Brass Qualify for US Open Cup

While the Kansas City Wizards fell to Real Salt Lake in the first round of MLS qualifying for the US Open Cup, Kansas City's other team, the Kansas City Brass qualified tonight to play in the oldest soccer tournament in the United States, by defeating the St. Louis Lions 3-1 at the Tony Glavin Complex in St. Louis.

To qualify for the Open Cup, the Brass first defeated 2005 PDL Champs, and the Heartland's US Open Cup representative the past two years, the Des Moines Menace 3-1 at William Jewell College, which I mentioned in this entry. The Brass then went up to Sioux Falls, and beat the Spitfire 2-1. Then last night they defeated the Springfield Demize in KC, to set up today's match in St. Louis. A win or a draw by KC would have put them in the tournament, and thanks to goals by Garret Guthrie, Joshua White, and Joshua Howard, the Brass went through 3-1.

The team will now wait to see who they get paired with in the first round of the tournament and where the game will be played at. The match though will be played on June 12. The Brass will either be paired against a USL-1 or a USL-2 team, the second and third tier of US soccer. This is the Brass' first appearance in the US Open Cup since 1998 when they lost in extra time to the Central Jersey Riptide. So while the Wizards did not make the actual tournament this season, the Brass will be representing Kansas City in the US Open Cup in 2007. Go Brass.