Soccer Kansas City

It was a night of knockout soccer that saw three games go to extra time, two games go to penalty kicks, and one famous Mexican lose his temper and get sent off. By the time the smoke cleared, the glass slipper still fit for two USL First Division clubs, who had advanced to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals.

Why isn't this competition on TV again?

The Charleston Battery obliterated FC Dallas, 3-1, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, TX, scoring before an after an hour-long lightning delay in the first half and shutting down all but one meaningless strike in the 93rd minute. Meanwhile, the Seattle Sounders fought the Kansas City Wizards to a 0-0 draw and advanced 6-5 on penalties, thanks in part to a 12-save performance by Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander, who also saved two PKs to help Seattle advance.

Meanwhile, USL Second Division club Crystal Palace Baltimore pushed the defending Open Cup champion New England Revolution to penalties, but lost the shootout, 5-3. In Boyds, MD, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Mark Burch were shown red cards in extra time, while Bryan Namoff scored the winner in the 99th minute to push D.C. United past the Chicago Fire, 2-1.

D.C. United and the Chicago Fire meet tonight in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals, one month after their testy match in Toyota Park in which three red cards were given and Luciano Emilio got a surprise goal in stoppage time to lift 9-man D.C. to a 2-1 win.

If you want to watch this rematch, though, you'll have to go to the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds and buy a ticket. By all accounts, this match will not air on TV or online. Neither will tonight's New England Revolution v. Crystal Palace Baltimore match, providing further proof that the U.S. Open Cup -- a competition in which the winner receives a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League, no less -- is truly the most disrespected competition in American soccer.

The other two quarterfinal matches at least have online video feeds. FC Dallas v. Charleston Battery will be shown on MLSLive at 8:30 PM ET, while Seattle fans log on to USLLive get a free glimpse of their future MLS club's home when the USL-1 Seattle Sounders face the Kansas City Wizards at Qwest Field at 10:00 PM ET. Let's hope the groundskeepers actually try to cover up the gridiron lines this year.

Crystal Palace supporters still suffering from the loss of that Premier League promotion playoff last May might be taking a little solace in their American counterparts today.

USL Second Division side Crystal Palace Baltimore upset an uninspired New York Red Bulls side, 2-0, last night in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup. The win prompted many sports fans in Baltimore to say, "Wait, we have a soccer team here?"

Indeed, the club was founded in 2006, 101 years after Crystal Palace FC was founded in London, and it serves as a player development wing for the Coca-Cola Championship club. Clearly, player development is going pretty well there, though as Ives Galarcep notes, too many Red Bulls just didn't come to play last night.

Two other USL clubs pulled off upsets, as USL-1 leaders the Charleston Battery defeated MLS Cup holders the Houston Dynamo on penalty kicks, while the Seattle Sounders topped Chivas USA, 2-0. Other USL clubs didn't get away so easily. The Kansas City Wizards came back from a 2-0 deficit to topple the Carolina Railhawks, 4-2, in extra time, and FC Dallas scored a 2-1 comeback win against Miami FC. D.C. United, the Chicago Fire and the New England Revolution also cruised to victory over USL clubs.

The U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals are scheduled for next Tuesday.

The 3rd round of the U.S. Open Cup kicks off tomorrow, and if you're looking for the MLS clubs that are taking this tournament seriously this year, just look for which clubs are playing at home.

Unlike England's FA Cup, where the home team is determined by random draw, MLS and USL clubs place bids with the U.S. Soccer Federation to host games, and the highest bidder plays at home. If you look at the schedule for tomorrow's games, you'll notice that the New England Revolution, the Chicago Fire, D.C. United and FC Dallas are all playing at home.

By contrast, the Houston Dynamo travel to South Carolina to face USL-1 leaders the Charleston Battery, and the New York Red Bulls head to Maryland to face USL-2 side Crystal Palace Baltimore. Perhaps Houston and New York aren't quite as interested in the CONCACAF Champions League bid that comes with winning the Open Cup.

D.C. United, however, suddenly seems much more interested in the Open Cup than they were last year.

The biggest complaint most fans of European soccer have with Major League Soccer in America is that the regular season has too little value. Eight out of 14 clubs make the playoffs, and teams that finish last don't get relegated to the second division. MLS and CONCACAF are trying to change that by tying regular season performance into international competitions like SuperLiga and the new CONCACAF Champions League, but those events don't quite have enough prestige to convince MLS players to play with the same urgency in the regular season as European players do.

Someone really needs to explain these things to Eddie Johnson.

The former Kansas City Wizard moved to Fulham last January to help the club with its offense, and he's displaced Clint Dempsey in the starting lineup. In three starts, Johnson has produced a grand total of one shot on goal. He's also been easy to push off the ball and less than eager to chase after crosses that aren't put right on his head.

Basically, he's playing with zero urgency. Johnson plays for a club battling for its Premier League life, and he acts like he's just playing out a string and will be back in the top flight next season. That was evident today in Fulham's 2-0 loss at Newcastle.

Major League Soccer's fourth-best goal scorer is headed to the Premier League -- for the next four months, anyway.

