The key question in play was who received the $10,000 bonus that goes to the amateur team that goes deepest in the U.S. Open Cup. Roma split that honor with the Premier Development League's (PDL) Carolina Dynamo, but was initially told that they wouldn't receive a dime for their labors. The priceless reasoning:
"In the letter [directing Roma's attention to the stiffing], U.S. Soccer discounted Roma's result over {MLS's Chivas USA] because it was achieved in a penalty kick tiebreaker."
Sensing that all the publicity Roma enjoyed during their Cup run might make this one hard to hide, U.S. Soccer offered to give them half the bonus with the rest going to the Carolina Dynamo.
As Davis points out, the rule for determining who gets the bonus when two amateur teams reach the same round awards the money to the team "with the most victories against opponents from a higher division." The U.S. Soccer spokesman points out that there's no language stipulating that beating an MLS team counts for more than beating a second-division team - which is what happened in this case (Roma beat Chivas, while Carolina beat the Seattle Sounders.).
For what it's worth, I hope they change the language for next year's tournament.
(#######)
No comments:
Post a Comment