Des Moines of the PDL had a tough road facing against one USL-2^nd Division side in the Pittsburgh Riverhounds & then the Charleston Battery & Atlanta Silverbacks in the USL-1^st Division, till they faced the defending US Open Cup Champion Kansas City Wizards of MLS. Des Moines faced Pittsburgh in the 1^st round and took them to the round of penalties to defeat the Riverhounds 4-2 after a regulation & Overtime leveled score of one all. Then at home against Charleston and leading by two till the battery recharged their juices to equalize but a late goal for the Menace would secure the victory. Heading on down to the south and against the Silverbacks, the Menace must have found the bucket of peaches and started to pelt the apes with a big time 5-1 victory.

 

Well the Wizards would hear none of it and gave the Menace a taste of their own medicine as they got trounced harshly 6-1. It looked too good to be true as the Des Moines Menace got stopped and broken dreams of the Quarterfinals in the 2005 US Open Cup. Des Moines has nothing to be ashamed about as this was probably the first time in a good long while that a PDL club made it this far, or if the Richmond Kickers didn’t end the Ocean City Barons attempt to advance into the fourth round then both PDL clubs would have made history from the first round.

 

But talking about the Richmond Kickers of the USL-1^st Division they made history with their modern day Open Cup goal scoring record along with the Ocean City Barons in the third round. No one would expect an 8-4 decision in favor of Richmond let alone that the total was 12 goals. But what became of that wonderful evening in Richmond, Virginia in the 3^rd round didn’t bode well against DC United in the 4^th. Freddy Adu did score first and McColm Cephas was able to equalize and add on to his Open Cup goal totals to four, but sadly the Kickers straw broke and DC added two more goals to make sure that they would move on to the Quarterfinals.

 

The talent in the lower levels of US Soccer as well as the coaching of these clubs have proven that there are some good talent below the level of Major League Soccer and that’s why we love the US Open Cup so much as supporters of the sport here in the states. The question is this; could a player from the lower levels actually become an addition to the US National Team? Well until that day happens we can say that the US Open Cup will always be an exciting tournament every year once these sides face an MLS opponent or a PDL club trying to knock off a 1^st or 2^nd Division side above them in the USL. Good luck to Both Rochester & Minnesota in the Quarterfinals of the US Open Cup.