Ives Galarcep is reporting Kansas City Wizards striker Eddie Johnson has secured his UK work permit and signed a 3 1/2-year deal with Fulham. Johnson left the U.S. men's national team training camp a week and a half go to begin negotiations with the relegation-threatened London club, and he's reportedly fetching a transfer fee of $4 million.

There was talk that Johnson's deal might not happen after Fulham reportedly signed Marlon King away from Watford, but that deal was scuttled last week, reportedly because King failed a physical. King denies that claim.

Johnson, who rejected an offer from Derby County last August, will join fellow Americans Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Brian McBride and Kasey Keller at the club. He'll also join three other new Fulham transfers -- Norway defender Brede Hangeland from FC Copenhagen, Danish midfielder Leon Andreasen from Werder Bremen and Gabonese striker Daniel Cousin from Rangers.

However, with Dempsey entrenched as a starter, Cousin coming in and McBride expected to return soon from injury, how much playing time will Johnson actually get at Fulham? He won't get any in the FA Cup; Bristol Rovers took care of that. Will Dempsey move back to a midfield spot, or will Roy Hodgson employ a 4-3-3 formation to fit everyone in? And would Johnson be happy playing in the Coca-Cola Championship next year? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

LA Galaxy manager Ruud Gullitt's early departure from this year's MLS Combine should have been seen as a bad omen. The club has the most draft picks of any team, yet he elected to cut short his talent evaluations. In what had been hailed as a deep draft, especially with defenders on LA's shopping list, the move was a surprise. No sooner did reports surface of his departure, the first real measurement of the 2008 draft was taken by Kansas City by way of San Jose. The Earthquakes traded their first pick overall for veteran defender Nick Garcia (at right). Garcia, drafted 2nd overall in 2000, is a veteran defensive leader, but the move tips a the apparently low market price of the #1.

From San Jose's side, their gameplan appears to be defense first. A smart move considering the abundance of MLS-caliber defensive midfielders and their current roster. While Clarence Goodson's departure to Norway's IK Start was a setback, the 'Quakes are putting the pieces in place to ensure newly acquired keeper Joe Cannon is well protected. Garcia, 29, joins an experienced back line that is should include Ryan Cochrane (from Houston) and Ivan Guerrero (from Chicago). Coach Frank Yallop looks to have a good, if aged, defensive corps in place before the draft begins, but most predictions had the team looking to trade veterans or allocations for additional draft picks. With this move the 'Quakes get a little bit older, but probably more consistent.

As for the Wizards, their eyes appear to be on top striking prospect Patrick Nyarko out of Viriginia Tech. Nyarko has been the consensus #1 for some time and is expected to have an immediate impact. He would be the likely successor to Eddie Johnson, en route to Fulham for an rumored $6 million transfer. The offense may not miss a but, but this places their defense on the back of Jimmy Conrad and a handful of youngsters.

If the prices of draft picks are falling as prospect hype fades into reality, look for the MLS trade market to heat up even more as we head into Friday.

(HT: Soccer Insider and Yahoo! Sports)

The Americanization of the Cottagers continue as Eddie Johnson is in "serious negotiations" with Fulham. Soccer Insider, Steven Goff, reports that Johnson has left the US national camp to discuss a transfer to the London club. Johnson had been linked to the Premier League since the transfer window opened with Derby County and Reading also rumored to be interested in his services. The KC Wizards striker would be the fifth American player on a roster that includes well-known national players Kasey Keller, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey, and captain Brian McBride.

Johnson is the latest MLS player to be connected to a move overseas. Recently, New England striker Taylor Twellman, Chicago keeper Matt Pickens, and Chivas keeper Brad Guzan have also been targeted by foreign clubs.

All the really good American players end up playing in Europe, right? Clint Dempsey, Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra all ended up at Fulham. Freddy Adu may have rejected Benfica for now, but he's bound to end up playing somewhere in Europe before it's over.

So why wouldn't Eddie Johnson, the Kansas City Wizards striker who is currently MLS' leading scorer (12 goals), want to play in the Premier League as well? Why would he reject a transfer to Derby County?

I can give you a good reason -- because it's Derby County. It's a very small club that may have won "the most valuable club match in the world" last May, but it won't win much else in the upcoming Premier League season, and it's the odds-on favorite to be the first team relegated back to the Coca-Cola Championship. A talented striker like Johnson isn't going to lift that team out of the relegation zone by himself.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Wizards are 7-5-5 and just a point out of first place in MLS' Eastern Division. Those seven wins may be more than Derby gets in the Premiership all year, and while things like Superliga and the CONCACAF Champions Cup don't seem quite as prestigious as the UEFA Cup, Johnson actually has a much better chance of seeing international competition next year with Kansas City than with Derby.

If Johnson had gotten an offer from Reading, with whom he trained last year, this might be a different story. Reading has a much better shot at Premier League success than Derby, and they may pursue Johnson yet if Kevin Doyle gets hurt again. For now, though, Johnson will remain in MLS, and that league probably couldn't be more thrilled that Derby inadvertently gave their league a little boost in reputation.