Soccer Carolina

Chelsea might have a reputation among Premier League clubs for buying stars on the transfer market rather than developing them within the club -- they've already opened the silly season by signing Deco from Barcelona for £8 million -- but that doesn't mean the club's academy is lying dormant. In fact, the big London club is using its youth development program to reach out to America. Chelsea has struck up a partnership with Capital Area Soccer League, a large youth soccer club in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is already sending coaches to work with CASL youth players.

Since this is happening in my neck of the woods, I went to Raleigh to chat with some folks about this partnership.

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.

It is perhaps the worst kept secret in American soccer that Major League Soccer clubs want nothing to do with the U.S. Open Cup. Yes, it may be this country's only domestic cup competition, but MLS clubs view it as a meaningless affair and usually throw reserve squad players out there against lower division opponents. This is why USL Second Division clubs like the Richmond Kickers and Harrisburg City Islanders knock off the L.A. Galaxy and D.C. United. The MLS sides just didn't care enough.

However, it appears MLS is going from not caring to actively discouraging soccer fans from caring. Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup semifinal between the New England Revolution and the Carolina Railhawks will not be televised anywhere -- not on local TV, and not on the Internet. The only way to watch this game is to go to Veteran's Memorial Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut -- which holds only 8,500 people and is being used here because Gillette Stadium is not available -- and buy a ticket.

The other semifinal match between the Seattle Sounders and F.C. Dallas? The USL's online video service, USL Live, will show that game for free over the web. It appears, however, that USL will not be allowed to webcast the Revolution-Railhawks match, because it's a home game for the MLS side. Thus, it won't be webcast anywhere.

And then there were three.

The Seattle Sounders, a USL First Division team, knocked off Chivas USA, 3-1, last night in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. In fact, five out of eight MLS clubs, all of whom entered the U.S. Open Cup in the third round, have been upset by USL clubs. The Los Angeles Galaxy was upset by the Richmond Kickers, the top USL Second Division club, earlier this week. The Chicago Fire, the defending U.S. Open Cup champs, were beaten 1-0 by the Carolina Railhawks, a USL-1 expansion team.

And nobody knows about this. U.S. Open Cup matches aren't shown anywhere on TV, they're barely covered in local press where the games are played, and attendance for most of these matches has been very small. 3,589 fans showed up at Qwest Field last night for the Seattle-Chivas match. There's a growing sentiment that some MLS clubs care so little for this tournament and that they're fielding reserve squads for these games and getting out early to focus on other things.

This is not the fault of MLS. This is the fault of the Unites States Soccer Federation, which organizes this competition.