The fun thing about being a fan, rather than a journalist on this particular subject... other people break stuff like FUSION ARE IN THE CUP
That is the US Open Cup Handbook, posted by Neil Morris and yep, the Radioactive Bees are in the 1st round proper of the venerable Lamar Hunt Open Cup, a competition played continuously since 1914 which features qualifying mens' clubs/franchises.
As you can see above, there are three routes to qualification:
That is the US Open Cup Handbook, posted by Neil Morris and yep, the Radioactive Bees are in the 1st round proper of the venerable Lamar Hunt Open Cup, a competition played continuously since 1914 which features qualifying mens' clubs/franchises.
As you can see above, there are three routes to qualification:
- All professional franchises automatically qualify (MLS, USL)
- Some amateur clubs who are successful in x season of a national league (NPSL/PDL, but weirdly not UPSL), qualify for x+1's Open Cup.
- Other amateur clubs play against each other in qualifying rounds during year x to qualify for x+1 Open Cup.
The bees qualified for the 2018 Open Cup after playing in the 2017 NPSL Playoffs (route #2 above)
Minneapolis City were screwed out of a spot in 2017 earned by playing in the 2016 PLA Playoffs, because they then moved to NPSL North in the time between the two. Playing through route #3 as Stegman's Soccer Club, they subsequently tried but lost.
Back to this year, and the bees... tomorrow will apparently see more formal announcements on things from the (thoroughly broken) US Soccer but in the mean time, Bob Williams tweeted a picture of this:
It featured in a blog Miki Turner has written at length about the rules which will govern the Cup this year. They credit a NYCFC and Hull fan Lee.
Thankfully Miki's blog also posts a Scribd of the entire handbook (since the version currently linked here (on their official website) is actually less recent.
I hope I'm not therefore celebrating a draft version.
OK, so point 2 of the image above seems to have strong relevance to a cluster of clubs like NPSL North, close(ish) together but not close to other clusters.
I would put money on a Bees v Blue-Greens Round 1 matchup. I would hope for a game in Fargo or West Fargo.
Don't get me wrong, I love Moorhead but a game in North Dakota would be the 1st in the recorded history of the tournament. Now that the Bees have qualified, the allocation of hosting is announced on April 4th, having been decided on March 14th/21st
The (possibly historic) game will be on May 9th, per that official page above.
However, the official Twitter account has suggested stuff will be announced tomorrow. If any of the stuff I just said changes, I'll update.
Keep buzzing.
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