Congratulations to the Charlotte Eagles for earning a spot in the six designated spots in the US Open Cup for USL 2nd Division. But at the same time we have to say goodbye to the Northern Virginia Royals who bowed out so quickly and yet looked like they never had a chance to fight at all in the nine-club table of USL 2nd Division Open Cup Qualifying.

Getting shutout in your first three matches by a differential of 15:0 and scoring only 2 goals in the last two matches, but also getting spanked by allowing nine in your net is very depressing. Overall a goal differential of two for and twenty-four against. Is it the players or maybe the strategy isn’t working very well for the Royals. One thing is for sure, they aren’t putting in a royal performance out on the pitch. There are bad clubs, but this one in particular is very bad. IF there are going to be changes made and possibly make this side into a true contender for the USL as well as the US Open Cup, something has to be done to fix these problems.

For the past several years the Northern Virginia Royals have never been a strong side in the USL and unfortunately they have proved it once again by allowing themselves to be completely out of contention for the US Open Cup. You do feel a little bad for them, but with other clubs in the state of Virginia like the Richmond Kickers, Va. Beach Mariners and the Williamsburg Legacy, you know that two of those three will have a strong chance to advance into the 3rd & 4th rounds of the 2005 US Open Cup.