FC Dallas, Revolution Need Extra Time to Advance to U.S. Open Cup Final

Remember when Seattle sports fans complained bitterly about the officiating after the Seahawks lost Super Bowl XL? Well, the 10,385 fans who showed up at Qwest Field last night might have had a sense of deja vu as their Seattle Sounders were knocked off in extra time by FC Dallas, 2-1, in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal.

The center referee in this match was shocking. Fouls weren't called very often on Dallas, and yellow cards weren't given for obvious take-downs. It wasn't until late in regular time when the first yellow card was given, and the only red card given was for dissent after Noah Merl may or may not have asked the ref how much money he had on the game. That sure seemed like a valid question.

Credit the Hoops for finishing the job, though, even though their time-wasting tactics deserved the boos they got and bookings that they didn't. Seattle had countless opportunities to score in regular time and couldn't put one in for the home fans until the very last minute. At least two shot attempts that could have changed the game bounced off the woodwork. Carlos Ruiz (pictured) scored a goal in the 94th minute that gave Dallas a lead they would not relinquish.

The high quality of play in that match may have been a stark contrast to the other Open Cup semifinal, in which the New England Revolution topped the Carolina Railhawks, 2-1, also in extra time.

That game feature lots of bookings and at least one fight, for which Shalrie Joseph and Connolly Edozien were ejected in the 40th minute. David Stokes was shown a red card for a hard foul on Adam Cristman in the 80th minute, leaving the Revs with a 10-on-9 advantage. Revs announcers spent most of the evening comparing the Railhawks to a hockey team.

Pat Noonan finally broke the tie in the 4th minute of extra time to secure the win in front of 4,203 fans in New Britain, Connecticut -- a disappointing number, to be sure, compared to crowd (and the atmosphere) in Seattle.

"We felt it all week," said defender Taylor Graham. "There's been a buzz in the city. There's been a buzz in the organization. And when we got tired in the second half tonight, the fans were definitely trying to help us find some energy. The atmosphere was fantastic. It was the type of atmosphere every player wishes to play in front of."

Unfortunately for the Sounders, they won't have the opportunity to build on that atmosphere in an Open Cup final, which will be an all-MLS affair in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday, October 3. Casual fans will probably start tuning out, now that the upset-minded lower-division clubs are no longer in the picture.

Still, Seattle deserves some dap here. More than 10,000 people showed up to cheer on a second-division club in a tournament that nobody cares about. This doesn't usually happen in America, and it did nothing but help Seattle's chances of landing an MLS franchise. Soccer fans in that city need to make sure that support doesn't disappear when the USL playoffs start in a few weeks.