tiers of the American soccer pyramid. This season, due to late provisional sanctioning, the North American Soccer League was not allowed to send its clubs to the tournament. The event featured eight clubs from Major League Soccer, with six automatically qualifying based on their league position in the 2010 season and two qualifying through a play-in tournament. They entered the tournament in the third round. All 11 USL Pro League clubs based in the United States, nine clubs from the USL Premier Development League, four clubs from the National Premier Soccer League, and eight United States Adult Soccer Association qualifiers began play in the first round.
Dates DateRoundNotesJune 14First round11 USL Pro, 9 USL PDL, 4 NPSL, and 8 USASA clubs enterJune 21Second roundJune 28Third round8 MLS clubs enterJuly 12QuarterfinalsAugust 30SemifinalsOctober 4Final
Participating teams
The tournament consisted of 40 teams, according to the following distribution:
Major League Soccer (8 teams) Chicago Fire Columbus Crew FC Dallas Los Angeles Galaxy New York Red Bulls Real Salt Lake Seattle Sounders FC Sporting Kansas City
North American Soccer League (0 teams) On February 17, 2011, the USSF announced that no NASL teams will be participating in the competition since the league did not obtain provisional sanctioning in time.
USL Pro League (11 teams) Charleston Battery Charlotte Eagles Dayton Dutch Lions Harrisburg City Islanders Los Angeles Blues F.C. New York Orlando City Pittsburgh Riverhounds Richmond Kickers Rochester Rhinos Wilmington Hammerheads
Premier Development League (9 teams) Carolina Dynamo Central Florida Kraze Chicago Fire Premier Chivas El Paso Patriots Kitsap Pumas Reading United Real Colorado Foxes Ventura County Fusion Western Mass Pioneers
National Premier Soccer League (4 teams) Brooklyn Italians Chattanooga FC Hollywood United Hitmen Madison 56ers
USASA (8 teams) A.A.C. Eagles Doxa Italia DV8 Defenders Iowa Menace ASC New Stars New York Pancyprian-Freedoms Phoenix SC Regals FC
Open Cup Bracket
Home teams listed on top of bracket. (AET): After Extra Time
Schedule Note: Scorelines use the standard U.S. convention of placing the home team on the right-hand side of box scores.
First round
Second round
Third round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
Top scorers Statistics current as of 4 October 2011
RankScorerClubGoals1 David BulowRichmond Kickers62 Jhonny ArteagaF.C. New York3 Andriy BudnyiWilmington Hammerheads3 Matthew DelicâteRichmond Kickers3 Fredy MonteroSeattle Sounders FC36 Darren TobyCharlotte Eagles2 Orr BarouchChicago Fire2 Dominic OduroChicago Fire2 JacksonFC Dallas2 Robbie ChristnerKitsap Pumas2 Mehrshad MomeniLos Angeles Blues2 Jed HohlbeinMadison 56ers2 Stefan DimitrovNew York Pancyprian-Freedoms2 Devorn JorslingOrlando City2 Shaka BanguraRichmond Kickers2 Mike FucitoSeattle Sounders FC2 Luke MulhollandWilmington Hammerheads2
References
External links TheCup.us – Match reports and results