Adrian Hanauer Frustrated
Adrian Hanauer (AP)
Don Ruiz and Jose Romero have provided some reactions from Adrian Hanauer on USSF’s decision to play the US Open Cup Final at RFK Stadium in Washington DC.
Apparently, the Sounders Front Office put in “a very aggressive bid” to be the host of the USOC final, yet somehow Qwest Field was not selected. Hanauer said that he “has spoken with other teams that have made bids for the Final who thought that they were going to win the bid, and our bid was twice, and in some cases up to three times, the size, financially, of those bids.”
The only reason that Seattle fans have heard why Seattle was turned down was because the Final would require a 1p Seattle kickoff. That seems silly, so, hopefully, a better explanation will come out in time.
Hanauer noted…
I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was frustrated and somewhat skeptical of the process. I don’t think D.C. has played a game in the Open Cup on the road in two years. They had a road through all lower-division teams to get to the Open Cup Final. I’m not in the know … enough to be able to raise any real issues, but I’m frustrated and I wish U.S. Soccer would explain why one bid wins over another.
We don’t see anything wrong with the fact that DC has walked through a PDL, USL2, and USL1 teams to the Final because those teams played their way through MLS foes earning those matches.
But it is curious that DC hasn’t been on the road. As a fact, Hanauer is correct there. DC United is currently on a two-year, 9-game USOC winning streak (including play-ins)- all have been at home. DC is 5-0 at their SoccerPlex and 4-0 at RFK Stadium.
Home teams in this year’s US Open Cup are 29-9.
DC’s last roadtrip in the Open Cup? A 1-0 loss to USL2’s Harrisburg City Islanders in the Third Round of the 2007 Cup.
“U.S. Soccer had a chance to raise the profile of the [US Open Cup],” Adrian said. “We would have sold out Qwest Field.”
Financially, the onus now is on the DC club to prove Seattle wrong. Last year’s US Open Cup Final was played in front of a crowd of 8213 at RFK Stadium. Let’s see how many folks show up for the 2009 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final on September 2nd (and of course subtract the number of traveling Sounders supporters).
For SSFC, they just need to bring home the hardware.
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